Salesman gives me EAP, 6 months later, Tesla takes it away via OTA

[rdskill]

This happened a few months ago, but I have been reluctant to make it public. But I am seeing more and more of how poorly Tesla is treating customers and not meeting them half way or being understanding. Its another Goliath vs. regular people......

I purchased my 2019 SR+ on March 30, 2019 from the Dania Beach, FL store during the big delivery push. I did a test drive (6 miles on surface streets) and put a deposit on the 29th and was asked if I wanted to take the car home now. I said no, I'll be in the next day (30th) with my trade in.

The next day after I checked the Autopilot box (just AP and FSD were available) on the order, the salesman told me that because I was taking delivery today and buying AP I would get the advanced autopilot features as well. I didn't know it at the time, but I learned later this was enhanced autopilot. I thought i was just AP at the time and did not know to look for this designation in the paperwork.

When I drove the car home it did was running the premium version of the of the software. The next day it was changed to the SR+ configuration with AP and the advanced features.

So about 5-6 months later (and one 6,100 mile road trip) I got an email saying that because I had EAP I could get FSD for $3,000. I don't think FSD will really happen, but I did want the HW 3.0 because HW 2.5 is just too laggy in some scenarios.

I called my dealer where I was told I don't have EAP I only have AP. I told them, no, I do have EAP and the guy checked it out and found my car had been configured with EAP. He told me I would have to contact the main customer service.

This begins 3 weeks of back and forth, disbelief, being told "that never happened" (where I asked the gentleman if he hand been standing next to me and that he could check with the salesman). They refused to honor what the salesman told me and the change that had been made to my car's software to give me EAP. I asked them to verify it with the salesman. They did not (I learned later he no longer worked for Tesla, I wonder why). The thought either it was already the car or a "glitch". (a glitch? really???) I ask them if they checked the change order to switch the car to EAP. They said they did not and the never did check it. wtf tesla?

I went back to the dealer and talked to one of the managers (each time I go in there it a different person). She said that there hadn't been any authorized free AP upgrades. I asked to speak to the salesman and that's when I learned that he no longer worked there. I asked about the change order. They said there was one changing setting EAP on for the car, but ... they did not know who submitted it..... again... wtf Tesla?....

I told them it wasn't me and that was proof. I told her I couldn't be the only person that the salesman told and did this for. Had they looked for other customers that were issued EAP's that weekend. She said she didn't know. She refused to talk any more about it and that was the end of that.

Shortly after that, as I was driving down the interstate, I learned the hard why that Tesla had removed EAP. again.... wtf Tesla? No heads up? I had to find it out will driving?

Needless to say it has not been a pleasant experience dealing with yet another stealership and the learning the dark side of OTA. I am sure there is a law against a dealer removing options once a car drives off the lot, but I don't have the money to spend on a lawyer and me calling around to the county government offices trying to find out the law was a useless exercise.

The whole thing has soured me on Tesla as a car company. Lied to by a salesman? Cheated by the managers of the dealership/company? This goes to the character of the management of the car side of Tesla.

 

[shiv987]

wow thats a cluster f*ck. Email [email protected] and see what their response is, try to escalate the situation with the support team if thats even an option anymore

 

[FlatSix911]

Sorry to hear about your experience... I would escalate this issue to senior management at Tesla for resolution.
Negative PR will cost them far more than EAP.

 

[Tam]

...Its another Goliath vs. regular people...

It's very simple: If Tesla found out that something was not paid, it would take it back.

I believe that your salesperson did include EAP in your sales.

But my belief doesn't count because what counts is documentation.

That means you should have a receipt with the option EAP listed as "included" because that's the agreement from your salesperson.

Any salesperson can promise the moon but if it's not documented on the sales receipt, then good luck to prove that the feature was paid as an "included" item.

You need to go back to that salesperson and retroactively document on a revised receipt that EAP is "included".

 

[MP3Mike]

You need to go back to that salesperson and retroactively document on a revised receipt that EAP is "included".

I don't think that is possible given the salesperson no longer works for Tesla. (And it could because he was doing things like this.)

 

[ecospider5]

I am sorry to hear about your experience. I am wondering why you talked to the service center to get FSD instead of just going to the app or the web page and just purchasing it. Was there some reason that was not working.

