What is the process to refuse delivery and get your money back?

[Proflig8tor]

All of you who own the terrific model 3 are to be commended on your taste and apparent willingness to pay cash and put up with horrendous customer service to own a dream car.

It has been nearly impossible to get anyone related to the sales process on the phone. It has been impossible to get the sales contract required for a bank loan. After three email inquiries over a few days, a call was received at dinner. The Tesla Rep was either annoyed or distracted by my children's voices (and they are quiet little girls) Apparently, her plan (in the absence of a sales contract) is to go to the dealership, get the sales contract, then UBER all over town to get a check, return to the dealership, oh' but delivery is at 5PM, banks closed. So have this take at least two days. My wife who was going to drop me off to take delivery is like, "screw this." She is right.

Without being cleaned, my observation of the car is that the left rear door is damaged. The trunk lid if scratched and while observing the impact damage to the front underside of the car (apparently during loading or unloading) enough dirt was painted over to start a small garden.

Typically a dealership with hold the title to the car until they process payment; NOT HOLD THE WHOLE CAR. Not sure why this sales contract is the last straw, but being treated like a guy who would steal their car (with no title) is just addind insult to injury.

So, you fine people of the forums are very helpful. What is the process if we have a failure to launch?

 

[glide]

Refuse delivery, don’t sign anything, wait a number of months for them to return your deposit.

Unfortunately the refund process is probably worse than the sales process. Expect to chase them down.

FWIW - I don’t blame you for being fed up with them. The whole sales/delivery process is disgusting.

 

[OCR1]

I'm not exactly sure where you are in the process from your post. If you have only given them a $2,500 deposit on your credit card you can just cancel the purchase and they should issue you a refund to your card within a few days. If you are further along it may be more complicated. It sounds like you haven't taken delivery yet. If so you are not returning anything, just unwinding the transaction. If your bank has already issued them a check and Tesla has deposited it then it will take you a bit longer to unwind.

Tesla is not at its best this month. They are pushing for record deliveries and the number of orders remaining to be delivered between now and the end of the month vastly exceeds their capacity to process these deliveries. So their service has been falling apart. But if you still feel like you want the car you may want to take a deep breath and remember that many of us had tough delivery experiences but virtually everyone on this forum who did has stated that it was worth it once they got their car and saw how great it is to drive. Give it some thought. Best of luck whatever you decide.

 

[ewoodrick]

Are you working with a bank that has never financed a Tesla?

Most banks are able to work out the process and have done business with Tesla before. Having to run back and forth across town isn't something that you should have to do. I heard folks indicate that they are even given a blank check. After all, it's going to get charged to you. And a bank can stop or not honor a check immediately. Even a simple wire transfer it a possibility once the payment portal has been opened for you.


Have you thought about switching banks? They seem to be where part of the problem is coming from. Tesla is easy, car for check.

 

[Proflig8tor]

Thank you for your responses, especially OCR1.

Worked my way through college and made money to buy my first home doing paint and bodywork, then restoring cars (including one in Jay Leno's collection today). The "new" model 3 had the wear and tear on it that my wife and kids typically do to a car in 2 to 4 years. I am wondering, "how does a new car get beat up this bad?" and "it can't be cheaper to push these assembly problems to the SC and delivery folks." Literally, I keep finding myself thinking how to find time to take the car apart myself and fix many of the fit issues. Wondering if there is any way to remount the tail lights so they actually fit snugly into the body? Other seals are deformed, not fitting, which means they aren't sealing out anything and just making noise and wind drag. With roof panel alignment it is just as easy to mount the roof straight, why not?

I will take pictures tomorrow. Maybe those 18 to 20 year olds near the wash bay are some sort of miracle workers, but even if they are great at un-fudging a fudged up car, how can they do 40 to 100 a day?

This is all a real mystery at this point. My best guess is that the shipping companies are responsible for the scratches and they must have tried to back mine out with the door open and hit something.

