It's not tough talking to simply state that I'm not driving away in a damaged car...I'm not talking about fighting Tyson here.
Hell I wouldn't accept an iPhone with a scratch on it fresh out of the shop let alone an 80k car but each to their own. Mate if people want to sign for them with scratches and dents so be it, that's their choice I just personally won't be.
iPhone is a much smaller & simpler object. The protection and delivery logistic is much simpler.
For a car, you can't put it in a box with protection and wrap it with plastic. People need to drive it around in order to put it into the ship and deliver to the delivery centre. Each step can have accidents and damages.
Furthermore, a car is not an iPhone. Apple can replace the iPhone in their retail store but Tesla cannot replace the car because the car was already registered under your name. The VIN was written in the invoice and your car loan was already linked with the car (if you have a car loan).
BTW, I had an iPhone which has an issue with the volume buttons when it arrived. I don't have a chance to refuse the phone on delivery and Apple replaced it in their retail store.
If Tesla only need to deliver 3-5 cars a day in each centre, they can fix all defects before delivery like other dealers does. However, they are delivering much more than a couple a day.
Remember how we responded in here when the end-September delivery was delayed for a week due to 12v battery issue? I personally saw another customer went to Richmond delivery centre asking about his delivery date and complaining about lack of communications.
If Tesla takes the perfect delivery approach, there will be more uncertainties (because they have to inspect each car before they can confirm the exact delivery schedule), delays, and, of cause, complains.
As others already pointed out, Tesla has very limited resource to run. They will do anything to survive including the delays on implementing improvements or not delivering a better customer experience. If they do everything we wanted or asked, there will be no Tesla Motor next year.
Tesla is not a car for luxurious experience. They have panel gaps issue in Model S & X.
Tesla is a car for its futuristic design, powerful electric drive train, supercharging network and advanced battery technologies, IMO. This is what I spent my 100k on. I had a very clear idea on what I was paying for when I reserve my car 3.5 years ago.
Some people said they spent 100k on this car and this kind of service is unacceptable, etc.
Can you buy a 3.4s 0-100 kph time car from other brand with 100k? At the end, Tesla need to spend this 100k wisely on different part of the business and they chose to put most of it in the design and engineering of the vehicle which make us smile everyday we own the vehicle rather than the delivery experience which we can enjoy for an hour.