Raleigh NC Delivery Team dropped the ball

Selecting, buying, going to pickup my inventory P85 in Rockville, MD had gone very smoothly - minus the weather delay on 12/23 that played havoc with my flight - until I had to deal with the Raleigh Delivery Team to get my NC title and tags on the vehicle. I hate to post negative comments, but my frustration level has reached the point that I would feel badly not sharing this experience, with the hope that someone can use the information to escape the inconvenience. I shall also try to do a "Readers Digest" report :smile:

Picked up vehicle in Rockville, MD on 12/23/15 with a VA 30-day temp tag.
Notified via phone call on 1/6/2016 by the Raleigh Delivery Team member that I need to get the car inspected and to email the inspection report and the registration card from my old vehicle (I am transferring my old plate) ASAP so that they can get the title and tag paperwork done.
Emailed the inspection report and registration tag scans to the Raleigh Delivery Team on 1/8/2016
1/15/16: Called several times and left message on Raleigh Delivery Team number that I had not heard from them regarding title and tag and temp tag was expiring in less than a week. Followed up phone call messages with email to DES contact person.
1/18/16: Another call and message left. DES returned call and said that he had made an error in the paperwork and it had to be resubmitted to NCDMV and he would do that on 1/19...progress (I thought).
1/22/2016 TEMP TAG EXPIRES. Another email asking for update from Raleigh DES person. Email response that day says paperwork was left with NCDMV "earlier in the week" and was due to be process on 1/22 but since we had ice and snow DMV was probably not working. DES says he will go Monday 1/25 and "stand in line until it is done" if I need to.
1/22/2016 - New Tesla now parked in garage until I can legally drive it - not a happy new Tesla owner now :cursing:
1/25/2016 - Still parked in garage. Called at 3:45 pm was told the DES was "at DMV office right now." 5:39 pm DES emails that DMV changed the fees and he did not have the correct amount to pay by check! Check should be "coming tomorrow and I will stand in line to get your paperwork processed."
1/26/2016 - Still parked in garage at 1pm so DES called. "Check has not come yet but I am going to email person about it."

At this point I am no longer mister nice guy trying to catch flies with honey. I get out the vinegar and request a loaner vehicle that I can legally drive while Tesla gets its act together and I get a title and tag. Nope, can't do that. Offer is to bring me another 30-day tag so I can legally drive my car! I am not sure that I can survive 4 years or 50k miles of this CUSTOMER NO SERVICE.

Thanks for letting me vent :cursing::cursing:

tinm said:

Another reason Tesla needs a ticketing system with built-in accountability checks.

At every single step of the way, someone owns an action. That individual would be nagged by the system until they accomplish the action and update the system so the next action gets activated and the next Tesla person gets notified they now own this, and then the process starts over again.

With such a system, a customer demanding status should be able to find out from any Tesla employee where their order is in the "process", who's currently accountable, etc, etc.

Also, with such a system, managers could in theory keep an eye on their staffs, and if any staffer slips, and their action item isn't done by due-date/time, the slippage escalates to manager, etc. If manager doesn't respond within X time units, system escalates to next higher-up mgr, etc.

I dunno. Something. Anything. This has gone on long enough. It's still a mess, and it's going to get worse by the time Model 3 is out, and that's pure failure on Elon and the executive management team, imho.

Click to expand...

Good post. But I would think getting title and tags would be in the introductory class on customer service. They had all of my initial paperwork, including the power of attorney for title work, in mid-December! I am not the type who starts yelling and screaming until I think someone is just not doing his job. I thought the DES would have my title and tag transfer completed in less than a week! There is no excuse for not communicating with a customer, especially when the DES caused the first delay. Perhaps I am an outlier, as CHGolfer surmised, but having one Tesla customer being ignored is too many when it is a simple matter of communication!

DS brought my registration card to my front door this afternoon! All's well that ends well - but dang this stress was really not necessary.
@WMAC - having an accident without a valid license tag is a bit more than "no big deal" in NC
@CYCLONE - Don't think the bill of sale carries much weight with the NCDMV - at least not in Raleigh. YMMV in Charlotte

I once was stopped for an expired tag that was due to an error on NCDMV's part. Officer had to ticket me and I wasted a half day at the courthouse getting the ticket cleared. Met several other "criminals" who were there for the same reason.