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First P85D adopters stuck in black hole

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gpetti

Active Member
Supporting Member
Nov 6, 2013
1,643
122
Calgary, Canada
Hopefully the title isn't too emotive but I feel that there needs to be somewhere for those of us that are stuck in limbo (better word?). But this I mean:

  • ordered very early
  • build started in first 2-3 weeks of P85D production
  • still stuck in build or completion
  • absolutely nobody knows where are cars are or what is happening (many different stories but none that make sense - seats has been suggested but my only recent information is that our cars will not have the new seats anyway)
  • we have missed out on at least one new feature that will be in cars that will almost certainly be delivered before ours

for some, the clock is ticking for others like myself we are looking at reordering.

Anyone welcome but but anyone who might characterize our issues and concerns as whining should probably give this a miss.
 
I am with you. Been in production since the 24th... I am thinking about ordering a 2015 car and bailing on this one. VIN 64,186. Ordered the car at the reveal event in LA.
I have already started to initiate this process. Glad I am not trying for 2014; however, even if we do, I thi maybe a collective letter to Jerome or others might be in order. I'm feeling we early adopters deserve some kind of explanation/apology.
 
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Mike and I'm an irritated P85D orderer. Ordered 10/10, went into production on 11/24, scheduled delivery week of 12/8, still "in production" on 12/13. Recently told that despite all this waiting I won't even be getting the seats I ordered until sometime next year.

Honestly worried that there is something "wrong" with my car that they will "patch" or "fix" and it won't be like a flawless car directly off the assembly line. Without any better explanation from Tesla, this type of speculation is to be expected.

Seriously Tesla? Trying to rush something to market that isn't ready yet. Over promise, under deliver - that's the motto.
 
I'm a long time Tesla owner, supporter, and shareholder, and one of the first to order a P85D (after watching a live stream of the unveiling), and I, too, am a frustrated P85D orderer stuck in limbo.

I've been through this song and dance with Tesla before - I waited over a year for my first Model S only to have Tesla offer me a shot at a December 2012 delivery and then fall through and not get me the car until January 2013.

Here we are potentially again.

Last time though I had considerably more patience and tolerance for this. Tesla was a younger, smaller company building it's first car from scratch and I felt compelled to get off gas and into an EV. From my point of view, getting into a Tesla was something I needed to do and I was willing to wait.

This time, getting into a P85D is far from a need. This is entirely about a want. It's an emotional decision, completely unnecessary, and frankly rather impractical. But it was exciting and fun. That's starting to vaporize and the reality and inconvenience of the situation is starting to take hold.

I'm seriously considering canceling my want and just continuing to enjoy my need.
 
With zero communications I can't help but feel the same as the OP. Also what is up with the highly promoted "Auto Pilot" that is not being delivered active with the P85D or any other 85 for that matter? MarcG who received his P85D confirmed that he only has speed warnings and lane departure warnings, no lane keeping, blind spot monitoring or adaptive cruise control. Were the demo videos real that were showing these features? Why are we not going to receive what we ordered the car for?
 
Ordered 10/10 and ... "In Production" since 12/1...have not received "the letter" from Jerome that others did...have not received one inbound call from anyone at Tesla...Next Gen seats will be installed after delivery (whenever that is). When I call DS I get various vague answers about the seat issue and final inspection being done very thoroughly. I too am concerned about the issue that Tesla does not want to tell me about and am seriously considering cancelling and reordering.
I'm curious to know if anyone has done that, what the process is and whether they have been given a delivery date on the reordered vehicle. Given I don't have a delivery date, a reorder may provide a faster means to the end.
 
Thanks for starting this thread. I was scheduled for 12/4 delivery. Now in limbo. Jerome replied and said they intend to deliver car by the end of month. I don't have any travel plans so that works for me, but based on the original 12/4 date I have already sold my P85 and my loan has been funded (check in my possession) and I'm paying interest so a little annoyed about that. Tesla did provide me a free car rental so I have something to commute with.
 
