UK Customer Service - Pre delivery

[Sixer]

Wow what a guessing game it is to when my car will arrive! I was estimated a late August delivery. Phoned Tesla today who gave the impression they didn’t care and didnt know so why was I bothering them.

A few weeks ago I had a VIN in the source code. Now it’s gone. No idea what that means.

Tesla can’t give me an indication of when it will arrive so I am left thinking this is really poor customer service. I can track a small parcel from China so why can’t I track my expensive Tesla.

I love the product so far but this is just not acceptable customer service these days.

 

[RjbT3]

You are so right @Sixer , you are so right...

 

[Rooster6655]

Wow what a guessing game it is to when my car will arrive! I was estimated a late August delivery. Phoned Tesla today who gave the impression they didn’t care and didnt know so why was I bothering them.

A few weeks ago I had a VIN in the source code. Now it’s gone. No idea what that means.

Tesla can’t give me an indication of when it will arrive so I am left thinking this is really poor customer service. I can track a small parcel from China so why can’t I track my expensive Tesla.

I love the product so far but this is just not acceptable customer service these days.

I had a phone call to check that my info was upto date and then an email as I missed the call, so I called back and some pompous guy with a name to match answered and I told him i was returning the call and was basically asking why am I calling!

I know it isn't the best experience but keep phoning until you get a useful person, some staff are useless like most places but if I'm honest most have been quite friendly apart from one or two.

 

[Glan gluaisne]

I will admit to being a bit influenced in my current decision making by reports like this. Is the current problem with communication just a consequence of Tesla rushing to handle the backlog of Model 3 deliveries, or is this a more general issue that has been around for some time?

 

[Oddbin]

You sound new to this forum OP. Check any of the other multi page threads and this is all you see right now.

 

[zayn]

Wow what a guessing game it is to when my car will arrive! I was estimated a late August delivery. Phoned Tesla today who gave the impression they didn’t care and didnt know so why was I bothering them.

A few weeks ago I had a VIN in the source code. Now it’s gone. No idea what that means.

Tesla can’t give me an indication of when it will arrive so I am left thinking this is really poor customer service. I can track a small parcel from China so why can’t I track my expensive Tesla.

I love the product so far but this is just not acceptable customer service these days.

What model spec have you ordered ?
What does your mytesla account show ?

 

[DJP31]

I will admit to being a bit influenced in my current decision making by reports like this. Is the current problem with communication just a consequence of Tesla rushing to handle the backlog of Model 3 deliveries, or is this a more general issue that has been around for some time?

It is no different to how it was when I was researching and ordering my Model S in Oct ‘16 - except worse because of the volume of cars. The ‘delivery window’ was always too optimistic and seems to forget the car was having to cross the ocean.

It seems to me, although I’ve given up paying too close attention, as if they have no idea what cars are on the boat, and just allocate what arrives to whoever matches the config.

As a sweeping generalisation the cars are great and rest of Tesla indifferent at best. With 2.5 years in and 36k on the clock there’s no other car I’d rather be in. Would I buy another? Yep, but I wish there was a serious alternative to consider.

 

[Andrew_SE23]

I love the product so far but this is just not acceptable customer service these days.

I got my delivery date yesterday and am not looking forward to the collection experience. I’m expecting miscommunication, incompetence and delay - exactly what I’ve had so far. I still want to the car but not to deal with the company.

 

[phillcom3]

It is no different to how it was when I was researching and ordering my Model S in Oct ‘16 - except worse because of the volume of cars. The ‘delivery window’ was always too optimistic and seems to forget the car was having to cross the ocean.

It seems to me, although I’ve given up paying too close attention, as if they have no idea what cars are on the boat, and just allocate what arrives to whoever matches the config.

As a sweeping generalisation the cars are great and rest of Tesla indifferent at best. With 2.5 years in and 36k on the clock there’s no other car I’d rather be in. Would I buy another? Yep, but I wish there was a serious alternative to consider.

That's what they told me. That when they come in range of the uk it is then easier to asign a car to a person. If they did it in the USA it just leads to people harrasing them not getting its got to ceos the ocean. So when it's close they can then asign and its a much realistic estimate then.

 

[AlternateFlux]

I got my delivery date yesterday and am not looking forward to the collection experience. I’m expecting miscommunication, incompetence and delay - exactly what I’ve had so far. I still want to the car but not to deal with the company.

