Using a Credit Card or Paypal to pay for Tesla Solar

[Uncle Paul]

Tesla is simply trying to use the most simple and cost effective program to collect payment. It is very expensive for them to accept credit cards or PayPal.
Why would Tesla want to pay a fee, just so you could get some cash back?

 

[jjrandorin]

Tesla is simply trying to use the most simple and cost effective program to collect payment. It is very expensive for them to accept credit cards or PayPal.
Why would Tesla want to pay a fee, just so you could get some cash back?

This is true, but they used to, not that long ago. Many of us did so (and were surprised, because of exactly what you mention). As they lowered the price, this is one option they took away... which also makes sense.

Its just unfortunate for those who were looking forward to doing it this way.

 

[Electrph]

Tesla is simply trying to use the most simple and cost effective program to collect payment. It is very expensive for them to accept credit cards or PayPal.
Why would Tesla want to pay a fee, just so you could get some cash back?

I agree from a business stand point it made little sense, but tesla was doing it for quite a while, and may still be doing it in a few instances.
Why they did it .. no idea .. it’s tesla ...but If they are going to accept my cc without an added fee I’ll gladly give it to them.

 

[Momvivant]

I was told that if you started your order before 7/15, you can pay by cc. But not afterwards. Luckily, we started our order in June so will be able to take advantage of this option.

for those interested, you can probably do a combo of loan and cash but you’d need to work with your advisor who’d have to organize this upfront. It wasn’t worth the hassle for us since we are able to just purchase it.

 

[pdx_m3s]

I was told that if you started your order before 7/15, you can pay by cc. But not afterwards. Luckily, we started our order in June so will be able to take advantage of this option.

for those interested, you can probably do a combo of loan and cash but you’d need to work with your advisor who’d have to organize this upfront. It wasn’t worth the hassle for us since we are able to just purchase it.

I hope this holds true. My order was in April.

 

[Momvivant]

I hope this holds true. My order was in April.

I asked my advisor...shoot him/her an email to confirm. The other thing they grandfathered was the old referral fee for both the the referrer and the referee. I honestly don’t remember how much it was though.

 

[charlesj]

I was told that if you started your order before 7/15, you can pay by cc. But not afterwards. ...

Get this in writing. You may need that document.

 

[jjrandorin]

Get this in writing. You may need that document.

I would agree with this... since pretty much anyone recently who was trying to PAY for their systems would have obviously placed their order significantly before 07/15, yet several in this thread who were attempting to pay via CC were not able to do so.

Now, tesla being tesla, it is entirely possible that tesla shut it down recently, then came up with this compromise, so I am not saying your advisor is wrong. I am just saying that anyone in this thread who was unable to pay via CC recently placed their order a while ago, definitely before 7/15, so in your case you might want them to send that to you in an email (at minimum) from their tesla account.

You might need it, like @charlesj says.

 

[Momvivant]

Emailing my advisor now to get it in writing....thanks for the advice!

 

[Hay2000]

now it shows invoice with only bank account option. No CC.
Also does not show 100$ referral. we placed order after 7/15. so looks like it has changed.

 

[SMAlset]

Just spoke to a TE Advisor about getting our final bill for our Solar and PW system. We received final inspection approval on 9/30 and it has been 5 days with no bill.

Since we had ordered back in January we’re scheduled to pay our second half of the bill (first half was due day install started) at time of PTO (not inspection date for us). The Advisor said she could see our final bill but it won’t be sent still for sometime. And since we were able to pay by phone and CC back in August when install started, we’ll be able to finish our account same way. She said things have changed since we ordered and if they tell us it needs to be done differently, to remind them we’re a January order.

She saw a note in our account that our Interconnection Agreement and such was submitted to PG&E today, 10/5. The records are showing PG&E timeframe is 4-5 weeks (making it 11/2 - 11/7). Ugh. Hoping it processes sooner.

She said PG&E would send us an email (guess communication method indicated on our Interconnection Agreement — been awhile since we completed it), and about a day or two later Tesla would send us a text (our preferred contact on our account) to say “Congrats! You can turn your system on”. I’m guessing Tesla has account stuff to finish up on their end prior to send out the text??

So that’s our account. She said orders now only make one payment and that is done at the time of their inspection, not PTO, and payment is processed differently.

 

[pdx_m3s]

Same boat here. It’s been 5 days since passed inspection with no bill.

 

[SMAlset]

Same boat here. It’s been 5 days since passed inspection with no bill.

Were you also on the 2-payment schedule then?

We were concerned about paying right away so our Interconnect Agreement would be submitted for PTO but nice to know it’s been sent and we still have another month before we have to pay.

 

[pdx_m3s]

Were you also on the 2-payment schedule then?

We were concerned about paying right away so our Interconnect Agreement would be submitted for PTO but nice to know it’s been sent and we still have another month before we have to pay.

My contract stated 2 payments, but we were never billed after installation.

 

[SMAlset]

My contract stated 2 payments, but we were never billed after installation.

Then if you read through my longer post above you’ll see you won’t be billed for final amount until your utility gives PTO and Tesla sends you email/text with bill.

 

[SMAlset]

BTW maybe because my husband had called recently about not receiving a bill, he just received one; and after a long 45-minute wait on hold after calling the number on the bill, the person there reconfirmed our two-payment contract provision and verifed that we made our first payment already, told us we should just hold on to the bill and call back to pay when we get our PTO. She said she'd make a note we called about this.

Note this doesn't apply to everyone, only those who ordered earlier in the year and their contracts called for half on day of install and the balance at PTO.

 

[wjgjr]

BTW maybe because my husband had called recently about not receiving a bill, he just received one; and after a long 45-minute wait on hold after calling the number on the bill, the person there reconfirmed our two-payment contract provision and verifed that we made our first payment already, told us we should just hold on to the bill and call back to pay when we get our PTO. She said she'd make a note we called about this.

Note this doesn't apply to everyone, only those who ordered earlier in the year and their contracts called for half on day of install and the balance at PTO.

I will just note that the agreement I had with Tesla (solar roof) early in the year called for two payments, with the second "Due Within Five (5) Days of Inspection." I received the invoice the day after inspection, as I recall. So, even with two payments, they have apparently had different due dates. I was surprised to see they set yours due at PTO as I had the impression even with two payments, they were trying to ensure they always had all their money before they lost their last leverage.

 

[dhquigley]

So, we ordered a solar roof in May on what I think was a two payment contract but never got an invoice pre-install. Install now complete and had the inspection today. Passed, and about six minutes later the invoice showed up for the whole payment. Looks like I can use credit cards, which seems consistent with the above.

 

[Momvivant]

Since I ordered before 7/15, one payment and via cc is possible. What I got in writing:

Yes, you are able to pay with a credit card. This invoice will not be sent until after we have passed inspection. You'll need to reach out to the Billing department to submit payment this way, their number is 877-973-7652

 

[dhquigley]

So, we ordered a solar roof in May on what I think was a two payment contract but never got an invoice pre-install. Install now complete and had the inspection today. Passed, and about six minutes later the invoice showed up for the whole payment. Looks like I can use credit cards, which seems consistent with the above.

To follow up on this, I called the number on the invoice today and did, in fact, pay with credit card(s).