Returning Tesla M3 after awful delivery experience

[3Sweet]

Unfortunately I had an extremely underwhelming delivery experience and will be returning the car. On Friday I was offered an incentive of free paint upgrade if I could take delivery by Monday. This required a lot of jumping through hoops on my end to make work (2 week old newborn, prep trade in, take off from work for afternoon delivery, etc). At the time of order I gave the sales rep a referral code and was told the vehicle had 8 miles on it. From a Tesla perspective, this should have been a cake walk. Apply referral and transport car from 15 miles away to another Tesla location so i could pick it up.

At delivery, I discovered that the car had 69 miles on it, the referral code was not applied and the car was dirty and had scratches on the front fender. I raised all of these as red flags and asked for an explanation on how the car went from 8 miles to 69 miles. The delivery team and sales rep had no explanation. Additionally they could not add the referral code and said they will try to get Tesla to approve it after I sign the paperwork. I asked to delay delivery by a day so I could get this done correctly prior and so I could also receive an proper explanation about the miles or get matched to a different car. The rep told me that I would lose out on incentive and should accept the car as is.

I explained how other car companies would make this right on the spot but that was dismissed by the Tesla team. I regretfully signed and took the car home, unhappy. They did not care. To make matters worse I traded in a car.

After this awful experience, I reached out to the sales rep and delivery team to let them know I would be returning the car but wanted to give Tesla a chance to make the situation right .I was quickly told my a sales manager that Tesla would rather me return the car instead of providing me some type of compensation.

I feel extremely let down by Tesla. Returning the Tesla will not get me my trade in back and they denied my request to swap for another car pre and post delivery. This is by far the worst car buying expert I have ever had.

Is there a way to contact Tesla Corporate?

Hey, sad to hear mine was horrendous. I was offering a car at 46,500 then the day of delivery they raised the price $2k more.
How on earth and who did you talk to that was able to comp you the paint color? A manager? ??? Please let me know I am returning my car as well but really feel ripped off at the price. The comped paint is super lucky.

 

[Skmetallica]

I concur with the plates, I took delivery in CA last month I had temporary “paper” plates.

I agree this whole situation was not ideal but as long as they fix the scratches, and detail the car properly, I would keep it. It would be great if they threw in some accessories for the trouble and would certainly ask the delivery manager. One thing you can pin on him is that regardless of the miles, the car was clearly NOT ready for delivery. It had damage and was dirty. At the very least you should have been given a head’s up and an option to take delivery after it was fixed at the original agreed upon price.

Conversely, if they kept up the bad attitude I wouldn’t blame you for parking the car on their lot and walking away. It may feel good but ultimately I think you will regret it. Why not go to another tesla store and start over?

 

[aaron0k]

I wish Tesla service was as good as the cars they make...

Driving a Tesla is amazing. Buying/Owning a Tesla... sucks.

 

[Threader]

Driving a Tesla is amazing. Buying/Owning a Tesla... sucks.

Buying ICE vehicles is worst and your never really sure how much less anyone else paid. At least Tesla are open about prices and which side of the price advantage or disadvantage we are on.

 

[jbrady3324]

The local sales team has been going to bat for me as, off the record, they completely agree with my frustration and the terrible delivery experience. Their recommendation was to return the car since the miles are unexplained. They even told me that returned cars are sold as new cars so that is why Tesla rather me return it and return it as quickly as I can but of course they will take their sweet time getting my money back.

Unfortunately Tesla does not care. They offered me an additional 1k supercharger miles which is really isn't much of in terms of overall compensation. Or a priority car swap (aka new transaction) but will not honor the pricing incentive so in the end I would have to pay more for my trouble.

I rejected those offers. My contact wants to try one more time and asked if 6 months of supercharging plus a wall charger would help do the trick. Is 6 months of supercharging any different than an additional 1k? The wall charger doesn't really help me since I have a nema plug already. Honestly, that is a fine offer, just not what I am looking for because it is of little value to me.

I made it clear I rather a refund (I'm not expected much) or heck match me to a demo car that has 500 miles on it for a discounted price as that is what my current car already feels like anyways.

 

[Dana1]

Unfortunately I had an extremely underwhelming delivery experience and will be returning the car. On Friday I was offered an incentive of free paint upgrade if I could take delivery by Monday. This required a lot of jumping through hoops on my end to make work (2 week old newborn, prep trade in, take off from work for afternoon delivery, etc). At the time of order I gave the sales rep a referral code and was told the vehicle had 8 miles on it. From a Tesla perspective, this should have been a cake walk. Apply referral and transport car from 15 miles away to another Tesla location so i could pick it up.

