...
My local service guys are pushing back with regards to a refund. I’m not a litigious person and would rather escalate this to corporate. Any advice on how to get corporate ears or should I just file lemon law paperwork with the attorney general?
Having recently gone through hell with my Volvo XC90 T8 (which I had to get a Lemon Law attorney involved in in order to get Volvo to buy it back), here's a bunch of steps that, after dealing with Volvo for months (trying to get them to buy it back on my own, and then going to a Lemon Law attorney), I found could help others in a similar situation with any vehicle:
1 - Documentation (very important) - Make sure you have documented notes of all of your service visits. Anything you have reported needs to be noted down, whether or not addressed, as if you verbally inform them of an issue, but, they never added it to their service record, or, stated that it will be fixed at some other time, doesn't help your case. If you have been taking pictures, videos, or audio recordings of the issues, that can help as well.
2 - Reach Out - You can try giving Tesla the benefit and see if they will work with you. However, you need to reach out above your local office. You can ask them to provide you with a regional manager (not sure how Tesla is structured), or, if not, you can try reaching out to any executive contacts (you may need to ask, or, look at the Tesla website), or, try approaching via social media to get in touch with someone.
3 - Lemon Laws - look up the lemon laws for Massachusetts. In my case, with California laws, which are quite lenient, there may still be caveats and restrictions, so, just read through them to make sure you're a candidate. In most cases, Lemon Law cases can still be filed if your issues began while it was under the guidelines/restrictions.
4 - Lemon Law Attorney - Most (should be all) Lemon Law attorneys do NOT charge you, they get their money back from the manufacturer. You can usually call a few in the area and inform them of your issues, and they can tell you whether or not you have a case. Be prepared to send over copies of all your documentation (assuming you decide to continue with them) - this will include all service records, your purchase/sales agreements, and anything else you've spent (registrations/license/fees/add-ons/etc...). You can reach out to a Lemon Law attorney shortly after trying to reach corporate directly, just let them know you're trying on your own first. A good Lemon Law attorney will check in with you to see how it's going, and can step in once you need them if you don't get a response.
5 - At this point, hopefully something has happened - either Tesla has agreed to buy back, or your Lemon Law attorney has received a response. If Tesla reached out to you directly, they may calculate numbers for the buyback in a different manner than you would want. An attorney, if going the Lemon Law route, can usually fight (and of course, take that stress off of you) if you have an issue.
If you want to know about my XC90 ordeal and what it took, PM me.