I'm not excusing Tesla's comms and delivery shambles, but I don't agree with you. Once you get your car and drive it, you will think it is the greatest car ever and in a month's time you'll be singing the virtues of Tesla. Once this initial delivery tsunami is over, deliveries will return to a more normal level, and there won't be the issues you are experiencing, so for future buyers (and I'd say anytime after the next 4 weeks) the "but..." is irrelevant.
I can't agree with that assessment.
Will I be singing the praises of the car? Probably. But those communications problems - the complete lack of information about what's happening and when I can reasonably expect to receive my vehicle - will linger in memory for a very long time. I can't speak for anybody else, but from my perspective, I cannot in good conscience recommend Tesla to anybody - whether it be for the cars, the solar roof, the Powerwall, or some other product to be produced in the future - without mentioning the issues I've had along the way.
Maybe those issues will diminish after the initial delivery rush. But
I won't know about that. My experience is based upon what they're doing
right now, not what they might do in the future; and I can only inform potential customers about my experience. Not some hopeful "Maybe they've improved since then, I dunno." I cannot and
will not cover up for failings in their processes, especially when those failings appear to be endemic. Hell, there's one guy in the Facebook groups talking about possibly organising a chargeback rather than continuing with trying (and failing!) to get in touch with somebody,
anybody, to find out what's happening with his now three month old refund request. All of this adds up to me basically saying, "Look, if you like the idea of a car, go ahead and order one; just be aware of these likely issues." This is
not what a startup trying to break into the mass market wants a potential evangelist to be saying - and somebody who puts a reservation deposit down on the vehicle the moment that becomes possible is most definitely a potential evangelist.
It also doesn't encourage repeat business - if down the road I decide to replace the Model 3 (or even buy a second EV), and there are alternative options from the 'more established' brands, the probability is high that I'll skip the Tesla for something else if it will do what I need it to do. Hence my comment about them shooting themselves in the foot. These bad perceptions do not go away quickly, nor easily - it's much easier to avoid them in the first place. Too late now ...