My pre-collection experience was horrendous (as above: no communication, no way of replying to random delivery date issues etc).
BUT my actual delivery day was a breeze. In fact, I'd go so far as to see that it was exactly as I would expect.

(Except no biscuits - as I have already discussed in numerous other threads ;p)

 

[Glan gluaisne]

It is no different to how it was when I was researching and ordering my Model S in Oct ‘16 - except worse because of the volume of cars. The ‘delivery window’ was always too optimistic and seems to forget the car was having to cross the ocean.

It seems to me, although I’ve given up paying too close attention, as if they have no idea what cars are on the boat, and just allocate what arrives to whoever matches the config.

As a sweeping generalisation the cars are great and rest of Tesla indifferent at best. With 2.5 years in and 36k on the clock there’s no other car I’d rather be in. Would I buy another? Yep, but I wish there was a serious alternative to consider.

Interesting, as most other car companies seem to pay a fair bit of attention to getting customer service and communication right, in my experience, although I have to say that I'm far from impressed with the service from BMW, particularly their really poor customer service (totally disinterested, to the point of being rude, has been my experience to date).

Having owned Toyota Prius cars (the plural of Prius never seems right to me) since 2005 until last year, one thing that kept me going back and getting another one was their customer service. I used three Toyota main dealers and all were very good indeed, to the extent that my wife bought a Yaris Hybrid on the basis that my experience with Toyota had been so positive.

Perhaps Tesla are in the comfortable position of being the market leader in ground-breaking EVs, with the cars effectively selling themselves, so they really don't need to be the slightest bit bothered by reports of poor customer service. Reading the many threads here that share pretty dire stories about communication failings, with owners who are so delighted with their cars that they will happily put up with this and buy another one, would seem to be sending Tesla a strong message that they don't need to improve in this area. If they can sell just as many cars without investing in better customer relationship management there seems to be little reason to change anything.

 

[Mattyb123]

I’m new here, go easy. In my account I have a VIN number and a delivery date of this Saturday too. I had one text asking if I can pick up then and I replied YES.ive heard nothing else, no reg number. The car is being leased through Rivervale (lex) and I’ve signed agreement etc and Rivervale have said I just need to turn up and collect the car and then Lex will make payment. I can’t insure as I’ve had no reg number and when I phone the Birmingham store I just get automated Tesla telling me to email. Help anyone? Is this normal?

 

[AlternateFlux]

I’m new here, go easy. In my account I have a VIN number and a delivery date of this Saturday too. I had one text asking if I can pick up then and I replied YES.ive heard nothing else, no reg number. The car is being leased through Rivervale (lex) and I’ve signed agreement etc and Rivervale have said I just need to turn up and collect the car and then Lex will make payment. I can’t insure as I’ve had no reg number and when I phone the Birmingham store I just get automated Tesla telling me to email. Help anyone? Is this normal?

In a word: Yes. This is normal. For Tesla.

You'll get a text or email 24 hours or so before with your reg number. I would recommend getting a quote in principal and agreed to by your insurer of choice, so that you can pick it up with them the moment you get your reg number.

It's a pain, but it *should* be fine.

 

[Glan gluaisne]

In a word: Yes. This is normal. For Tesla.

You'll get a text or email 24 hours or so before with your reg number. I would recommend getting a quote in principal and agreed to by your insurer of choice, so that you can pick it up with them the moment you get your reg number.

It's a pain, but it *should* be fine.

Sorry if this is a daft question, but hoe does this work if you have a personal plate that you need to be put of the car when it's registered?

Every time I've bought a new car the dealer has just registered the car using my plate, when I give them the retention certificate, which means I know the registration in advance when I sort out the change in insurance.

 

[Mattyb123]

Thanks Alternate Flux, I’ve had a quote in principle.... seems quite good £455 with LV for performance + me and the wife. If I don’t hear anything tomorrow should I just turn up at Tesla Birmingham? I assume it’s the one in Digbeth?

 

[Roy W.]

Sorry if this is a daft question, but hoe does this work if you have a personal plate that you need to be put of the car when it's registered?

Every time I've bought a new car the dealer has just registered the car using my plate, when I give them the retention certificate, which means I know the registration in advance when I sort out the change in insurance.

Sorry Jeremy, but with the M3 Tesla won’t register with a private plate. I was in this situation too.

You need to accept the car with the generic registration, wait a few days for the V5C, then swap the cherished plate onto your car online.

If you ask nicely when you collect your car they will make you up a set of the Tesla metal plates for your personal number. Just be sure to take your retention certificate to show them.

