Delivery experience has so far been sub-par

zer0cool said:

wait for usually an entire day for someone to respond to me

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lol, my DS takes a week to respond. And just like you I found out everything online, I was never pro-actively contacted with any piece of information.

zer0cool said:

Tesla did not include taxes and fees... so really I don't know how much will be due at signing and the bank can't issue final loan documents since they don't know the exact amount...

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If Tesla did not include taxes and fees, could it be that your state collects the taxes and fees separately from the car purchase? Also, did you get an MVPA? That should list all the info you need.

zer0cool said:

I still don't know when I will get that information and where/when I need to sign what docs...

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Some documents are emailed and you use DocuSign IIRC.

I have to say chaps that my experience was the polar opposite of yours - the Vancouver team did sterling work in keeping me informed every step of the way.

I'm sure things will improve once they are properly set up - and trust me, the car is worth the aggro!

zer0cool said:

Say what you will about traditional dealers, but I much prefer my purchase experiences at a Mercedes and two BMW dealers in the past 4 years... no hassle on my part whatsoever... e.g. at Mercedes, we agreed to pricing, I paid deposit; delivery was ready on a Saturday, and I went. Everything was taken care of, loan was secured, taxes paid, license plate service taken care of... All I did was inspect the car (in perfect order), sign some papers, wait a while, sign some more papers, and off I went... easy and no need to deal with, gather, any paperwork, or anywhere whatsoever on my part (except for calling my insurance company).

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That's pretty much the exact argument dealerships make to justify their existence. At least the times I've entertained a discussion with one over their model. So, how much is that worth to you? Honestly, I don't know how much BMW and Mercedes are charging for this service, but it's certainly not a negligible amount.

It does sound like Tesla could certainly have been more informative in your situation, though.

In some states Tesla it's not allowed to operate a"dealership", hence they can't collect taxes. You'd need to pay them to the DMV yourself.

MVPA = motor vehicle purchase agreement

Do you have a Tesla design studio or service center you can walk into? I'm trying to understand why it would be different for you in NC than me in SoCal. In Ca the DMV collects the sales tax. My Tesla guys fiiled out the paper work and submitted it. I just had to wait for the plates to arrive.
Regarding your last statement. The cars are great due to the nature of the beast the process is different, good or bad. Some people are just not cut out for it.

When it is time to deliver your car Tesla will contact you. I don't think they would attempt to drop the car off at your house without contacting you and getting all the paperwork in order. There is always room for improvement and they certainly could do better but I certainly never want to have to buy a car from a dealer no matter how easy it is. We are talking about a once every few years transaction so worth a little more pain to get this car. The dealership lobby is also purposely making the process more difficult that it needs to be in some states like Texas in order to justify their existence.

ZeroCool,

What you have so far is the preliminary MVPA. You will get a final one with the taxes and fees (I did). You will get a temporary registration and temp tag issued out of the Raleigh Store/Service Center that is valid for 30 days. You will also receive (in person or via FedEx) the completed title and registration paperwork. You need to get that notarized and return with the included envelope (I got a hardcopy in person and when I got home, FedEx had left the same paperwork there). Tesla will take care of registration and titling for you and you will get the permanent tag and registration in the mail.

Tesla Charlotte doesn't have the finalized licenses to officially do your delivery, so yes, it will be delivered to your door. You will then drive it to the Charlotte Store for orientation. I was at the store yesterday and saw 4 Teslas get dropped off for prep. Word was they go out with the Rangers on Friday for delivery.

It is frustrating, but everything will go well. BTW, the Charlotte Tesla Owners are meeting for lunch tomorrow. We would love for you to join us. PM me for info if you are available for lunch in the University area at 11:30 a.

