Unresponsive ISA

[jamnmon66]

So, I have my delivery scheduled for next Thurs. (5/17). My ISA has been very unresponsive both by email and phone. She had an auto-reply set up on her email last Friday that she was out with a family emergency but was back in the office yesterday.

I'm financing through my credit union. Apparently, their usual way of doing this transaction is with a letter of credit. My ISA said that wasn't an option. My loan officer at the credit union has been awesome (as usual) and, as a plan B, offered to meet us at the SC at delivery with a check in exchange for the title. That was yesterday and my ISA has been silent since that offer from both phone and email.

So, I called 888-51-TESLA today and the person who answered the call was very helpful. She put me on hold to call someone in Colorado. When she came back, she said that they can do the transaction with the letter of credit but this isn't their usual way of doing things and it will have to go through their contracts team to work out the details. She emailed me, my loan officer and my ISA with the details within a few minutes after the phone call.

Hopefully it will now go through without a hitch. I'll post back with updates. I'm very sympathetic regarding family emergencies but this is a $60K transaction and I think I should get better customer service. It seems like they should work in teams or, at least my ISA should have referred me to someone else since she's out.

 

[jimmyjohn]

I am not knowledgeable regarding ISA structures and logistics (backup support or teams).

I’m fairly confident - however - that you’ll be - more than - excited and satisfied on your scheduled delivery day.

And, as retribution, you’ll need to keep your promise and will need to post a photo with you taking delivery!

 

[jamnmon66]

LOL. Me too... as long as it actually happens. Will do.

Another update, Tesla won't be able to provide a title at delivery. They said it will take 2-3 weeks. They will provide a letter of guarantee to my credit union. Hopefully the credit union will be ok with that. I'm starting to think that my credit union is pushing for something non-standard. But, at least both sides are communicating now so hopefully they'll get it worked out.

 

[SpiceWare]

Last contact I've had from my ISA was Monday afternoon, clarifying that the 1-2 days mentioned Friday for the arrival of the edoc purchase agreement was 1-2 business days. The agreement showed up Tuesday night, I signed it, and a couple hours later received my copy with the sales manager's signature. Haven't heard anything from my ISA since. I'm wondering if my loan provider's requirements are part of it - USAA wants following faxed to them:

• dealer funding request form
• signed purchase agreement
• title application

When I check my lender's site the loan is still pending (shows amount I'm approved for, not amount loan will be for). When I check Tesla's site the option for finalizing payment still shows "As your delivery date approaches, we will require information about your loan and lender."

 

[jamnmon66]

SpiceWare,

I'm sure these types of issues come up from time to time. The primary frustration that I hat was the lack of communication/response from my ISA. Once I called 888-51-TESLA, I received much better follow-up and communication from them. If your ISA isn't giving you what you need, you might want to call the number to see if you can get better service.

 

[SpiceWare]

Yep - not knowing what's going on is frustrating. I received an update this evening, the info's been faxed to USAA so we're now waiting on the funding after which I'll be contacted on scheduling the delivery

 

[jamnmon66]

I'm optimistic that everything is solved. Here's my understanding of what's going on...

It's a bit of an impasse between my credit union and Tesla. The CU wants to provide a letter of credit to Tesla promising payment upon receipt of the title. Tesla wants payment at the time of delivery but it will take 2-3 weeks after delivery to provide the title to CU. The solution is that the CU will accept a personal guarantee from me to take responsibility for the loan in the meantime. Obviously, I am taking responsibility for the loan in any case so that's not much of a problem. The issue is that, essentially, I'm taking responsibility if there's any problems with Tesla providing the title to the CU.

I'm not thrilled about it but I don't foresee any major risk on my part to do this. I would never do this with a used car dealer or, obviously, a private owner but I think for a new vehicle purchase it's ok. I'm going to go ahead and do it but I requested a document from Tesla to allow me to return the vehicle and terminate the purchase contract if the title isn't received. This is probably overkill as I'm guessing that something to this effect might be part of the standard purchase contract. I'll find out next week.