 

[Glan gluaisne]

Sorry Jeremy, but with the M3 Tesla won’t register with a private plate. I was in this situation too.

You need to accept the car with the generic registration, wait a few days for the V5C, then swap the cherished plate onto your car online.

If you ask nicely when you collect your car they will make you up a set of the Tesla metal plates for your personal number. Just be sure to take your retention certificate to show them.

Thanks for clarifying this. Seems a bit of nuisance, not great in terms of customer service, as I've always liked going to pick up a new car and seeing it had already got my familiar plate.

Finding out about all the many quirks of buying a Tesla isn't a very pleasant experience. Perhaps no enough to change a decision to buy one, but it does rather take the edge off things. The daft thing is that there can't be any significant reason for Tesla being alone in not providing this service, as the supplier of every new car I've bought in the past 30 years has been only too willing to register the car with my plate, and none have ever charged for doing this. I remember one dealer actually giving me a discount, twice (on different cars) because he told me that using my plate that was on retention was cheaper for them than having to register the car with a new plate.

 

[Roy W.]

Thanks for clarifying this. Seems a bit of nuisance, not great in terms of customer service, as I've always liked going to pick up a new car and seeing it had already got my familiar plate.

Finding out about all the many quirks of buying a Tesla isn't a very pleasant experience. Perhaps no enough to change a decision to buy one, but it does rather take the edge off things. The daft thing is that there can't be any significant reason for Tesla being alone in not providing this service, as the supplier of every new car I've bought in the past 30 years has been only too willing to register the car with my plate, and none have ever charged for doing this. I remember one dealer actually giving me a discount, twice (on different cars) because he told me that using my plate that was on retention was cheaper for them than having to register the car with a new plate.

Yes, it does seem strange. In the past Tesla have done cherished plate at registration on the Models S & X. They said they wouldn’t do it on the Model 3 because of the quantity of cars that they were dealing with, and they wanted to keep the whole process as simple as possible.

The pre-purchase support is honestly horrendous, but I hope that will get better as the volume of cars comes down. Post purchase support (at least for me) has been rather better, and certainly all of the S and X owners I’ve spoken to at Service Centres have always said they do look after you.

Having read all about the problems on here I decided that the best approach was to chill out and just wait for the car to arrive. Stressing about it or constantly ringing up won’t make the car come any quicker!

Now I’ve got the car, I’m absolutely over the moon with it. It’s by far the best (and most expensive!) car I’ve had in 40-odd years of motoring.

 

[ewoodrick]

Just to repeat, this is the process.

You order
You wait, whatever date the web site shows is an estimate. The secret hidden VIN is hidden for a reason, it's not a given.
You will get notified when your car is available, nominally a few days in advance.
You will pick up the car and go home with grin on face.

If you try to circumvent the process, you will be met with blockage. The Tesla reps don't know when your car is going to get there. And they've had this call SO MANY TIMES, that they are just tired of "When is my car going to get here?" "I don't know" "argumentative response".

Have you ever tried calling Amazon to check on the details? Just doesn't happen.

 

[Glan gluaisne]

Yes, it does seem strange. In the past Tesla have done cherished plate at registration on the Models S & X. They said they wouldn’t do it on the Model 3 because of the quantity of cars that they were dealing with, and they wanted to keep the whole process as simple as possible.

The pre-purchase support is honestly horrendous, but I hope that will get better as the volume of cars comes down. Post purchase support (at least for me) has been rather better, and certainly all of the S and X owners I’ve spoken to at Service Centres have always said they do look after you.

Having read all about the problems on here I decided that the best approach was to chill out and just wait for the car to arrive. Stressing about it or constantly ringing up won’t make the car come any quicker!

Now I’ve got the car, I’m absolutely over the moon with it. It’s by far the best (and most expensive!) car I’ve had in 40-odd years of motoring.

I'm leaning more and more towards putting off a decision to purchase in the light of what seems to be happening at the moment. Most of the things being mentioned here with regard to poor service seem to be related to the introduction of the Model 3 to the UK market. I would guess that other manufacturers may well have similar problems when bringing a new model to new market, too.

I have no need to change cars soon, next year would be fine, so with luck things may well settle down. The only risk in delaying the decision is the uncertainty over exchange rates, duty etc, but I don't think there's anyway of being able to predict whether such changes will increase or decrease prices. We seem to be in such a state of flux with our government at the moment that I doubt anyone has a clear enough crystal ball to be able to guess how things will be next week, let alone next year...