I've had a similar feeling since ordering in April... would love to take delivery in Indianapolis at the store, but since the car is coming through Cincinnati I've been told that they will just ship the car straight to my house. It sounds like this is going to add a few days of logistics and probably also limits the timeframe delivery can happen. (I doubt a truck driver is going to want to work around my schedule, whereas with an in-store pickup we could be more flexible and go when it's convenient.) I asked if I could just drive the 90 miles down to Cincy to pick it up but I was told it would require "extra paperwork"... even though my desire is to have an in-store delivery and examine the car with staff there. I've purchased cars in other states in the past, and the paperwork isn't really anything extra.

mackgoo said:

Do you have a Tesla design studio or service center you can walk into? I'm trying to understand why it would be different for you in NC than me in SoCal. In Ca the DMV collects the sales tax. My Tesla guys fiiled out the paper work and submitted it. I just had to wait for the plates to arrive.
Regarding your last statement. The cars are great due to the nature of the beast the process is different, good or bad. Some people are just not cut out for it.

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The issue that zerocool is running into is that the Charlotte Store just opened up and as such, doesn't have the official state licenses to process everything themselves. At the moment, while they will do everything at the Charlotte Store for him, the actual handing over of the car "sale" is handled by the Raleigh Store. Registration will work like regular car purchases. The Ranger that delivers the car will have the temp registration with him and the final tag will get sent to zero's home. The only "extra" work he is subject to is 1) he has to get the documents notarized himself (any bank or UPS Store can do that), 2) he has to drive to the Charlotte store for a thorough orientation beyond the basic one the Ranger can give him.

I find it odd how Tesla's status update emails don't always get sent.

I was never notified by Tesla of the various status changes of my car. I either had to go look or my DS notified me. Aside from a production related hiccup my DS was pretty good about alerting me to the next steps. I also got an email from the home charging part of Tesla to make sure I was getting a HPWC or 14-50 installed.

I went through Tesla financing to take care of the loan since I wanted the Tesla Resale Guarantee.

I'd give my DS a 8/10 (Extremely busy time right in Washington state for Tesla)
I'd give the factory communication a 5/10 (need more transparency)
I'd give the Tesla Notification/Email system a 1/10 (it didn't work, and their status updates are completely broken)
I'd give the Tesla financing part a 9/10 (or maybe a 10/10 since they took care of everything, and showed me the various offers from the banks they worked with).
I'd give the Tesla Store a 5/10 (lack of notifications, and it took them forever to ship the center console which was in stock when I ordered).

Was it better or worse than a dealer? The problem I've had with dealers is the dishonesty to the point of almost fraud. That along with really dirty tactics like holding onto my car keys well after they've checked my trade in.

So I'd say overall mixed results. It definitely could have been better, but it wasn't really the fault of the DS in my case. In the OP's case I think the DS really dropped the ball.

Overall Tesla needs better training for the DS, and to improve the notification system of their site. They also need to be more transparent when exceptions happen. Like when they decided to delay finishing production of a bunch of cars made on May 4th to test out some new foam.

As others have noted, Tesla's communication could always be better, but the real problem here is the state auto purchase regime which like everything else is set up for the benefit of the auto dealer cartel. Avoiding the sleazy dealer games in buying a car (whether they're obvious or not) is well worth any minor hassle in the delivery process by a Tesla store or service center. Anyway once you drive your car away you'll forget all about it!

I heard from my DS via email the day I ordered and confirmed my Model S (one week ago) and haven't heard back from him since, even though I sent him a few questions.

I'm in GA and I need to take delivery no later than June 30th to get the $5k state tax credit (one of the major reasons I ordered the car now instead of later). They wouldn't commit that it would be here, but my estimated delivery was "late June". So I'm keeping my fingers crossed. They did tell me that HQ was well aware of the deadline in GA, but my car has been in the queue for the last 7 days (I do have a VIN though).

kirkbauer said:

I heard from my DS via email the day I ordered and confirmed my Model S (one week ago) and haven't heard back from him since, even though I sent him a few questions.

I'm in GA and I need to take delivery no later than June 30th to get the $5k state tax credit (one of the major reasons I ordered the car now instead of later). They wouldn't commit that it would be here, but my estimated delivery was "late June". So I'm keeping my fingers crossed. They did tell me that HQ was well aware of the deadline in GA, but my car has been in the queue for the last 7 days (I do have a VIN though).

