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

[Matt L]

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.

You continue to dodge the question on why not take them up on their offer to trade for a LR?

 

[Matt L]

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.

They have

 

[verystandard]

You continue to dodge the question on why not take them up on their offer to trade for a LR?

This post is to warn any BC residents that Tesla "You can return your car for a full refund within 7 days or 1,000 miles, whichever comes first" Promise is not for them.

The "Trade for a LR "is another different matter.

 

[rdunniii]

This is just silly. If the local manager can't say yes to the upgrade have them communicate up the chain of command until they get a yes or Elon says no.

This is another example of awesome car, not quite so awesome a company.

 

[Gen3]

They have

Where does it say Tesla has offered the trade?

 

[jscmanson]

One of the supervisors advised that they could take the new car in as a 'trade-in' for the extended range version. I read this to be "We will give you a trade-in (used)" value, not "We will give you your money back". If the 'trade-in" value was the full price paid, then they wouldn't have refused to take back the car as they have. My expectations were simply that they would live up to their advertising.

I will keep the group posted as this plays out.

 

[RiverBrick]

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.

Has this been answered?

In Quebec, unless there has been a recent change, it's up to the customer to claim the provincial refund.

No idea how the bungled federal rebate works.

 

[richyrich]

This is just silly. If the local manager can't say yes to the upgrade have them communicate up the chain of command until they get a yes or Elon says no.

This is another example of awesome car, not quite so awesome a company.

Sounds like OP already went nuclear - provincial vehicle safety authority, media etc. That probably means the willingness and ability of local Tesla employees to resolve the problem has diminished very quickly - if there's a complaint, especially involving those channels, it's going to make the whole thing get referred elsewhere. I'm always surprised how many people rush to the play the "tough customer" card like this. Anyone who's ever worked in customer service knows it's very rarely the route to getting what you want, building relationships or keeping stress levels down.

 

[jscmanson]

Richyrich - I didn't go nuclear, Tesla stated to me in writing that they will not take back a car in BC that has been processed through the rebate, full stop. I followed up with two phone calls, which with Tesla is a very difficult thing to do as they don't tend to make phone calls I have found. Spoke with my "Sales Consultant" (principle point of contact) and his direct supervisor. When they advised me in writing that it could not be returned, I spoke with the Safety Authority of BC informally (i.e. no application) about the matter. They called me back and encouraged me to make a formal application so they could look into the matter, if I did not hear back from Tesla further. I emailed Tesla again, waited 2 days, didn't hear anything back fro them, so then decided to write in a formal complaint. I copied Tesla in on my complaint (the supervisor) as a matter of courtesy, and he immediately replied back thanking me for giving them a copy of the complaint, and letting me know that they would provide information to VSA as required. So my discussions with Tesla regarding this matter are done, but as it appears that this will affect anyone else in BC wanting to take advantage of this so-called 7 day return policy, I wanted other potential purchasers to know about this.

It's not about dumb buyers, not about battery capacity, heater loads, loving the car etc etc, it's about deceptive advertising. I am waiting for the Tesla website to put a little "*" on their 7 day return slogan, but it hasn't happened, at least not yet. If I simply wasn't happy with the car, I could not return it.

 

[MD-2000]

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.

I live in a much colder climate than BC, but this applies for travel at 0C (32F) as well - cabin and seat heat requires battery and depends on time, not distance. Colder battery (unless you have a heated garage) gives less range. At -25C in stop and go traffic, 12km over half an hour could use 30 to 50km of range. Now it's gotten much better, at 10C (50F) it's only 1.3x range used. Yes you can travel chilly to avoid consuming range - but why should you? I have AWD-LR so charge to 80% (400km) and there were days in the winter where, with city driving around maybe 60km max., I got below 200km. Admittedly when I got going a decent speed and used the heat for longer (the initial heat-up uses more power) the Wh/km dropped from 500-400 down to 200. But you want a lot of extra range in cold weather.

The range is an estimate in good conditions, like mpg in those oil-burners. And you don't want to regularly charge to 100% and drain close to 0%; recommended is to try to stick to a 20%-80% range except for special trips.

(OTOH my BMW 3-series would go from 400km/tank in winter -60l - to 600km in summer on the highway. Same deal, except I just put 50l in my car for $71 after 450km and just read my meter indicating the Tesla over last month did 1600km on $33 of electricity. )

 

[dhanson865]

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%

High state of charge (charging to 100%) is only bad if the battery is hot. You live in Canada, charge to 90% and forget about it.

If you lived in Arizona or Texas I'd understand playing around with charging in the 60% to 80% range to reduce degradation caused by heat.

 

[mswlogo]

High state of charge (charging to 100%) is only bad if the battery is hot. You live in Canada, charge to 90% and forget about it.

If you lived in Arizona or Texas I'd understand playing around with charging in the 60% to 80% range to reduce degradation caused by heat.

High State Charge is bad if you leave it at 100% and don’t immediately use it. If you’re on a long trip between super chargers you can charge to 100%. But people rarely do because it takes to long to reach 100%. Because it does take so long to get to 100% it’s a pain to time things to use it when it’s ready. You don’t want to leave it at 100% over night.

90% should be fine from Canada to Texas. BMS will manage any heat or cold issues.