# My new model 3 and the buyer experience



## ag13

This is just my personal 2 cents. Read below picture before hitting me with flame throwers LOL.

First, I am a first time EV or even hybrid owner. I bought this car online and test drove one a few days before delivery. It was enough to sell me on it. The purchase process, very simple and easy, the finance, very simple and easy. Communication with sales rep, spotty. The real problem I had and see for Tesla's future, at least for the location in Eatonville FL is customer service. It does not exist. I arrived early by 30 minutes, no one there too great meet or most people in the lobby also waiting like me for someone to make eye contact. Finally someone passed by and asked after watching many Tesla employees walk by me and several others without a word. Car was inline for delivery, dirty, full of wax residue, wax areas that had not been cleaned and with several scratches on paint. Frankly, it looked like garbage. When I brought this up, I was given two options, refuse delivery and wait several more weeks, or have one brought in from another part of the state at my expense, but was told there was no guarantee it would be in better shape. So after being there for almost 2 hours, excluding my arriving early, a nice employee realized what my issue was and grabbed a detail person to work on the car. This is after I was told the manger would speak with me, he or she never came or was seen by many others also asking for a manager. This removed most scratches but not all. I was told they would take care of them if I wanted to on a service visit in the future. Frankly, if I didn't like the car I would have gone the Audi route with a etron. It should not be up to a customer to seek help when a new car is to be delivered. It was quite a poor show. A show room should never be absent of employees or customer greeters, a manager should be visible when a customer asked for their assistance. The excuse for the poor delivery of my vehicle and several others that were there waiting like I was should not be its the end of the month and we are delivering all cars fast. The other excuse was that I had a 5:30pm appt and everyone has been here since before 8am. So Tesla, if you care and read this, pay attention. You build a great car, with some production flaws, just like everyone else. It is up to the management in your dealerships/distribution centers to catch and fix those before they are shown to the buyer, it can't be a take it or leave it excuse. This is where the next generation of EV builders (VW, AUDI, etc) will beat you. You can't have a take it or leave it mentality when the competition finally arrives. By the way, I have been trying to fix my paint flaws, but now I am told no loaner can be had because they are to busy to hold one for me. Even though is will take a few days to fix my paint scratches and blemishes.









After all that, My 3 is great in so many ways, for someone who has had cars from V8 muscle cars to my last car an Audi RS3. I just wish I had a better first time experience. The cars clearly sell themselves.


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## Needsdecaf

Welcome to Tesla. Where you buy the car despite the company. 

I had similar experience in Dec 2018 and March 2020. You'd think these people would freaking learn. But they don't care, clearly.


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## Bigriver

Needsdecaf said:


> Where you buy the car despite the company.


Yep.

@ag13, another welcome to the forum and the Tesla community where we mostly love our cars but really wish there are things we could change about the company.



ag13 said:


> people in the lobby also waiting like me for someone to make eye contact


This is one of my pet peeves that I have experienced many times at Tesla. No matter how busy people are, there is no excuse to not at least make eye contact and letting customers know someone will be with you. Sometimes I look down at my arms to see if I have become translucent. Was just there last week and found myself wondering if I could volunteer as a Walmart-type greeter. It is very needed.


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## FRC

I sure wish your experience was unusual. It wasn't!


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## Ed Woodrick

So while there are other instances of issues like yours, there are numerous other reports of happy customers. Quite often it depends on the location and the time that you go to the location.
One issue is that you are assuming that a Tesla location is like an Audi location, it isn't. That's not good or bad, it is just different. 
You don't go to a Tesla dealer, as you do with an Audi, you go to a Tesla store, a delivery center, or a service center. 

And in the Tesla store, don't assume that you are talking to sales people. You NEVER buy a Tesla in a store, you can only buy them online. There may be personnel that assist you, but they don't sell you the car. 
In a delivery center, which can be combined with a service center, but seldom a store, there are the delivery people. They aren't the same as the service people. So it can be common to see some Tesla people pass by, that can't help you. And if you go at the end of the month, they are going to busy with other people wanting the same attention that you do, and not enough people, explicitly because it is the end of the month, quarter, year.

I don't remember anywhere where Tesla promised a rental during any sort of service. They will often give you Uber credits though.