I have already started to initiate this process. Glad I am not trying for 2014; however, even if we do, I thi maybe a collective letter to Jerome or others might be in order. I'm feeling we early adopters deserve some kind of explanation/apology.

I feel the same. Companies should be treating early adopters very well. I owned a Roadster, a Sig P85, ordered my P85D the first day... In prod since Nov 26th... And now I wait. I'm going on vacation in Florida on the 28th and not even sure I'll have my car by then. So getting a 2014 car in 2015 with unknown build history.
 
I'm in a similar boat. Car has been sitting "In Production" for weeks with no update or explanation.

Then I received a call asking to receive the car with the wrong seats, with a promise to retrofit.

Also went into prod. right before heated steering wheel option was introduced -- "yes I was happy with the car when I ordered it", but *only* because the tesla rep promised me no heated steering wheel option was in the works (why don't they just tell the reps to say "i have no idea whats in the pipeline" because anything else is a lie).

Overall I'm pretty unhappy, and will be canceling my order on Monday. $140k for a beta car that has assembly line troubles, the wrong seats, and outdated options compared to cars currently on the line is just unacceptable.

If they allow me to reorder and transfer my balance, I will do that. If they don't, I'm going to dispute the $2500 with my CC company (which I *can* do because they're attempting to deliver a product that I did *not* order, eg the car with the wrong seats).

The whole thing is somewhat sad and I think there's a collective "stockholm syndrome" with some forum posters that have the attitude "I suffered when getting my car, so you shouldn't complain about suffering!" -- it's a 140k purchase. They need to get their act together, period. Some of us have spouses who aren't huge "Tesla enthusiasts" and this sort of sales experience just makes them look like they aren't a professional organization.

Sorry for the harshness, but it's my opinion. I'm sure many will disagree, but you all should be happy, as by canceling my order you might get your car sooner =)

I just feel sad for whoever gets the frankenstein monster they ran down the assembly line for my order. Who knows what other problems these cars have (obviously not just the seats otherwise those w/ older seats would have gotten delivery yet).


Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Mike and I'm an irritated P85D orderer. Ordered 10/10, went into production on 11/24, scheduled delivery week of 12/8, still "in production" on 12/13. Recently told that despite all this waiting I won't even be getting the seats I ordered until sometime next year.

Honestly worried that there is something "wrong" with my car that they will "patch" or "fix" and it won't be like a flawless car directly off the assembly line. Without any better explanation from Tesla, this type of speculation is to be expected.

Seriously Tesla? Trying to rush something to market that isn't ready yet. Over promise, under deliver - that's the motto.
 
Same boat as you all. Ordered the first chance available. Production 11/24. Stuck in the black hole. Never received the email from Jerome. Get zero information from my DS. Keep being told the 17th looks doable but no firm commitment which leaves me to believe something was/is seriously wrong with my car. Tired of seeing people start production days or week(s) after I started finish before me. Just want to know WHATS GOING ON!

Im going to email Jerome and let him know I don't appreciate being kept in the dark. Does anyone mind if I copy some of your posts above (without username) to further demonstrate there is a growing group of us. I won't do that if you all see that as a problem.

Tired of this
 
Ordered 10/10 and ... "In Production" since 12/1...have not received "the letter" from Jerome that others did...have not received one inbound call from anyone at Tesla...Next Gen seats will be installed after delivery (whenever that is).

I'm more or less in your exact situation. I did determine that I somehow set email updates off by writing to ownership, which probably explains why I didn't receive the Jerome update. I'm prepared to wait and remain super-excited about the car, but I've never once been called even when I've had assurances of call-backs. The problem with a complete absence of communication about the production status is that you tend to assume the worst and figure that they are having to break the car back down to replace one or more parts. I'm not really likely to get away from the P85D purchase, but if I'm not going to take delivery until 2015 I'm not inclined to take a car that has a 2014 VIN (and therefore worse resale value) and has had some unknown amount of rework and is also missing the heated steering wheel component. It seems pretty clear that cancelling and re-ordering would get a VIN matching the delivery year and a car that was built smoothly through the normal assembly process. It would be annoying to wait 12 more months for my tax rebate, but that is no kind of deal-breaker to me.