In comparison my extremely cheap (bought during VW's crisis) < $20,000 VW GTI came wrapped in plastic, applied from the factory, which the dealer simply took off and viola, delivered, very nearly perfect. The interior quality of my cheap VW is better than my wife's 2015 E Class. Instead of coming with NO floor mats, VW actually shipped with two sets, one carpet and one deep rubber, plus two sets of cargo mats. I do not particularly like VW's IDCrozz thing, but just based on the sales process and build quality they are going to be a very tough competitor.

I am going to drive all over town to pick up checks. The sales contract (which I am sure Tesla will not honor) is off by almost $14,000 in my favor. The sales tax is figured wrong. One would sure think that form was automated to do math, but apparently not.

At this point I'm just participating out of morbid curiosity. I've literally never seen any business of any size this screwed up.

 

[OCR1]

That car sounds really messed up. I would definitely reject it and ask for a different one. You’re never going to be happy with that one after noticing so many issues.

 

[alcibiades]

Thank you for your responses, especially OCR1.

Worked my way through college and made money to buy my first home doing paint and bodywork, then restoring cars (including one in Jay Leno's collection today). The "new" model 3 had the wear and tear on it that my wife and kids typically do to a car in 2 to 4 years. I am wondering, "how does a new car get beat up this bad?" and "it can't be cheaper to push these assembly problems to the SC and delivery folks." Literally, I keep finding myself thinking how to find time to take the car apart myself and fix many of the fit issues. Wondering if there is any way to remount the tail lights so they actually fit snugly into the body? Other seals are deformed, not fitting, which means they aren't sealing out anything and just making noise and wind drag. With roof panel alignment it is just as easy to mount the roof straight, why not?

I will take pictures tomorrow. Maybe those 18 to 20 year olds near the wash bay are some sort of miracle workers, but even if they are great at un-fudging a fudged up car, how can they do 40 to 100 a day?

This is all a real mystery at this point. My best guess is that the shipping companies are responsible for the scratches and they must have tried to back mine out with the door open and hit something.

In comparison my extremely cheap (bought during VW's crisis) < $20,000 VW GTI came wrapped in plastic, applied from the factory, which the dealer simply took off and viola, delivered, very nearly perfect. The interior quality of my cheap VW is better than my wife's 2015 E Class. Instead of coming with NO floor mats, VW actually shipped with two sets, one carpet and one deep rubber, plus two sets of cargo mats. I do not particularly like VW's IDCrozz thing, but just based on the sales process and build quality they are going to be a very tough competitor.

I am going to drive all over town to pick up checks. The sales contract (which I am sure Tesla will not honor) is off by almost $14,000 in my favor. The sales tax is figured wrong. One would sure think that form was automated to do math, but apparently not.

At this point I'm just participating out of morbid curiosity. I've literally never seen any business of any size this screwed up.

To be clear, I don't think your experience is funny.

But your last line cracked me up. Respect.

 

[jebinc]

Get another one. Once you get what you should have gotten the first time, you’ll be all grins. Picked up mine yesterday and had zero issues and a great delivery experience!

 

[Proflig8tor]

Thanks ... getting another one by the end of the month is probably impossible.

I don't mind things getting fixed. I've rebuilt plenty of things once considered "totaled."

It is actually a whole lot easier to just do things right, so this level of production buffoonery is a curiosity. I now understand why Sandy Munro sounds like a schizophrenic after taking a Model 3 apart.

Love love love the design. The drive experience leaves you with a real genuine preference for Tesla cars. Then the thing itself appears to have been assembled as a craft project by my daughter's pre-school class. I'm surprised it did not have a pink painted foot print with "Daddy I love you" on it somewhere.

 

[jebinc]

Thanks ... getting another one by the end of the month is probably impossible.

I don't mind things getting fixed. I've rebuilt plenty of things once considered "totaled."

It is actually a whole lot easier to just do things right, so this level of production buffoonery is a curiosity. I now understand why Sandy Munro sounds like a schizophrenic after taking a Model 3 apart.