At delivery, I discovered that the car had 69 miles on it, the referral code was not applied and the car was dirty and had scratches on the front fender. I raised all of these as red flags and asked for an explanation on how the car went from 8 miles to 69 miles. The delivery team and sales rep had no explanation. Additionally they could not add the referral code and said they will try to get Tesla to approve it after I sign the paperwork. I asked to delay delivery by a day so I could get this done correctly prior and so I could also receive an proper explanation about the miles or get matched to a different car. The rep told me that I would lose out on incentive and should accept the car as is.

I explained how other car companies would make this right on the spot but that was dismissed by the Tesla team. I regretfully signed and took the car home, unhappy. They did not care. To make matters worse I traded in a car.

After this awful experience, I reached out to the sales rep and delivery team to let them know I would be returning the car but wanted to give Tesla a chance to make the situation right .I was quickly told my a sales manager that Tesla would rather me return the car instead of providing me some type of compensation.

I feel extremely let down by Tesla. Returning the Tesla will not get me my trade in back and they denied my request to swap for another car pre and post delivery. This is by far the worst car buying expert I have ever had.

Is there a way to contact Tesla Corporate?

Why did you take car if things were so bad? This sounds like a go at getting freebies. No sympathy.

 

[OCR1]

The local sales team has been going to bat for me as, off the record, they completely agree with my frustration and the terrible delivery experience. Their recommendation was to return the car since the miles are unexplained. They even told me that returned cars are sold as new cars so that is why Tesla rather me return it and return it as quickly as I can but of course they will take their sweet time getting my money back.

Unfortunately Tesla does not care. They offered me an additional 1k supercharger miles which is really isn't much of in terms of overall compensation. Or a priority car swap (aka new transaction) but will not honor the pricing incentive so in the end I would have to pay more for my trouble.

I rejected those offers. My contact wants to try one more time and asked if 6 months of supercharging plus a wall charger would help do the trick. Is 6 months of supercharging any different than an additional 1k? The wall charger doesn't really help me since I have a nema plug already. Honestly, that is a fine offer, just not what I am looking for because it is of little value to me.

I made it clear I rather a refund (I'm not expected much) or heck match me to a demo car that has 500 miles on it for a discounted price as that is what my current car already feels like anyways.

I’m not going to judge your position here because I think you already have attracted enough attention from others. What I will tell you is that if I was in your situation, being offered a free paint upgrade, free wall charger, and six months of supercharging, I wouldn’t even think twice. That is a better deal than anyone else I’ve seen getting since Q1 ended. You might get a better deal if you wait until the end of Q2 but you might also miss the tax incentive deadline of June 30th. As long as they agree to fix the scratches, the compensation you have been offered is so much greater in value than the depreciation of an extra 50 miles or so that this one seems like a no brainer to me.

 

[aaron0k]

I made it clear I rather a refund (I'm not expected much) or heck match me to a demo car that has 500 miles on it for a discounted price as that is what my current car already feels like anyways.

I'd suggest sleeping on it another night. I really hope you keep the car... you will get over the bad experience; knowing that a lot of us have also had disappointing experiences with Tesla should also make you feel part of the family.

 

[S4WRXTTCS]

Yet another lesson on the idea of simply not signing if you're not happy with the vehicle at delivery.

 

[jbrady3324]

Why did you take car if things were so bad? This sounds like a go at getting freebies. No sympathy.

Reread my post. It wasn't that straight forward.

I’m not going to judge your position here because I think you already have attracted enough attention from others. What I will tell you is that if I was in your situation, being offered a free paint upgrade, free wall charger, and six months of supercharging, I wouldn’t even think twice. That is a better deal than anyone else I’ve seen getting since Q1 ended. You might get a better deal if you wait until the end of Q2 but you might also miss the tax incentive deadline of June 30th. As long as they agree to fix the scratches, the compensation you have been offered is so much greater in value than the depreciation of an extra 50 miles or so that this one seems like a no brainer to me.

The paint was offered before delivery as part of me agreeing to rush delivery. I'm going to sleep on it and see what Tesla says tomorrow. The rep thinks I should return it because there are too many unknowns to the both of us .I appreciate hos honesty

 

[MKandyman]

Hope you're not labeling me a fanboy (read any of my previous posts)... though I agree with you. Tesla treats us like dirt, and expects us to like it and smile... I've had horrible delivery experiences myself (and bad service, support, sales, etc).