For anyone else that runs into the service center saying you don’t own the configuration on your car I would suggest you instantly go to Tesla SSO – Login and take a picture of the details of your car. Once you have something, and have proof you have that thing they really don’t have the right to take it away. If you have some proof you can just bitch and moan until they return your property.

 

[rdskill]

It's very simple: If Tesla found out that something was not paid, it would take it back.

I believe that your salesperson did include EAP in your sales.

But my belief doesn't count because what counts is documentation.

That means you should have a receipt with the option EAP listed as "included" because that's the agreement from your salesperson.

Any salesperson can promise the moon but if it's not documented on the sales receipt, then good luck to prove that the feature was paid as an "included" item.

You need to go back to that salesperson and retroactively document on a revised receipt that EAP is "included".

Thanks for replying. I did all that except the salesman is gone and at the time I didn't know there was such a thing as EAP. However, there is the change order to make the car EAP. That is proof to back up what I said.

I had offered to pay the $2,000 for EAP, but they refused. I think that was a reasonable solution and they could have meet me 1/2 way.

 

[rdskill]

I am sorry to hear about your experience. I am wondering why you talked to the service center to get FSD instead of just going to the app or the web page and just purchasing it. Was there some reason that was not working.

For anyone else that runs into the service center saying you don’t own the configuration on your car I would suggest you instantly go to Tesla SSO – Login and take a picture of the details of your car. Once you have something, and have proof you have that thing they really don’t have the right to take it away. If you have some proof you can just bitch and moan until they return your property.

Thanks for replying. I did go to the web page (as stated in the email) to do the upgrade, but the option wasn't there. That's when I called the service center. The salesman never changed my order to reflect it was EAP and he didn't mention the added functions were part of EAP. I didn't know what EAP was so I wasn't looking for it and I sure didn't know it could be taken away.

 

[diamond.g]

The freebie would have been AP itself since it went from a 3000 option to "free" in April. When I ordered my car on the last day of Feb (after they unveiled the SR) I was told undelivered cars could no longer be coded for EAP. My car is a 2018 model that I got in March of 2019 so I know it could of had EAP but they wouldn't/couldn't code it.

Do you have any form of AP currently?

 

[Mattski30]

I love my M3, but Tesla does seem to be going for short term $ over customer satisfaction.

While waiting to receive a VIN on my SR+ order in December '19, I saw an inventory LR available at a lower online price than a new order LR...I called in and switched to that car, set up delivery for later that week and received an email from Tesla with an order agreement showing a $500 discount. Texted a screenshot of that agreement to my saleman to confirm, and he said everthing looked good to him.

Day before delivery noticed that online order agreement included $500 line item discount, but that purchase agreement price did not (total price was $500 more). Talked to someone who asked me to email copy of order agreement, but no reply from Tesla prior to delivery appointment. Told at Delivery that they do not discount new cars...choice was to refuse delivery (and lose out on expiring tax credits) or pay the extra $500. Showed sales manager order agreement (which can STILL be found in my online Tesla account)...he said that now only Freemont could approve the order agreement price discount, but that previously he could/would have honored the order agreement price (which was $100 more than the October price when I took delivery on my first M3 that I returned in the 7 day window because of a thudding under foot when going up/down elevation).

Now maybe the $500 discount was a "mistake" but one that was emailed to me, uploaded into my Tesla account AND confirmed by my saleman in a text...I think they should have honored the order agreement price.

 

[OCR1]

If you purchased the car on March 30th the options were AP for $3K and FSD for $6K. There was no EAP on March 30th.

If you had purchased the car a month earlier, the option was EAP for $5K. FSD was extra. I think it was $5K, not positive about that.

So if you look on your purchase agreement, you should have paid $3K for AP. You say you had the features of EAP. What features specifically did you have that were then taken away?

 

[patrick40363]

June 2018 EAP was $5k on my order.

 

[MP3Mike]

I would say this is like a bank teller doing you a "favor" by putting an extra $3k in your account. At any point in the future when the bank finds out that you didn't actually deposit the $3k they can take it out of your account.

 

[ry-ballz]

EAP wasn't being offered in March of 2019.

So you didn't pay for it? But you think you should keep it because they let you borrow it?