Sure, it isn't the caviar and Champaign experience that you may desire. That's Tesla.

If you were to have joined these are other forums before you got the car, you would have a better understanding of what to expect upon delivery. 

But honestly, Tesla has so many people wanting one, so many people buying additional ones, that a businessman would ask themselves "Am I not already making he customers as happy as I need to"

Sure, we would all like better. But we don't always get what we want. 

Most importantly, when you get your second Tesla, you will have a better understanding.

And yes, you will probably get another one. The retention rate of a Tesla is obnoxiously high.


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## ag13

Thanks, glad to see I was not completely nuts. Ed, I understand what you are saying, but that is my point exactly. For now, they are the main player, soon they won't be. I am not expecting anyone there to put out a red carpet, give me a bottled water etc. Pure old school customer interaction would be nice, and not delivering a car with some many things that could have been easily fixed before I got there. They only knew I was coming in 3 days after the car was delivered there, yah think that might have been enough time. The excuse of, well if you don't want it someone else will has caused many a companies in my 55 years to go under. Again, just my 2 cents.


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## Ed Woodrick

ag13 said:


> Thanks, glad to see I was not completely nuts. Ed, I understand what you are saying, but that is my point exactly. For now, they are the main player, soon they won't be. I am not expecting anyone there to put out a red carpet, give me a bottled water etc. Pure old school customer interaction would be nice, and not delivering a car with some many things that could have been easily fixed before I got there. They only knew I was coming in 3 days after the car was delivered there, yah think that might have been enough time. The excuse of, well if you don't want it someone else will has caused many a companies in my 55 years to go under. Again, just my 2 cents.


Sure, one might have thought that the car would be read (and the mostly are) but you'd really need to understand what their workload was to give them justice, Could have been a 100 cars to deliver in a few days and 3 people out sick.


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## FRC

We've cut them slack on customer service for far too long. Elon promised at a stockholder meeting last year(or was it the year before that) that customer service would become a major priority. That has not happened. Another unfulfilled promise from Elon. Yes, Tesla continues to sell through their inventory and doesn't have to improve customer service YET. But a day of reckoning is coming, quickly.

Already, when my friends ask me about the possibility of purchasing Tesla, I warn them that unless they are willing to spend premium $$$ for a fantastic car backed by substandard customer service, they should wait. Until either Tesla gets their **** together or the competition catches up. And it will, it always does. I just hope that Tesla has a plan on the back burner to address customer service when they are forced to.

Elon has long made clear that profit is not his primary motivation. But without profit he can't achieve his objectives, and without happy MAINSTREAM customers, he can't profit in the long term.


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## Needsdecaf

Ed Woodrick said:


> So while there are other instances of issues like yours, there are numerous other reports of happy customers. Quite often it depends on the location and the time that you go to the location.
> One issue is that you are assuming that a Tesla location is like an Audi location, it isn't. That's not good or bad, it is just different.
> You don't go to a Tesla dealer, as you do with an Audi, you go to a Tesla store, a delivery center, or a service center.
> 
> And in the Tesla store, don't assume that you are talking to sales people. You NEVER buy a Tesla in a store, you can only buy them online. There may be personnel that assist you, but they don't sell you the car.
> In a delivery center, which can be combined with a service center, but seldom a store, there are the delivery people. They aren't the same as the service people. So it can be common to see some Tesla people pass by, that can't help you. And if you go at the end of the month, they are going to busy with other people wanting the same attention that you do, and not enough people, explicitly because it is the end of the month, quarter, year.
> 
> I don't remember anywhere where Tesla promised a rental during any sort of service. They will often give you Uber credits though.
> 
> Sure, it isn't the caviar and Champaign experience that you may desire. That's Tesla.
> 
> If you were to have joined these are other forums before you got the car, you would have a better understanding of what to expect upon delivery.
> 
> But honestly, Tesla has so many people wanting one, so many people buying additional ones, that a businessman would ask themselves "Am I not already making he customers as happy as I need to"
> 
> Sure, we would all like better. But we don't always get what we want.
> 
> Most importantly, when you get your second Tesla, you will have a better understanding.
> 
> And yes, you will probably get another one. The retention rate of a Tesla is obnoxiously high.


