Warning to potential Model 3 Buyers in BC and Quebec, Canada

[BrunoB]

Yes just curious if it’s tesla that process the rebate in BC because in QC they will not and it’s up to the customer to do so. I myself planing to wait the 7 day period before filling after I had read the terms and conditions of the return program

 

[bpjod]

It's 110km door to door each way, but a half hour of traffic each way adds more drain, and we usually have chores to do at lunch, so the extra capacity would allow us to travel down without have to recharge, which is what I was trying do (i.e. exchange for the larger battery capacity). Otherwise we are very happy with the vehicle. I have taken action outside of Tesla as they have clearly stated that it's tough luck. Hence my warning to other potential buyers out there.

Sorry to hear of your dilemma and good of you to warn others so that they don't find themselves in your position. It's not likely something I would have thought about. How does the Federal $5000 incentive play into this?

If you're unable to return the vehicle and you're unwilling to trade it in to get a LR version, is plugging in at your destination an option? Even if you can only access a 15A/120V outlet, over an 8h workday you'd add about 11kW to the car, enough to go 70 more km. The SR+ should be really close to what you need in a day. Adding 70km more range should be plenty. Of course if a 240V outlet/charger can be installed there then your problems are solved.

Hope you can work this out. Good luck.

 

[duanra]

Even though cars are rated for the full range of the battery you typically don’t access all of it (regularly, you can in a pinch). You might say run the battery 20% to 90% that leaves 245 km (in daily practice). OP also said he wants to run errands at lunch and might get stuck in traffic (with heat running) and lives in cold country that can easily eat another 30% in the dead of Winter

Absolute no brainer a LR would make sense with that criteria and the OP should have done his home work and obviously didn’t.

As also mentioned if this was a test right from the get go I would have asked right before I signed on the dotted line. Returning a car is still a very big deal.

For the homework, although, ultimately the buyer is responsible of informing himself, considering ev technology could be very new to some of us (me included), the sale person could educate the buyer a bit more. When I bought my MR, I didn't know cold temp would have had such a great influence on range and the sale person didn't mention much about it and i didn't know about this forum which was a great source of knowledge for me.

 

[jscmanson]

Thanks for the tweet address - doubt will make much difference! - I did do my research, I had a leaf before and know how this stuff works - I thought the double range would be enough, and it is if you don't use the car for anything else, but I would prefer the extra battery size and was prepared to pay the difference in price - I thought that's what the 7 day trial was all about.

 

[Matt L]

sorry to hear. I was so frustrated with various customer service gaps that I threatened to return the vehicle within the 7 days and i was told that the 7 day warranty doesn't apply because of the BC incentive. I thought that was bullsh*t but in the end most of my issues were somewhat resolved. I still think that customer service sucks beyond one salesperson who was very helpful. I encourage you to put some serious pressure on, including through CBC Marketplace as Tesla needs to up its game in this department.

Names another car company that allows your a 7 day return policy? Maybe every other company needs to up their game?

 

[Nixx]

On a slightly different note - how did you plan to get your taxes back?

In the past, when I've registered my vehicles, I paid the taxes to the government. I figured if I returned the vehicle, Tesla would happily return my MSRP money, but I'd end up losing the taxes... which means no vehicle is ever returned.

Or does Tesla collect the taxes too? And therefore can return them?

 

[Webeevdrivers]

Hmm. If I buy a toilet from Home Depot I pay the taxes. If I return it they refund the entire amount including the taxes. No different with a car.

 

[verystandard]

For the homework, although, ultimately the buyer is responsible of informing himself, considering ev technology could be very new to some of us (me included), the sale person could educate the buyer a bit more. When I bought my MR, I didn't know cold temp would have had such a great influence on range and the sale person didn't mention much about it and i didn't know about this forum which was a great source of knowledge for me.

Exactly, when i purchased the MODEL 3, I never know that:
1. It is not good to charge the battery to 100%, sweet spot is to charge it max to 60-90% and minimum 20%
2. Most of the driving you do is less than 100% efficiency (Unless you decided to turn off the air conditioning, or driving like a grandma, which i do now)
3. Cold weather can decrease the range up to 50%

 

[Gruff]

"I was relying on the 7 day policy accordingly."



I've just alerted eLon and sent the link. It's featured as a response to Tesla's 7-day return policy. Aussies, but we've driven the Island Highway for nearly four decades. Good luck!~

5:34 AM - 5 May 2019

 

[Matt L]

Exactly, when i purchased the MODEL 3, I never know that:
1. It is not good to charge the battery to 100%, sweet spot is to charge it max to 60-90% and minimum 20%
2. Most of the driving you do is less than 100% efficiency (Unless you decided to turn off the air conditioning, or driving like a grandma, which i do now)
3. Cold weather can decrease the range up to 50%

So you did zero research

 

[verystandard]

So you did zero research

Yes, if that is the case. I did heavily depends on the Tesla adviser in this case, not a good idea

 

[Matt L]

Yes, if that is the case. I did heavily depends on the Tesla adviser in this case, not a good idea

Those are some very discussed topics on the forum.

 

[verystandard]

Those are some very discussed topics on the forum.

Thank you for letting me know now. I join this forum after I bought this car. I wasn't have great exposure with Tesla as you guys beforehand and I did not take much time to study the topics and the car itself before as well.

It sure is my fault of not done enough research and I did rely too much on the Salesman as well (Everyone around saids Tesla salesman were not like the typical car salesman before, that's the message i came across before i bought the car) . After all I figured that is what the salesman is for (to answer my question) or else why they are in there at the first place?

 

[afadeev]

You don't need to run HVAC full time. With seat heat full and cycling the heat on and off as needed, you should be under 180 Wh/km at +7ºC.