The issue with the seats is also curious. Its pretty clear that there is some issue related to them, since a number of people have been offered delivery without the seats, but I've not been able to confirm anything like that with my DS one way or the other. Despite living 100+ miles from a service center, I'd still much rather have the car with the old seats now rather than wait until next year -- but I've had no indication that this is a valid option for me.
 
Well, as many of you know over in the delivery tracking thread, I'm not happy.

I'll just try to summarize my gripes with this whole process:


  • Ordered 10/11, confirmed 10/11, reconfirmed within an hour of the option to do so on 10/24
  • Delivery scheduled for 12/5 on 11/5
  • Entered production 11/21 (one of the first, first to note on TMC)
  • Delivery of 12/5 slipped to 12/10
  • Delivery of 12/10 slipped to 12/12
  • Delivery of 12/12 slipped to "No ETA" with more details "next week"
  • No real information about the delay except next week next week next week
    • Any information that was given was not volunteered and had to be from pestering the DS
    • Plausible (maybe) explanation about a seat issue from Jerome, yet no progress on production of my car since
  • Debatable sales tactics on showing "285 miles" at the time of ordering to now be 242 miles when deliveries are happening
    • Obviously this is up for debate since EPA miles and actual miles will be different, but it is still an issue IMO
  • Delivery of cars out of deposit date order
    • This could be partially explained by grouping and geographic distribution, but not such a gross discrepancy
  • Production and completion of cars out of deposit date order
  • "In Production" for 22 days and counting with no additional details on why
  • 2014 tax credit critical to my purchase, yet a December delivery is questionable at this point
  • From day one my purchase was 100% contingent on a December delivery and this was made known to my DS at the time
  • NJ tax exemption available to me for the next month or so critical for purchase, yet a December delivery is questionable at this point
  • I don't care about the heated steering wheel
  • Trying to plan a my holiday family vacation around delivery
    • 12/5 was before my vacation
    • Other dates were worked into vacation plans for a trip back to Devon, PA to take delivery only to be cancelled
    • Travel up and down I-95 is getting worse every day we get closer to the end of the month due to holiday travel. I'm no longer looking forward to the 1200 mile journey to PA and back to get the car for this reason.
  • Tesla has been working to schedule inspection and trade in of my P85, however I keep defaulting to needing to do the trade at delivery time and they agreed to plan accordingly
    • Not a huge issue yet as I still have my P85, but I'm racking on miles in the meantime which will surely impact my trade in value, which is an issue...


Long story short, this has not been a pleasant process. If I had to take a customer satisfaction survey based on this experience alone Tesla would not get very high marks.

I feel my DS just doesn't actually have the information he needs to do his job effectively, so, I don't think any of this is his fault in particular. I feel like if he knew what was happening that he would share it with me, so I have no problems with him. He responds to my emails and calls, although he just doesn't have any new information it seems.

I'm a pretty patient overall, but this process is wearing a little on my nerves.

I've sent an email to Jerome explaining my situation and noted intent to cancel if I can't take delivery by the 31st. My DS is also aware of my situation and my intent to cancel if delivery doesn't happen by the 31st. I wish someone would give me some confirmation on whether or not this will actually happen, however.

Anyway, I'll try to leave this be until I get any additional relevant info. In the meantime I've sent Nerf missiles and launchers to some Tesla staff in protest of these delays.

-wk

Edit: I have noted that I will take delivery with whatever seats are available for now if that is a hold up.

