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Why I Cancelled My Model 3 Order and am No Longer a Tesla Fan

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I am very surprised that they didn't offer some sort of loan vehicle after the body-shop ran over with the original car. Surely they could have lent you a vehicle for the extra couple of weeks that it took for them to get in that last piece of glass?

Considering the option of the second vehicle, I am likewise surprised that they then couldn't hold it somewhere. Apparently they have car parks full of Teslas waiting for transport and delivery etc. Why couldn't they just put it there, if they weren't able to hold at the delivery centre or a service centre?

I can understand why you cancelled, but it is a little worrying that the last delivery agent, 'Noah' wasn't able to pass you on to someone with the authorisation to sort out options beyond a refund.

I am reminded of Southwest Airlines when they said how important it was that all their employees had the authorisation to do what was necessary to help a customer without requiring it being chased up a huge chain of command. Surely this is what Elon meant in his fairly recent comments about removing hierarchy in the company?
 
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Amen.

I might have the same situation, as my Model S might be ready in the middle of an out of country trip, they said if you cannot come and get it when we ask you we have to give the car to another customer. I was like, wait, WHAT ? This is ridiculous, i've tweeted to Musk about this, non-sense at all.
Give limited power of attorney to trusted person to pick car up.
 
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Honestly, that’s a really shitty cop out by them as you’re waited sooooo long, and they are being corporate compassionless - I am glad You have cancelled after all that but it does make a point , and hopefully will make them develop a better more reliable Sales system . These giant corporations only help people that can get them publicity, and negative seems to garner Elon’s attention
 
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It must depend on who you talk to. I picked up a car last month for a friend who was out of the country. He knew his Model X would be ready for delivery while he was overseas, he completed the paperwork and payment ahead of time, and arranged with the salesperson for me to pick it up. I got the call to schedule the delivery time and when I arrived they were ready for me to sign for the car.

We had a similar experience. Delays pushed having the car ready while we were on a scheduled trip. We had already paid for the car and completed the paperwork. Tesla agreed to a home delivery AND that we could have someone else sign to accept the car. We just had to give the DS the name, and that was the only person allowed to sign. Delivery didn't actually happen though, because they found a chip in the back window during inspection. So I don't know if there would have been any issues once the car arrived at the house.
 
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These giant corporations only help people that can get them publicity, and negative seems to garner Elon’s attention

What are you saying here? I received TONS of help from this "Giant Corporation"! I am but a lowly Tesla owner, and not someone that can help the 'Giant Corporation' with ANY publicity (sans what is written in this forum). Although I agree that many have had issues... I have experienced more good than bad in my discussions with other Tesla owners. While there is still room for improvement, saying that this 'Giant Corporation' only helps certain people is - well - 'Ludicrous'! -Pun intended
 
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I can relate with OP. While my case is definitely not yet as frustrating as his, its really, really hard to get all excited about your upcoming delivery, only to be told last minute that its not going to happen. The emotional drain and frustration is surprising.

I called immediately before taking afternoon off of work and driving 2 hours there with whole family and they said good to go. Arrived. Waited an hour only to find out there was a crack in glass roof and they would not let us take delivery even though I still wanted to accept and get it fixed later. They said it might get bigger and turn into a safety issue.

For me, I had the irony of Musk tweeting about taking Tesla private on my day of non-delivery, which only added to the emotions as I have nearly all my investable net worth in TSLA.

Anyway, I seriously considered bailing on my purchase, but time has brought me back around to wanting to go through with purchase. Hopefully something will work out for me to get a car one way or another.

I pissed off my ISA with all my ranting when first delivery didn't happen. Now she won't respond to my emails. Can't totally say I blame her. Anyway, I'm stuck trying to contact local delivery center which is not going much better. The hardest part is the unknown. I should have thought of that before pissing off my ISA ha ha.

That said, my patience is not inexhaustible. I really need some kind of update this week or a new VIN...
 
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Wanted to share my experience with attempting to get a Model 3.

Like many people, on March 31, 2016, I paid a deposit of $1000 for a Model 3.

On April 15, 2018, I received my configuration email. It said that my car would be ready in 3-6 weeks. I completed the configuration and paid the non-refundable $2500 additional deposit.

On June 4, 2018, I received an email from Alvin Lu (Inside Sales Advisor) telling me that my car would be ready for delivery soon and asking me to fill out a few more details (insurance, etc.) in my profile. I was leaving for a business trip in Europe that day so I emailed Alvin back and told him my schedule. He said no problem, I could pick up the vehicle when I returned from my trip.

On June 11, 2018, I received a call and email from Brodie Vogler (another Inside Sales Advisor) letting me know that my car could be picked up anytime on or after June 14. He knew that I was out of the country so he gave me some options for pickup on June 16, the day after I returned. We made an appointment for June 16 at 3pm.