Half-freezing in your car is hardly a solution to the range problem!
180 Wh/km ~= 290 Wh/mi is feasible, but only with favorable ambient temps.
Canada tends to be forty at times, and not everyone would be a fan of driving in winters cloths with gloves on.

For driving from Ladysmith to YYJ airport/Buckley Bay (~110km each way), you have numerous options for charging. Supercharging at Uptown (southbound) or Nanaimo at Woodgrove (northbound), as well as destination/municipal chargers on both ends.

SR+ is doable, albeit with charging. Did you have a look at the appropriate homework prior to the purchase?

I'm sorry, but a daily commute that requires mid-trip charging would be just absolutely insane.
Make that - completely unreasonable.

The LR car would be absolutely no issues. The perfect island car.

Agreed.
The man needs LR car, and Tesla of Canada should upgrade him to one without any further excuses.

Names another car company that allows your a 7 day return policy? Maybe every other company needs to up their game?

Evidently, in British Columbia, Tesla isn't one.
Even though the company is, deceptively, advertising that just such a return policy is in existence.

The excuse that BC Tesla can't wait till day 8 to submit the rebate paperwork is 100% despicable BS.

a

 

[Rev-777]

Half-freezing in your car is hardly a solution to the range problem!
180 Wh/km ~= 290 Wh/mi is feasible, but only with favorable ambient temps.
Canada tends to be forty at times, and not everyone would be a fan of driving in winters cloths with gloves on.

We're talking about a very specific place, Vancouver Island. <180 Wh/km is more than doable most days of the year because we have more than favourable ambient temperatures the majority of the year. The average winter temperature is +7ºC/45ºF. I'm not talking about being cold in the car - use the heat as you need. I'm talking about compromising on vehicle range, as OP has done.

Hopefully Tesla see's the opportunity to upgrade OP to a LR vehicle.

 

[Matt L]

We're talking about a very specific place, Vancouver Island. <180 Wh/km is more than doable most days of the year because we have more than favourable ambient temperatures the majority of the year. The average winter temperature is +7ºC/45ºF. I'm not talking about being cold in the car - use the heat as you need. I'm talking about compromising on vehicle range, as OP has done.

Hopefully Tesla see's the opportunity to upgrade OP to a LR vehicle.

Sounds like they offered.

This is more about someone that didn't do basic research and wants more than what they paid for. When they didn't get it, they joined the forum to bash Tesla

 

[Dana1]

First thanks to the OP for the post. But I am concerned about this 110 km (so 220 km return if I understand correctly) commute not being possible on a car with 350 km of range. Am I missing something? This could be a game changer for me.

Sounds mostly like range anxiety. I didn’t read anything that sounds like it doesn’t work.

 

[jscmanson]

Weighing in again, thanks for the great discussion. I am familiar with EV's and range, bought a Leaf for our Municipality some 4 years ago, and installed one of the first level 2 chargers in my area though the BC grant program at that time. I was torn between the regular and extended range battery, and after driving the standard range version for a few days decided the longer range would have been worth the extra cash. I mistakenly thought that the 7 day thing was Tesla's way of letting customers get to know the vehicle with little risk... and the $5k grant would apply to either car anyways so I thought that a switch to the bigger battery would make sense to me, and shouldn't be an issue based on their advertising. Car works just fine otherwise, and yes there are L2's in lots of places, so there will likely always be a place to charge when on the road etc etc. It's not about customers having to do research, it's about an advertised return policy. Yes other folks don't offer it, but if they don't, they don't advertise it. There are laws about deceptive advertising in BC, and in other areas as well. It speak to unfair trade practices, and is one of the reasons you can't see cars without registering with VSBC, each saleman has to register to sell cars. Yes, if you dig on the website you'll find the fine print, but that will be up to Vehicle Safety BC to determine if this is sufficient, along with NO discussion of the policy 'exclusion' at time of sale.

Meanwhile, I am warning potential buyers.

 

[Geblo]

If I was Tesla I would offer you a car in similar configuration and milage for the difference in value and hopefully convert you to a very happy customer.

 

[verystandard]

Weighing in again, thanks for the great discussion. I am familiar with EV's and range, bought a Leaf for our Municipality some 4 years ago, and installed one of the first level 2 chargers in my area though the BC grant program at that time. I was torn between the regular and extended range battery, and after driving the standard range version for a few days decided the longer range would have been worth the extra cash. I mistakenly thought that the 7 day thing was Tesla's way of letting customers get to know the vehicle with little risk... and the $5k grant would apply to either car anyways so I thought that a switch to the bigger battery would make sense to me, and shouldn't be an issue based on their advertising. Car works just fine otherwise, and yes there are L2's in lots of places, so there will likely always be a place to charge when on the road etc etc. It's not about customers having to do research, it's about an advertised return policy. Yes other folks don't offer it, but if they don't, they don't advertise it. There are laws about deceptive advertising in BC, and in other areas as well. It speak to unfair trade practices, and is one of the reasons you can't see cars without registering with VSBC, each saleman has to register to sell cars. Yes, if you dig on the website you'll find the fine print, but that will be up to Vehicle Safety BC to determine if this is sufficient, along with NO discussion of the policy 'exclusion' at time of sale.

Meanwhile, I am warning potential buyers.

Thank you for your sharing.

Under Tesla's return policy description in their webpage, there are zero mentioning this program is excluded from BC residents (Other than a vague sentence mentioned about "We will accept your vehicle for return if the vehicle has not been the subject of any submission or application for any available incentives or perks".

Return Policy

With your post it will definitely educate the potential Tesla buyers that is from BC that this program is exclude from BC residents and we should never take this 7 days return policy as one of the considerations and safety net, and also to treat this car purchasing experience like buying a car from anyother car dealership.