Delivery and service nightmare

[Kairide]

Lemon laws are defined by your state, but typically cover the same continual issue that can’t be corrected within a certain time frame or number of service visits. They cover mechanical issues that prevent the vehicle from performing as promised when purchased. Any cosmetic issues, such as paint are not covered.
You don’t need a lawyer, you just need to learn your State’s lemon laws and take action when/if your car falls into a lemon status.

 

[cwerdna]

In post 5, I gave the OP pointers to info about CA's lemon law and the OP appears to be in CA.

 

[pipestem]

I was on the phone with a Tesla advisor at the time. I tried opening it through the app it wouldn’t work. He even tried some emergency open on his end : / That’s when he told me try the trunk and tow the car to sc.

This is a very sad story. I think we all fear this happening. It sounds like they saw a car in inventory and assigned it to you without anyone actually checking it out at all. I think your SC just sucks bad.

To show how bad let me tell you how it should work. We ordered an inventory service loaner with 4k miles on a Friday. Very nice discount. I was sure there would be problems. We show up on Monday to pick it up. It was parked by the front door. Immaculate as if it had never been driven. The temp tag was already attached. We went all over it and found nothing to complain about. And this is a very busy SC.

That is how you should have been treated.

 

[DrDabbles]

I don’t know when the next car will come

The wait times for these cars has plummeted and you'd basically wait a couple weeks. But I think you're seeing a much more important side of the Tesla ownership experience- Customer service. Their service centers are extremely slow, they have extremely high staff turn over rates, and the quality of work they do is unbelievably bad.

I'm sorry you're going through this, but at this point your best bet is probably to get a lawyer involved and find another brand of EV. If Tesla buys back your vehicle, you aren't going to have a better experience the next time a new vehicle needs service.

 

[cwerdna]

Fortunately, the OP is in California so there are LOTS of EV choices. Every or pretty much consumer highway legal BEV automobile available in the US should be for sale in CA. And, more and choices are coming on the market every few months.

BTW, regarding my Bolt buyback case, although I don't recall GM's EV concierge asking me a reason, the reason (to me) why it could qualify as a "lemon" for the purposes of CA's lemon law was due to some factors listed at Buying and Maintaining a Car.

"Substantially impairs the use, value, or safety of the vehicle;" - yes, it was a safety recall and the possibility a vehicle w/a defective pack could catch fire.
"The vehicle has been out of service for repair for more than 30 days (the 30 days do not need to be in a row)." - it wasn't in the shop even overnight, but there was no ETA for a repair. I could've brought it in and it could've sat for 30 days untouched due to no parts to remedy the recall. Even now, there are some folks with '20 to '22 Bolts still waiting for their VIN to be eligible for a replacement pack.

 

[richyrich]

This is a very sad story. I think we all fear this happening. It sounds like they saw a car in inventory and assigned it to you without anyone actually checking it out at all. I think your SC just sucks bad.

To show how bad let me tell you how it should work. We ordered an inventory service loaner with 4k miles on a Friday. Very nice discount. I was sure there would be problems. We show up on Monday to pick it up. It was parked by the front door. Immaculate as if it had never been driven. The temp tag was already attached. We went all over it and found nothing to complain about. And this is a very busy SC.

That is how you should have been treated.

Same with my two pickups, and obviously this is the majority experience. Pity OP didn’t name and shame the actual SC, as is so often the case with these stories. It always seems to be the same few bad locations at the root of many of these issues and they aren’t going to get better until they’re identified.

 

[Pianewman]

Same with my two pickups, and obviously this is the majority experience. Pity OP didn’t name and shame the actual SC, as is so often the case with these stories. It always seems to be the same few bad locations at the root of many of these issues and they aren’t going to get better until they’re identified.

Not really. If it WERE the "majority experience," service quality would improve.

 

[nate704]

The black color makes them stand out way more. It is a personal preference, but I never understand why people buy black cars unless you have a dedicated chauffeur that cleans the car every 10 minutes

 

[zoomer0056]

How many miles were on the car when you took delivery?

 

[kelledy]

This is a very sad story. I think we all fear this happening. It sounds like they saw a car in inventory and assigned it to you without anyone actually checking it out at all. I think your SC just sucks bad.

To show how bad let me tell you how it should work. We ordered an inventory service loaner with 4k miles on a Friday. Very nice discount. I was sure there would be problems. We show up on Monday to pick it up. It was parked by the front door. Immaculate as if it had never been driven. The temp tag was already attached. We went all over it and found nothing to complain about. And this is a very busy SC.

That is how you should have been treated.