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Honestly in your case I don't think by end of June may be possible, unless you start build within the next few days or so, definitely by next week. It'll take a good 2 weeks to get to you on average. It is at the point now where you would have to leap over 1000s of earlier orders. May not save 5K but will have a great car though ;-)

bjwModelS said:

I've had a similar feeling since ordering in April... would love to take delivery in Indianapolis at the store, but since the car is coming through Cincinnati I've been told that they will just ship the car straight to my house. It sounds like this is going to add a few days of logistics and probably also limits the timeframe delivery can happen. (I doubt a truck driver is going to want to work around my schedule, whereas with an in-store pickup we could be more flexible and go when it's convenient.) I asked if I could just drive the 90 miles down to Cincy to pick it up but I was told it would require "extra paperwork"... even though my desire is to have an in-store delivery and examine the car with staff there. I've purchased cars in other states in the past, and the paperwork isn't really anything extra.

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Interesting. I ordered through the Indianapolis store and live in Indy so would love to take delivery here. So far they are telling me I have to go to Cincy to pick it up. Mine has been "in transit" for 2 days now, but I have had no communication at all from DS. I have just kept checking the website on my own.

travwill said:

Honestly in your case I don't think by end of June may be possible, unless you start build within the next few days or so, definitely by next week. It'll take a good 2 weeks to get to you on average. It is at the point now where you would have to leap over 1000s of earlier orders. May not save 5K but will have a great car though ;-)

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I left a message with Tesla HQ today, I want to do whatever I can to speed up the process. I don't like to cut in front of others, but I do have a deadline that means real money... and it looks as they were keeping the delivery estimate sooner for GA than for other states because of this.

TexasEV said:

As others have noted, Tesla's communication could always be better, but the real problem here is the state auto purchase regime which like everything else is set up for the benefit of the auto dealer cartel. Avoiding the sleazy dealer games in buying a car (whether they're obvious or not) is well worth any minor hassle in the delivery process by a Tesla store or service center. Anyway once you drive your car away you'll forget all about it!

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I disagree, I think the real problem here is the lack of consistency from the DS's. Lots of people here have great experiences. And then lots of people complain that their DS is impossible to reach.

Don't get me wrong, I understand that they're swamped, but even an auto-away or auto-respond with "I'll try to respond to your email within X days" would be nice. But emails and calls go into a blackhole for days at a time.

One of Tesla's key weaknesses is communications, within the company and in customer-facing. Individual DS's and service managers here and there may be the exception, by taking the initiative to always be one step ahead of the customer and help manage their expectations throughout the buying and delivery and ultimately throughout the ownership experience. But in my experience, Tesla's key problem for the past 2 years is communications. One sees it everywhere, from hiring to interdepartmental communications within the company (go spend an hour reading Glassdoor reviews of what it's like working in the company . . . it's all about communications breakdowns), to customers trying to find out what is going on.

Part of this is Elon's strangehold of power on top, and people below not knowing what's going on. Part of is bad IT infrastructure. Part of it is Elon doesn't understand how communication is a KEY part of the customer experience from day -100 to day 10000+. Break down the communication and you hurt the brand.

If Tesla continues failing at communications -- really basic things that are ALL fixable, via well-thought out information technology infrastructure, training, and most of all an acknowledgement that there IS a problem and that it IS as key to the brand as the shiny curves of the car are -- then the company's prospects when scaling at Model 3 could be hurt. Because in a small market of mostly techno-fans and early adopters, much is forgiven. In a mainstream market of 500,000 buyers a year, nothing is forgiven, and the poor communications turns into a story about how Tesla's innovative direct-buy model is no better than the old-fashioned dealer model, and nobody wants that.

The communications failure is something that I wish someone would confront Elon with at the upcoming shareholder's meeting. For years, Apple's strength was not only design but also details, including managing customer expectations, which they did brilliantly through their online and in-person stores (think Genius bar). Tesla lacks this maniacal attention to detail -- not at the car level but at the customer level. Again, it is all fixable. But it's going to be fixed by hiring someone to own and have the authority to enforce a maniacal attention to detail, and even tell Elon to eff off if necessary in order to do the right thing for the customer.

Tesla's biggest risk, in my opinion, is not scaling up production of the products, but scaling up their rickety, failure-prone communications culture and infrastructure.