Edit: If I don't get any useful information next week, I will be cancelling regardless. If no one can tell me for sure whether my car will be here by the end of the year next week, Tesla does not deserve my business. I will also note that if I do cancel this order I will not be reordering or going through this process again any time in the foreseeable future. I'll wait until there is a P85D floor model I can buy and drive off with if I ever get the urge to buy one again.
 
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Same boat. Entered Production 11/24. Production complete 11/29. Got appointment for 12/5. Car got "ready for delivery" early so I asked if it meant it was really ready and could pick it up early. DS said yes and set the date to 12/3.
So far so good!
I paid the FULL amount via ACH.
Then a DAY before my scheduled delivery (but - coincidence! - after the funds got transferred), on 12/2, I got voicemail & email saying my delivery was cancelled. No new ETA since 12/2. No ETA for an ETA either. Definitely a black hole.

My guess is that this batch we're part of has been set aside so the "mainstream production" can go full speed (and we can see it is cranking). Unfortunately for us it looks like our batch isn't getting much attention, and may not get until the end of the month, because they may want to prioritize cars that need to be put on carriers to ship around the country so they can put as many as possible into owner's hands. Pure speculation of course.

-- Greg
 
I am kinda in the same boat -- ordered/confirmed the day of the event, went into production 1-December, still in production today (13-December). I'm gonna ride it out. Partly because if I order today the delivery target is "late February" and I need the snowplow functionality of the Tesla long before then. But also because I figure they'll fix whatever's wrong. Or they'll make it right if they can't. So far, the punchlist seems to be under control. Besides, I drive like your Granny and can live with orange-crate seats for a while if that's what it takes. And think of the great warranty service we'll get! All we'll have to do is call up with a problem and say "I'm beta-testing one of those black-hole mystery early-production doom-monster P85D's" and they'll have scientists in white coats all over us.

By the way, I didn't get the email notice either -- but I'm thinking that's because I didn't sign up for the "newsletter" gizmo when I ordered the car (which is where that email was sent). Dang, who knew that their newsletter was actually useful?? That's a first.
 
Given Tesla is a publicly traded company with a fiscal year end on the calendar, it really doesn't make sense that they would defer shipping outside of the "late December" delivery that they by and far seem to be communicating. So understand the conundrum that people face on wanting a 2014 or 2015 VIN or perhaps the Federal Tax Incentive being missed because an order slips into January, I cant really understand the added noise. We are down to the wire in 2014 with just two weeks to go,...like a marathoner quitting a race in the 25th mile where they can even see the finish line. Realizing that its a tough time of the year to plan around, I can see both sides.

So here we are at mid month and cars now finally leaving the factory...and the reviews of those drivers is very positive. I think its kind of interesting how frustrated people are...but ultimately Tesla isn't communicating miss information. Rather, it seems to be the lack of 'detailed' information people are demanding and all of the guess work in a process that one has no control over (other than cancelling altogether) is where the frustration is coming from. Its like one checks into their Dashboard and sees that nothing has changed and imagines that there car is sitting there unattended because the web page says so...They arent necessarily related folks. Guessing that the factory isnt intrinsically linked to that customer facing area. Note to self for Tesla...they should remove that page because from what I see that appears to be the basis of the frustration....I posted (in tongue and cheek) yesterday to help us all laugh a little about this window and its frustrating effect - here it is again:

Why Starbucks Spells Your Name Wrong - Agitators Ep. 1 - YouTube

Dont get me wrong - I want my car too, but in the end, they haven't messed up yet...for many of us when it comes right down to it - 'late December' hasn't happened yet.
 
Same boat. Entered Production 11/24. Production complete 11/29. Got appointment for 12/5. Car got "ready for delivery" early so I asked if it meant it was really ready and could pick it up early. DS said yes and set the date to 12/3.
So far so good!
I paid the FULL amount via ACH.
Then a DAY before my scheduled delivery (but - coincidence! - after the funds got transferred), on 12/2, I got voicemail & email saying my delivery was cancelled. No new ETA since 12/2. No ETA for an ETA either. Definitely a black hole.