sorry, but I read this and see a bunch of excuses. 95% of Tesla buyers don't go on forums, they are buying a car. There shouldn't have to be any research or reduced expectations. It's still a retail transaction no matter what. And an expensive one at that. Second Tesla better understanding? Again, that's making excuses for sub par service.

i had the absolute best car buying experience buying a $24k Volkswagen. And one of the worst buying a $70k BMW. the VW dealer was old, cramped, run down and in general not attractive. There are used car places better. But you know what, every single person there gave a crap, and it showed. No, they didn't kiss my ring, and I think the most exciting drink I got was a bottled water. But everyone was honest and polite, and wanted me to have a good experience. everything was transparent, there were no games. When I had to wait, I was told who I was waiting for and checked on, and then the person I was waiting for apologized for the wait.

So no, not buying this line of reasoning whatsoever.


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## FRC

Needsdecaf said:


> I read this and see a bunch of excuses


THIS


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## GDN

Welcome to the forum. There are no excuses for them. Many people have told the very same story as you and Tesla survived because as others noted, this car sold itself and there was no competition. The playing field is changing. Unfortunately Tesla has refused to listen to any of us, Musk has an attitude that he that these things don't matter and they've passed up 3 really good years to make changes and improve the final fit and finish of the car and customer service. I believe they will continue to sell all the cars they make for some amount of time, but I believe reality could start to set in some. There are other options on the lot now, many people will only buy the brand they love now they have options and I think Tesla really has to get it together. 

I will note that my experiences have all been pretty good; I also love this car and driving it so much. There is still nothing else out there that even makes me think for a half a second I'd drive one of the competitors. They just don't measure up to me. In may opinion they are all still chasing Tesla.


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## Nom

I read these stories and am super glad my experience was nothing like that. My experience was great

If my pick up was bad like this, it would have poisoned my first real experience with the car and the company. Not a good way to start a relationship.

I’ve read enough of these negative experiences and agree that Tesla needs to wake up and fix this.


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## iChris93

FRC said:


> willing to spend premium $$$ for a fantastic car


IMO, it's not premium money compared to the "competition". They are expensive, but it's not at a premium compared to the "competition".


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## JasonF

ag13 said:


> After all that, My 3 is great in so many ways, for someone who has had cars from V8 muscle cars to my last car an Audi RS3. I just wish I had a better first time experience. The cars clearly sell themselves.


One of the issues you had is trying to get something done after 4 pm in Florida. I've lived here only since 2010, and one of the big things I learned is that it's impossible to get any kind of services done late in the day. Everyone either left by then, or has one foot out the door. This isn't unique for Tesla - I had a Mitsubishi before that, and sometimes I would be at the dealer doing some service that takes until after 4 pm. Suddenly I was the only one left in the waiting room, the checkout person was gone, and so was the service advisor. There I was stranded with no way to find out if my car was still being worked on (fortunately it was, and the mechanic gave me the key 30 min later because he was the only one left!)

Another is Eatonville seems to have overdone their Covid protocols a bit. You can talk to a maximum of two people as a customer (the two salespeople in the front area) and everyone else you talk to over the phone. You never see or talk to the service advisors, delivery handlers, detailers, or mechanics. Naturally I can see how that causes problems with deliveries, and I know first hand that it causes unnecessary delays with getting a simple 12 volt battery replaced, because none of those people feel any time pressure when they don't see that you're actually there.

And even before that, it seems like no one there is told about deliveries or appointments, and they're left scrambling to find a delivery agent and paperwork after you've arrived. That's been going on since 2018. I didn't have a late appointment, but because my delivery date had to be delayed for a repair, my delivery was on a day they don't normally do deliveries. So I guess the agent for it was off that day, and the front desk people had no idea I was coming, and the people left over in the office had to scramble to find my paperwork. The person who ended up doing the delivery had never done one before, so we had to work together to figure out the remaining paperwork. Fortunately the sales person could still do the abbreviated tour and direct me out of the parking lot safely.