Wow lucky you guys!!! Where was this sc? Most certainly not Los Angeles I presume. I was back at the service center today, the promised to actually clean the car before the do the paint corrections and detail it after. The manager walked around and added tape to the problem areas we could see. The car still has bird dropping from day 1 and covered in dust from all their waterless cleaning so it’s hard to differentiate dirt and damage. I saw a brand new model y my same make and color with tape all over it too. I heard a lot of the vehicles that came in my batch have damage from rocks and bird droppings.

 

[kelledy]

How many miles were on the car when you took delivery?

15

 

[kelledy]

The black color makes them stand out way more. It is a personal preference, but I never understand why people buy black cars unless you have a dedicated chauffeur that cleans the car every 10 minutes

My last car was black and I had no issues.

 

[kelledy]

Not really. If it WERE the "majority experience," service quality would improve.

It was the pick up center in Mariana del Rey, ca. They have 2.5 stars on yelp. Service center is in Los Angeles with 3.5 stars

 

[kelledy]

Same with my two pickups, and obviously this is the majority experience. Pity OP didn’t name and shame the actual SC, as is so often the case with these stories. It always seems to be the same few bad locations at the root of many of these issues and they aren’t going to get better until they’re identified.

It was the pick up center in Mariana del Rey, ca. They have 2.5 stars on yelp. Service center is in Los Angeles with 3.5 stars

 

[kelledy]

Fortunately, the OP is in California so there are LOTS of EV choices. Every or pretty much consumer highway legal BEV automobile available in the US should be for sale in CA. And, more and choices are coming on the market every few months.

BTW, regarding my Bolt buyback case, although I don't recall GM's EV concierge asking me a reason, the reason (to me) why it could qualify as a "lemon" for the purposes of CA's lemon law was due to some factors listed at Buying and Maintaining a Car.

"Substantially impairs the use, value, or safety of the vehicle;" - yes, it was a safety recall and the possibility a vehicle w/a defective pack could catch fire.
"The vehicle has been out of service for repair for more than 30 days (the 30 days do not need to be in a row)." - it wasn't in the shop even overnight, but there was no ETA for a repair. I could've brought it in and it could've sat for 30 days untouched due to no parts to remedy the recall. Even now, there are some folks with '20 to '22 Bolts still waiting for their VIN to be eligible for a replacement pack.

Thank you for sharing your experience. I did see in California something significantly decreasing the value. I would say the entire car needing to be repainted significantly decreases the value. I’m quite certain it will be at repair shop for over 30 days. They are replacing a head light, windshield and the front bumper and supposedly doing other paint corrections again and detailing the car.

 

[kelledy]

The wait times for these cars has plummeted and you'd basically wait a couple weeks. But I think you're seeing a much more important side of the Tesla ownership experience- Customer service. Their service centers are extremely slow, they have extremely high staff turn over rates, and the quality of work they do is unbelievably bad.

I'm sorry you're going through this, but at this point your best bet is probably to get a lawyer involved and find another brand of EV. If Tesla buys back your vehicle, you aren't going to have a better experience the next time a new vehicle needs service.

That’s what I was thinking who knows what the next car will look like. Someone at a sc told me a lot of the cars in my batch came with rock damage. I saw a brand new black y there today with tape around the scratches.

 

[kelledy]

It's bad. I spent at least 30 minutes to inspect the car before I accepted the delivery on the phone app. After that I spent more than 1 hour to check car using a 7 page checklist before I drove the car home. When ordering the car I requested to have home delivery. Later I changed to in-store pickup so that I could inspect the car.

I was the last appointment of the day. As I am there they are rushing me yelling pretty much do you want this car or not. Also The car was so filthy it was impossible to truly inspect it. I really wish I turned it down. Actually I wish I never ordered it in the first place.

 

[kelledy]

I went through a lemon process. My lawyers met with Tesla’s. They went over all the concerns I had and agreed there were lots of issues (mostly cosmetic). They said they could either buy the car back or give me hush money and keep the vehicle. I kept the handsome amount of hush money and sold it right when used Teslas were selling for more than new. Just follow your state’s lemon law rules and hire an excellent attorney. You’ll be okay.

Smart!!!!

 

[jsight]

My last car was black and I had no issues.

lol, yeah, I really don't understand why people hate on black paint so much. It does show dirt and damage easily, but it isn't really that bad. And it looks better when clean than most of the easy to maintain colors.

 

[kelledy]

That looks absolutely horrible.

The first thing you need to do ASAP is opt out of the binding arbitration clause in your order agreement. You will need to send a letter, return receipt, to the address mentioned.

Then hire an attorney. Then Tesla will start taking your requests seriously.

Please also note, Tesla can, and has, blacklisted people from making future purchases due to buyback requests.

Thank you for your response. I didn’t know I could send in an opt out letter. I will be doing that asap.