 

[KenC]

Totally sympathetic to the OP. I had something similar happen. There were alot of price changes between when I ordered my 3 and when they delivered it 4 months later. At one point prior to delivery, my total price had dropped $1000, but a week before delivery, it went up $1000. I asked my IDA to find out what happened. He submitted an inquiry to some department and eventually they refused to honor the lower price. I had screenshots of it and everything. I doubt I ever had a chance. It stinks, but I got over it. Tesla’s operations leave a lot to be desired, but the car’s great, and I have yet had to speak or interact with the company, other than the 13 emails I got from my IDA, who never called nor would give his number to call him. What a strange way to do business.

 

[Andy7]

This sounds reminiscent of my first car purchase. In 1970 I bought a new Fiat 124 Spyder (many "exciting" stories about this fun-to-drive but not to repair car), also red, like my Model 3, from a salesman who gave about $200 off the list price of about $3400 because I had some type of discount program. The car took 3 months to ship from Italy and 2 weeks before arrival I got a phone call saying the price was not correct and I would have to pay the additional $200. I said "But Mr. O... signed the contract at that price" and they said yes, but the supervisor did not sign it, and Mr. O no longer worked there. It turned out that the contract was not valid according to their very fine print unless signed by the supervisor. I needed the car to get to work and paid the extra.

I would have thought Tesla had advanced from this aspect of 1970 car selling. They did give me a very fair price for my trade-in and not having to dicker over price is nice (although the prices do seem high). The come-to-your car service is nice. Of course, the car is great to drive.

 

[SomeJoe7777]

The central question here is: what did you pay for?

As of March 2019, EAP was no longer offered as an option you could purchase. So either you have AP, which was included with the price of the car, or you had FSD, which was a significantly priced upgrade (ranged from $5000-$7000 depending on when you bought it).

When EAP was available some months prior to that, EAP was priced around $3000-$4000, and the FSD on top of that was another $2500-$4000. (Prices varied throughout the time that both were available).

So, the question is, what did you pay for on your invoice? If you have an invoice showing that there was some Autopilot-related option that cost $3000+, then you have a case. If not, then your car has standard AP.

I empathize that the sales person misled you. This is probably why he's no longer working there.

 

[OCR1]

The central question here is: what did you pay for?

As of March 2019, EAP was no longer offered as an option you could purchase. So either you have AP, which was included with the price of the car, or you had FSD, which was a significantly priced upgrade (ranged from $5000-$7000 depending on when you bought it).

When EAP was available some months prior to that, EAP was priced around $3000-$4000, and the FSD on top of that was another $2500-$4000. (Prices varied throughout the time that both were available).

So, the question is, what did you pay for on your invoice? If you have an invoice showing that there was some Autopilot-related option that cost $3000+, then you have a case. If not, then your car has standard AP.

I empathize that the sales person misled you. This is probably why he's no longer working there.

Not quite correct.

I purchased my Model 3 on March 7, 2019. Autopilot was not included in the base price. It was an extra $3K.

Our first Model 3 was purchased in December, 2018 when EAP was still being offered. It was always $5K for EAP up until the day it went away.

I believe it was around April 2019 when prices increased to reflect AP being built into the base price.

 

[BulldogsRus]

I am sorry to hear about your experience. I am wondering why you talked to the service center to get FSD instead of just going to the app or the web page and just purchasing it. Was there some reason that was not working.

For anyone else that runs into the service center saying you don’t own the configuration on your car I would suggest you instantly go to Tesla SSO – Login and take a picture of the details of your car. Once you have something, and have proof you have that thing they really don’t have the right to take it away. If you have some proof you can just bitch and moan until they return your property.

...or they could simply claim it was a "glitch", like the owners who's cards were charged for FSD without their authorization right before year-end and were actually blamed for it!

 

[BulldogsRus]

EAP wasn't being offered in March of 2019.

So you didn't pay for it? But you think you should keep it because they let you borrow it?

Yeah, when my dealer threw in free winter mats they didn't have the right to remove them during a wheel alignment. Did you not see that the OP stated they did it SIX MONTHS LATER after offering him FSD? He has a right to be upset, because not only were they trying to get more cash out of him, his local dealer was the one stating he didn't have it even though corporate was contacting him only because he actually did...then his dealer removed it anyways.