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## ag13

JasonF said:


> One of the issues you had is trying to get something done after 4 pm in Florida. I've lived here only since 2010, and one of the big things I learned is that it's impossible to get any kind of services done late in the day. Everyone either left by then, or has one foot out the door. This isn't unique for Tesla - I had a Mitsubishi before that, and sometimes I would be at the dealer doing some service that takes until after 4 pm. Suddenly I was the only one left in the waiting room, the checkout person was gone, and so was the service advisor. There I was stranded with no way to find out if my car was still being worked on (fortunately it was, and the mechanic gave me the key 30 min later because he was the only one left!)
> 
> Another is Eatonville seems to have overdone their Covid protocols a bit. You can talk to a maximum of two people as a customer (the two salespeople in the front area) and everyone else you talk to over the phone. You never see or talk to the service advisors, delivery handlers, detailers, or mechanics. Naturally I can see how that causes problems with deliveries, and I know first hand that it causes unnecessary delays with getting a simple 12 volt battery replaced, because none of those people feel any time pressure when they don't see that you're actually there.
> 
> And even before that, it seems like no one there is told about deliveries or appointments, and they're left scrambling to find a delivery agent and paperwork after you've arrived. That's been going on since 2018. I didn't have a late appointment, but because my delivery date had to be delayed for a repair, my delivery was on a day they don't normally do deliveries. So I guess the agent for it was off that day, and the front desk people had no idea I was coming, and the people left over in the office had to scramble to find my paperwork. The person who ended up doing the delivery had never done one before, so we had to work together to figure out the remaining paperwork. Fortunately the sales person could still do the abbreviated tour and direct me out of the parking lot safely.


I am sorry you have experienced that, but as a true Floridian, I cannot agree with the after 4pm remark. Service is service, the cool thing about Florida is that its almost as the northeast when it comes to business etiquette. In other words bad service places don't then to stay in business long. I still enjoy the car, and will talk about it if others ask me about it.


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## Major Victory

Congrats on your new wheels and know that the delivery will be but a minor memory soon as you continue to grow to love your new car.

I had a great delivery experience at Dania Beach in 2018 with pre delivery communication being the biggest flaw.

I wonder if Tesla is not thinking so far ahead, as they usually do, that building a grand service experience is blunted by their ambitious, truely autonomous self driving expectations?

Building a large, polished infrastructure to deliver cars that someday (by the end of the year for the last three years) will deliver themselves may be part of why they spend so little time in the Tesla/Customer face to face/facility experience. Why have a polished loaner program when the cars will come to service without a driver? They bypassed the 'dealership' model at the start and dragged their feet with delivery/service perhaps thinking it was superfluous in the short run.

Not giving them a pass for certain but their goal is to save the planet and humanity thus their efforts laser focus on efficent production, efficent use of energy/resources as most engineers would....


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## TrevP

Tesla is not a perfect company, by far. Do they make great cars? Yes, are they perfect? No, but then again no car is perfect. But Tesla needs to do a LOT of growing up in the customer service department if they're going to keep their brand loyalty and not turn off new customers. Word of mouth is great for selling cars but it's also a disaster if customer service problems spread as fast. With that in mind it should be noted that we generally only hear about the bad experiences and not the good ones. Both of my buying experiences with Tesla were good. Communications could have been better but overall I enjoyed it more than the traditional car dealer experience. Service for me at least has always been good.

I feel for those who've had bad experiences, I do hear from them being on social media and all so I think they need to spend some of that $20B cash hoard on fixing communications and customer service. Building factories is great and all but if you can't maintain a modicum of respect for your customers it's not going to end well and trying to fix goodwill after the fact is WAY harder than it is now.

I'm not a business expert or a Tesla insider so I'm not privy to what goes on inside the company but I think everyone can agree this is the most important thing, perceived or not, that they need to address. Maybe they need some outside help?