On June 15, 2018, I received a call and email from Marshall Smith (Delivery Advisor) telling me that they received my car in Seattle (pickup location) but there were some "cosmetic issues" that needed to be repaired before I could take delivery. I called and talked to Marshall as soon as I arrived back in the U.S. and he expected that I would receive the car by the end of June. We made an appointment for me to pick up the car on June 30 at 11am.

On June 27, 2018, I emailed Marshall to make sure we were on schedule for the June 30 appointment. Marshall emailed me back the same day and said he checked with the body shop and they were optimistic that the car would be ready for delivery on June 30.

On June 29, 2018, I emailed Marshall to ask for an update. Later the same day he called to tell me that the body shop was waiting on a piece of replacement glass and the car would not be ready for pickup the next day. He agreed to keep me updated.

On July 9, 2018, after not hearing anything from Marshall I once again emailed him to get an update. At this point I'm starting to become impatient.

On July 10 I received a reply from Marshall telling me that the glass had been received, but as the body shop was reassembling everything they discovered more paint damage and more parts that needed to be replaced. He reached out to Brodie Vogler to ask if finding me a new VIN would be a quicker option. I replied that my preference at this point would be a new VIN because I'm concerned about the amount of damage to the original car.

On July 12 my Tesla account was updated with a delivery window of Oct-Dec 2018. I immediately emailed Brodie to find out whether that was correct, and if so I was not happy to have to wait that long due to circumstances outside my control. Brodie called me immediately and assured me that it would not take that long, and thanked me for being so patient.

On August 8 I received an email from Noah Rymer (Delivery Advisor) that my Model 3 would be available for pickup as soon as August 14. Unfortunately, I had another business trip in Europe from August 8-22. I emailed Noah back to let him know that I would be out of the country and would be back on August 23 and would like to pick up the vehicle on August 25.

On August 13 after receiving NO RESPONSE for 5 DAYS, I emailed him again (this time from Europe) to make sure that I could pick up the vehicle on August 25, as requested. Finally, Noah responded and said that the last day that they could hold the vehicle would be August 18, and since I couldn't pick it up by then they would have to issue me another new VIN which would take an additional 4-6 weeks.

I replied to Noah to let him know that this was not acceptable since I have had to wait so long already. I reminded him of the delays already and that they have my $3500 deposit, and asked that they please reconsider the decision to reassign the VIN.

Noah replied unsympathetically and stated that Delivery Centers can't hold vehicles for more than 7 days.

I replied to Noah, explaining that there are extenuating circumstances in this case and that he please review the history of my account and elevate this matter to his manager. I told him that I needed to receive the car when I returned from my trip and that I was not willing to wait any longer.

On August 14, after receiving no reply to my last email asking to elevate the matter to his manager, I emailed Noah again to make it clear that if my car was not ready to be picked up when I returned to the U.S. next week that I would need my deposit returned in full. It has been exactly 4 months since receiving my configuration email (far longer than the 3-6 weeks originally communicated to me) and I'm out of patience.

Noah replied and stated again that it would not be possible for the delivery center to hold my car until I return. Then he enthusiastically offered to refund my deposit.

So after almost 2 1/2 years of waiting patiently and excitedly for my Model 3, I have cancelled my order and asked for a refund. This was a terrible customer experience, especially at the end with Noah Rymer. I'm so disgusted with Tesla right now that I'm quite sure I will NEVER consider buying (or recommend that anyone else buy) a Tesla for the rest of my life. Shame on you Tesla for not treating your most loyal customers better. Take a tip from your pal Jeff Bezos and learn to DELIGHT your customers at all cost.

Chris Gil - Seattle
Chris, excellent job of documentation! My advice, print that out, spend 50 cents and send a letter to VP of customer relations at Tesla. At a minimum, they ought to know.
I read that, felt bad for you and walked away (I've discovered there be trolls here).
I was talking to the sales guy who gave me the test drive in an S before I ordered the 3, yesterday. I relayed the instance of a guy in TX the other day with a horror story not too dissimilar to yours. He said sometimes on the carrier a strap comes lose and cracks a window and/or damages paint. He said, we fix it. I mentioned the guy in TX was already paying for the first car they sent when they shipped him another car changing his vin. He assured me that wouldn't happen..well perhaps not in MA but apparently did in TX. He said something interesting though, even in a non-showroom state, you don't own the car until AFTER delivery and you sign for it. Well, maybe up north but, apparently, not in TX.
If you never signed for the car (finished the transaction) then it's not your car and you could say, ship me another one as you don't want to purchase a defective car.
Tesla pointed out to me early on, they are not commissioned sales people. What does that mean? It means, among other things, they get paid whether you buy the car or not.
But, more importantly, what happens at a Chevy, Ford, Jeep dealership. They get car carriers in all the time. I am sure they incur occasional damage in shipping. Maybe part of the issue is Tesla tells people when the car will be arriving, not when it's ready for pickup. Relative to the big 3 or 4 or 5, Tesla is rather new to this. People who pick up a Chevy or Ford or... likely don't even realize when the car arrived damaged. If they knew when the car arrived, perhaps there would be more refused delivery angry customers.
Maybe people picking up their cars, armed with their VINs should do a quick carfax before they pick the car up. A 'used car', I believe, is technically a car that has been previously titled. This is how you pay pretty close to full price on a model S or X with 2,000 miles on it. Technically, it's a new car having never been titled. That doesn't mean it hasn't been damaged.
The other thing is, maybe true in all cases, the person on the MVPA has to take delivery of it vs signing the paperwork and having someone else physically take delivery. I think the 'must take delivery within 7 days' is reasonable. If you ordered a Chevy but were out of town or out of state or country when it arrived, at some point, sure, I suspect they'd sell it to someone else. Maybe before they assign one a vin, one should tell them THEIR availability to take delivery such that the designated car can be matched to when the purchaser is available to take deliver. I know this doesn't help you Chris but for others reading this thread.
The sales guy I referred to early said if there was damage upon arrival they would fix it. Sure, everyone wants a 'virgin' car. I wonder how often with any car that happens. So, perhaps, for us readers of this drama, as soon as things start to sound sketchy, ask for another car.
Again, that totally sucks and I share everyone else's support for you.
 