However, anyone who's been on this forum should already have that expectation... I just noticed the OP recently joined, so I'll give him a partial pass. However a little bit of homework could have tempered his expectations or at least helped him navigate the experience.

That said, I still think the miles thing is trivial...

I’m not singling anyone out, and mean no offense to anyone, including you. I apologize if you were offended.

I think your comment is telling though. Why should we be “conditioned” to accept an inferior customer experience? My Tesla is the most I’ve ever spent on a car, and my expectations from a customer’s standpoint were high as they must know all of their customers including me are taking a chance on a new company with new technology. In fact I was “conditioned” to expect some issues with the car as the technology is cutting edge - which I accepted. However good customer service is not a new concept, and the fact that situations like the OP’s still happen frequently tells me that Tesla has a long way to go.

A Tesla owner should be willing to accept some technological flaws, but they should not be willing to accept being treated poorly by a company that should be thanking them for being a customer.

 

[notrhj]

The local sales team has been going to bat for me as, off the record, they completely agree with my frustration and the terrible delivery experience. Their recommendation was to return the car since the miles are unexplained. They even told me that returned cars are sold as new cars so that is why Tesla rather me return it and return it as quickly as I can but of course they will take their sweet time getting my money back.

Unfortunately Tesla does not care. They offered me an additional 1k supercharger miles which is really isn't much of in terms of overall compensation. Or a priority car swap (aka new transaction) but will not honor the pricing incentive so in the end I would have to pay more for my trouble.

I rejected those offers. My contact wants to try one more time and asked if 6 months of supercharging plus a wall charger would help do the trick. Is 6 months of supercharging any different than an additional 1k? The wall charger doesn't really help me since I have a nema plug already. Honestly, that is a fine offer, just not what I am looking for because it is of little value to me.

I made it clear I rather a refund (I'm not expected much) or heck match me to a demo car that has 500 miles on it for a discounted price as that is what my current car already feels like anyways.

I'll let you drive my car for those 50 mile if you give me the free 1K super charging and wall charger.

 

[GreenT]

Sad. When Tesla were delivering back in 2013, they had viable excuses for being on "training wheels".
Today, between service and sales, they are are as incompetent and inept, if not more so, than all the other brands combined!!!
They just posted the biggest loss, yet in all the cash they burned through, was ANY of it for training or opening new service centers?

 

[mact3333]

Yea, I overlooked the plates at delivery since so much else was going on. My rep is telling me all Tesla's come with plates. Is it safe to assume that is bs?

That would make no sense...only way it has a plates is if it has been registered...unless the plates were not specific(temp plates) for the car itself like they use for test drives and such...but those are usually plates that are removeable and not screwed into the car itself.

When you say plates you mean an actual license plate from that state???

And don't listen to the guys saying "its a blessing to have a plate already" that is ludicrous!...having a true plate on the car means it was registered and can't be sold as new anymore...cause it isn't a new car if it's been registered...that is way more important that the actual miles...if its been registered it will show up on carfax report and you will be the second owner.

i would get clarity on that issue cause every thing is irrelevant imho.

You don't pay retail for a used car to get free paint upgrade that would be inane!

 

[aaron0k]

I’m not singling anyone out, and mean no offense to anyone, including you. I apologize if you were offended.

No offense taken. Though it's probably better to single out vs. labeling everyone a fanboy who disagrees... I've done the same and probably shouldn't have (you'll offend Bonnie).

I think your comment is telling though. Why should we be “conditioned” to accept an inferior customer experience?

Nah, you're twisting words. I used the word expectations and that's what I meant. Don't expect a smooth, delightful delivery experience... it's nothing like the old days where they wrap your car in a bow and cater to the entire family you brought along for what might be a once in a lifetime event (for some of us... it's the most we'll ever spend on a car or anything other than a house).

These days it's modeled like a Starbucks mobile order... go in... get your car, and get the hell out. No bow for you (or chocolate sprinkles).

Knowing what to 'expect' allows you to better prepare for what to 'accept' or not...

'Conditioning' implies a predictable or consistent pattern of behavior... I'm sure you'll agree Tesla is neither predictable or consistent.

Psychotic.. indeed.

 

[jbrady3324]

I think the post above is spot on.

That would make no sense...only way it has a plates is if it has been registered...unless the plates were not specific(temp plates) for the car itself like they use for test drives and such...but those are usually plates that are removeable and not screwed into the car itself.