My guess is that this batch we're part of has been set aside so the "mainstream production" can go full speed (and we can see it is cranking). Unfortunately for us it looks like our batch isn't getting much attention, and may not get until the end of the month, because they may want to prioritize cars that need to be put on carriers to ship around the country so they can put as many as possible into owner's hands. Pure speculation of course.

-- Greg

Fortunately doing the trade in at delivery has gotten me off the hook for prepayment. At this point I'm definitely not paying anything until I physically see the car.

But I hope you're wrong about them holding them for long, especially past the end of the year.
 
I stumbled onto the tesla because I just decided to by my wife a Christmas present. I ordered my car in mid November not even knowing anything about all you guys waiting and longing for your cars. I received my vin# and am supposed to have my car on December 26 th. I will be out of the country on vacation and scheduled my delivery on January 6, 2015.
what I find kinda funny is that all of the talk and complaining going on here is like Déjà vu. When I ordered my Shelby super snake and sent my car to Vegas to get upgraded every one on the Shelby site was as ansy as everyone here. People were bithcing about every little delay.
The bottom line is when I got my car it was the greatest thing in the world. All of the complaining didn't change anything. It didn't speed up the delivery of the car I was longing for.The car was worth the wait. I am sure this experience with the Tesla will be the same experience. the only difference for me is that I'm not complaining because I know that once every body gets their cars the threads will change from complaining to how great these cars are.
And by the way, my Shelby has 659 RWHP and this tesla will blow that away. I can't wait but I'm not gonna bitch!
 
Now that there is a thread to have a grown up discussion about this issue I will attempt to participate in this forum again.

Like the original poster, I am deeply frustrated with Tesla. I continue to have two cars on order. I have traded in my nearly new CLS63 AMG and my wife's ML350 lease expires on Monday 12/15. Tesla is holding $90K of my money between the deposits and the value of my CLS63. I can't really get that money back without losing the sales tax (13% or $11K). And even if I did, I can't get my CLS63 back because I took a wholesale value on the trade. Basically I am f***ed. Renting cars is not the end of the world but the real issue is the TOTAL communication blackout from Tesla. Like the OP, I ordered both cars the very minute the online store opened after the D announcement (which is reflected in my VINs 63003 and 63026) and I am paying dearly for being first.

I know of no other car company that is that callous toward its customers. I tried to convince myself of the argument that they are a small new company and that is why I have no info on my cars but frankly after two weeks of waiting the only explanation that is plausible is that they simply don't give a **** about their customers or their employees for that matter because I am convinced that they are equally in the dark.

As far as I am concerned, my car buying experience has been ruined. I am no longer excited about getting my new cars. I am no longer excited about Tesla as a company. At this point, the practical thing is to stick it out until the cars arrive and drive rentals in the meantime.

I have no idea what Tesla gains by pissing off a very enthusiastic customer who is simply looking for some communication.

Again. I am not upset at the delay (as characterized by the mods who named a thread after me) . Even the best companies in the world have unforeseen circumstances. I am upset at the TOTAL and COMPLETE lack of communication.
 
With zero communications I can't help but feel the same as the OP. Also what is up with the highly promoted "Auto Pilot" that is not being delivered active with the P85D or any other 85 for that matter? MarcG who received his P85D confirmed that he only has speed warnings and lane departure warnings, no lane keeping, blind spot monitoring or adaptive cruise control. Were the demo videos real that were showing these features? Why are we not going to receive what we ordered the car for?

I'm pretty certain that it was stated at the October announcement of the "D and something else" that full autopilot functionality would not be available until sometime in 2015. This is from the October 10th Tesla blog post: Model S will be able to steer to stay within a lane, change lanes with the simple tap of a turn signal, and manage speed by reading road signs and using active, traffic aware cruise control. It will take several months for all Autopilot features to be completed and uploaded to the cars.