Love love love the design. The drive experience leaves you with a real genuine preference for Tesla cars. Then the thing itself appears to have been assembled as a craft project by my daughter's pre-school class. I'm surprised it did not have a pink painted foot print with "Daddy I love you" on it somewhere.

Ask the SC if it’s possible. With no effort, mine took a week. Built last Friday, in perfect condition and got it yesterday. Seattle.

 

[OCR1]

I show 74 Model 3’s in inventory in my area.

 

[jebinc]

I show 74 Model 3’s in inventory in my area.

There’s a web site, but I forget which one, that has an automated inventory tracker, real time. Search and find a car that Tesla will deliver in time.

 

[OCR1]

There’s a web site, but I forget which one, that has an automated inventory tracker, real time. Search and find a car that Tesla will deliver in time.

Www.ev-cpo.com

 

[jebinc]

Www.ev-cpo.com

That’s the one!

 

[Proflig8tor]

Update ... Tesla fixed the sales contract on delivery day in the store. The Alpharetta SC had an excellent paint and body guy, think his name was Taylor. Took him some time, but Tesla appears to have provided plenty of paint to buff our scratches. He got out stuff that I did not think was going to come out.

Car drives great. Cameras calibrated and the autopilot software is working much better than the cars I demo'd.

Charging is only happening at half speed. 16/32a. Going to figure that out and call it a day.

Very pleased that it ended out working out.

 

[SMAlset]

Update ... Tesla fixed the sales contract on delivery day in the store. The Alpharetta SC had an excellent paint and body guy, think his name was Taylor. Took him some time, but Tesla appears to have provided plenty of paint to buff our scratches. He got out stuff that I did not think was going to come out.

Car drives great. Cameras calibrated and the autopilot software is working much better than the cars I demo'd.

Charging is only happening at half speed. 16/32a. Going to figure that out and call it a day.

Very pleased that it ended out working out.

Happy you stuck with it and it worked out to your satisfaction. It hurts to hear people getting stressed out over the delivery but having gone through it I do understand, and in the vast majority of cases it works out with people leaving happy with their cars and loving the drive and the car. Any photos of your car?

As for the charging, not exactly sure how you are charging. Is this at home? When you go to charge, on the screen you can set your amps and start time. We charge with a 240v NEMA 14-50 outlet and set my Model 3 for 30-32a but sometimes dial it down a bit more. I almost always charge from 11pm-7am for a price break and even when it's down to 20% SOC, it will finish at 90% by 7am. Are you using an outlet or do you have a HPWC hardwired in? If HPWC I know there's a setting inside the HPWC that gets set, so that might be something overlooked at time of installation.

 

[Colozeus]

I wanted to add my experience with a refund here. Over two weeks ago, i declined delivery of my m3p due to paint chips and a dent to the rocker panel. (i'm of the opinion that a new car should not require a trip to the body shop, but i understand if you feel differently) I called and asked for them to cancel my order and they submitted a case. Everything went without a hitch. Within a few days they refunded my cc, and my bank withdrawl and they also mailed back a check to my financing bank and overnighted my trade-in vehicle title back to me. I reordered after having a change of heart and i'm scheduled to take delivery this Saturday. Fingers crossed that this time i get a m3p without paint chips and dents. Otherwise, I'm done with Tesla and will wait a year or two until they iron out their logistics issues.

 

[jebinc]

Update ... Tesla fixed the sales contract on delivery day in the store. The Alpharetta SC had an excellent paint and body guy, think his name was Taylor. Took him some time, but Tesla appears to have provided plenty of paint to buff our scratches. He got out stuff that I did not think was going to come out.

Car drives great. Cameras calibrated and the autopilot software is working much better than the cars I demo'd.

Charging is only happening at half speed. 16/32a. Going to figure that out and call it a day.

Very pleased that it ended out working out.

Glad to hear you are happy now.