When you say plates you mean an actual license plate from that state???

And don't listen to the guys saying "its a blessing to have a plate already" that is ludicrous!...having a true plate on the car means it was registered and can't be sold as new anymore...cause it isn't a new car if it's been registered...that is way more important that the actual miles...if its been registered it will show up on carfax report and you will be the second owner.

i would get clarity on that issue cause every thing is irrelevant imho.

You don't pay retail for a used car to get free paint upgrade that would be inane!

The plates on the car are real plates that are screwed into the car. Tesla is telling me they pre-register the car so you have plates at delivery. Then I look at this reddit post (same pickup location as me) Took delivery today- 4 weeks early! M3 LR AWD with FSD. Thrilled to be apart of the club : TeslaModel3 and he has no plates!

When I attempt a carfax report (prior to paying) it says there are 0 history records. Does that mean there are no prior owners?

 

[Glamisduner]

Unfortunately I had an extremely underwhelming delivery experience and will be returning the car. On Friday I was offered an incentive of free paint upgrade if I could take delivery by Monday. This required a lot of jumping through hoops on my end to make work (2 week old newborn, prep trade in, take off from work for afternoon delivery, etc). At the time of order I gave the sales rep a referral code and was told the vehicle had 8 miles on it. From a Tesla perspective, this should have been a cake walk. Apply referral and transport car from 15 miles away to another Tesla location so i could pick it up.

At delivery, I discovered that the car had 69 miles on it, the referral code was not applied and the car was dirty and had scratches on the front fender. I raised all of these as red flags and asked for an explanation on how the car went from 8 miles to 69 miles. The delivery team and sales rep had no explanation. Additionally they could not add the referral code and said they will try to get Tesla to approve it after I sign the paperwork. I asked to delay delivery by a day so I could get this done correctly prior and so I could also receive an proper explanation about the miles or get matched to a different car. The rep told me that I would lose out on incentive and should accept the car as is.

I explained how other car companies would make this right on the spot but that was dismissed by the Tesla team. I regretfully signed and took the car home, unhappy. They did not care. To make matters worse I traded in a car.

After this awful experience, I reached out to the sales rep and delivery team to let them know I would be returning the car but wanted to give Tesla a chance to make the situation right .I was quickly told my a sales manager that Tesla would rather me return the car instead of providing me some type of compensation.

I feel extremely let down by Tesla. Returning the Tesla will not get me my trade in back and they denied my request to swap for another car pre and post delivery. This is by far the worst car buying expert I have ever had.

Is there a way to contact Tesla Corporate?

Return the car for another one. Problem solved. I would consider that making it right, wouldn't you?

 

[mact3333]

I think the post above is spot on.


The plates on the car are real plates that are screwed into the car. Tesla is telling me they pre-register the car so you have plates at delivery. Then I look at this reddit post (same pickup location as me) Took delivery today- 4 weeks early! M3 LR AWD with FSD. Thrilled to be apart of the club : TeslaModel3 and he has no plates!

When I attempt a carfax report (prior to paying) it says there are 0 history records. Does that mean there are no prior owners?

I have purchased prob 30 cars in my days and I have never bought a new car with real plates on it...they always have the paper temporary paper plates they tape to windows that lasts for a month ...if it had real plates on the car that's an issue imho...I would not be happy...you should have never taken possession of that car if it had a real plate on it...you get plates from your DMV when you register your car and reg fee or taxes depending on whether your state has sales tax or not.

 

[mact3333]

yeah if it had real plates on it I would definitely return the car(not even debatable)...getting 1K off for paint is nothing...I got 3500 off msrp on a car with 7 miles on it 2 weeks ago and it wasn't even at the end of the quarter when you can get 5-10K off depending on model(my car was dual motor long range)...for a car thats been registered in my mind its used and I don't care if it had 80 miles on it cause for a used car, you should get 5K off minimum.

 

[jbrady3324]

yeah if it had real plates on it I would definitely return the car(not even debatable)...getting 1K off for paint is nothing...I got 3500 off msrp on a car with 7 miles on it 2 weeks ago and it wasn't even at the end of the quarter when you can get 5-10K off depending on model(my car was dual motor long range)...for a car thats been registered in my mind its used and I don't care if it had 80 miles on it cause for a used car, you should get 5K off minimum.

This has me concerned. I have never bought a new car with plates already attached either. My rep is telling me they have a stack of plates in house that they attach and then register with the state. Not sure if this is bs or true