He said something interesting though, even in a non-showroom state, you don't own the car until AFTER delivery and you sign for it. Well, maybe up north but, apparently, not in TX.

Yep, "business friendly" Texas has onerous rules for buying a Tesla. At the "Gallery" they're not allowed to talk price, nor help you place an order. Then the car must be paid for in full before Tesla can ship it - so you own the car before it leaves California.

At least we're not as bad as Michigan, we do have Service Centers; however, all service calls must go thru California. If you stop in like I did* a few weeks ago they shoot off an email to somebody in California, then that person must open the service ticket before the people in Texas can do anything.


* I was in the area after picking up my 3 from EVS Motors, so stopped in to ask if I should be concerned about not seeing a firmware update in a couple months. They said it'd come in over WiFi, so I let them know I was still on an older Cellular Only build (it did connect to Tesla's WiFi when I pulled up, just no way to configure for home WiFi). They emailed California, then once the service ticket was opened they staged the update for me to install after I returned home.
 
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1. As soon as Tesla said that there was significant enough body damage that the car needed to go to a body shop, get new parts, and get repainted I would have been pressing them on how they are selling the car as new when it is being repaired. In many states there are laws around what % of repair can be done to a car and still sell it as new. In any event I would not have been comfortable with it.

The limits can be higher than one would expect in many states. 5-10% of the value. They didn’t even have to count the cost of some parts replaced with oem parts. Wheels, bumpers, glass, lights for example.

Rules vary widely. But it’s pretty common.
 
Noah replied unsympathetically and stated that Delivery Centers can't hold vehicles for more than 7 days.
I've seen a number of topics where SC would not budge on the 7 day rule and piss off customers.

While we can be sympathetic to their workload and, potentially, lots that are always full and have no extra space, the exceptions do need to be made.

This 7 day rule seems to be very hard lined, but this needs to change to include a list of reasonable exceptions and communicated down to all SCs... i did not see that someone would bring this issue to the higher management for visibility.
 
Giving a $1000 deposit, and getting it refunded makes you a "former customer", not a "loyal customer".

Give me another example of giving a company $1000 on a pre-order for a product and then waiting 2-3 years for it. I can't think of any. You have to believe in the company to do that and, for me anyways, that means you're a loyal customer.

The limits can be higher than one would expect in many states. 5-10% of the value. They didn’t even have to count the cost of some parts replaced with oem parts. Wheels, bumpers, glass, lights for example.

Rules vary widely. But it’s pretty common.

That's true, but think about what the repair bill would be from the body shop for being there for a week getting multiple parts replaced, re-painted, etc.... could easily be a $10,000 bill and fit that criteria.

If they told me my car was going to the body shop I'd tell them I want to see the invoice of what they are doing and what the cost estimate is. If it was more than a couple thousand bucks I would be demanding a new VIN. Let them take the car they spend 2 weeks messing with and re-painting and sell it to someone less concerned about such things.
 
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I've seen a number of topics where SC would not budge on the 7 day rule and piss off customers.

While we can be sympathetic to their workload and, potentially, lots that are always full and have no extra space, the exceptions do need to be made.

This 7 day rule seems to be very hard lined, but this needs to change to include a list of reasonable exceptions and communicated down to all SCs... i did not see that someone would bring this issue to the higher management for visibility.

I'm your friendly neighborhood Tesla economist and have the solution for the problem.

$100 per day or whatever the reasonable market rate is to keep your car sheltered beyond 7 days once you sign paperwork and take ownership.

Buyer gets to pick up the car anytime they want.

Tesla doesn't lose their ass on forgone opportunity costs of holding inventory.

Or....

When Tesla can make it to lunch, and you can make it to lunch at an agreed time, lunch happens?
 
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