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## Needsdecaf

TrevP said:


> Tesla is not a perfect company, by far. Do they make great cars? Yes, are they perfect? No, but then again no car is perfect. But Tesla needs to do a LOT of growing up in the customer service department if they're going to keep their brand loyalty and not turn off new customers. Word of mouth is great for selling cars but it's also a disaster if customer service problems spread as fast. With that in mind it should be noted that we generally only hear about the bad experiences and not the good ones. Both of my buying experiences with Tesla were good. Communications could have been better but overall I enjoyed it more than the traditional car dealer experience. Service for me at least has always been good.
> 
> I feel for those who've had bad experiences, I do hear from them being on social media and all so I think they need to spend some of that $20B cash hoard on fixing communications and customer service. Building factories is great and all but if you can't maintain a modicum of respect for your customers it's not going to end well and trying to fix goodwill after the fact is WAY harder than it is now.
> 
> I'm not a business expert or a Tesla insider so I'm not privy to what goes on inside the company but I think everyone can agree this is the most important thing, perceived or not, that they need to address. Maybe they need some outside help?


Yup, I agree.

It frustrates me because I've been in the retail business selling a product that is on average 10x more expensive than a Tesla. This was a public company and I know the measures we went through to insure a good customer experience. I would say we were probably too far down that rabbit hole at the point where I left the company as we were up to like 4-5 surveys per transaction, but you get the idea. Our company's leadership team, all of whom had been there 20 plus years, understood that repeat sales and customer feedback was crucial to future sales. This was driven home time and again and I saw it play out in real life, both positively and negatively. Let me tell you the voice of one pissed off customer carries FAR.

Dealing in the product I dealt with, I got my fair share of "unreasonable customers". And by "unreasonable" I mean that there was no understanding that there had to be SOME give and take. It was their way or we were dead wrong. That's not the nature of a business transaction such as ours. There has to be an equal exchange of value. People don't realize that....on both sides. Some people think that handing over a check gives them the right to act / do / say whatever they want. Not the case. Equally, some people think just because you have a good that's desirable, and you've given people that good, that you have fulfilled your duty in the transaction and can comport yourself however you would like, as long as you've provided the good / service. Again, this is completely false for anyone who wants to succeed in business.

So when I read people (not you Trey) posting that Tesla is "different" or that their products are "special" or that people need to temper their expectations relative to other car purchases, etc. etc. I just see a bunch of excuses. None of that is excusable, ever. Sure, you might get away with it for a while when the market is white hot. But the consumer has a long memory of getting burned, and a very short memory of a pleasurable experience. That's a proven industry fact, and one day it's going to bite Tesla square in the ass if they don't shape up.

The saddest part is that all of this is NOT the difficult part. The revolutionary cars / batteries / drivetrains / supercharging and all the technical stuff; THAT is the hard part. Customer service is a universally applied tenet and there are thousands of consultants who can be hired to fix these problems. Sure, Tesla's actual sales method is not industry traditional, but their model actually makes it easier to fix in a way. Look at what Rivian is doing. Not all that capital intensive but it will SURELY pay off in increased customer satisfaction. Genius move on their part.

Come on Tesla, get it together and invest at least a little time and effort into fixing this. At least pretend you give a crap.


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## Madmolecule

I agree 100%. The customer service part should be easy as all they have to do is copy the parts from the competition that actually work. The customer service needs to continue after the purchase also. I can’t imagine it would cost them that much to make a person stretching to purchase a Tesla feel a little special. They have a unique opportunity since they are so new to be the first company that is honest with their customer base. By this I mean continuously telling us how to treat our vehicles best. How to drive them best how to charge them best And how to operate the automation best. It would be nice if they gave us information on battery upgrade and replacement cost. It would be nice to know if you could buy a standard range now and then five years when to battery has degraded upgrade it to a new long range with possibly even new battery chemistry. Will computers be available for upgrade. I just hope a lot of teslas don’t end up in the junkyard because the computers and cameras have gotten too old and it’s not worth while upgrading. They really need to create a whole division dedicated to the continuous use of the existing fleet. It has been my experience that most developers are focused on future releases and not really thinking about how to get the most out of what they had supplied in the past. Every manufacture is electric vehicle will be reliable. A Tesla has a unique opportunity to show that the difference in a Tesla will be there EV‘s value after five years of ownership.


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## Needsdecaf

Just gonna leave this here.

https://stories.rivian.com/rivian-guides?locale=en/terms/iceland?more=true#!
Contrast, trying to get help from Tesla:


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## techy vet

ag13 said:


> This is just my personal 2 cents. Read below picture before hitting me with flame throwers LOL.
> 
> First, I am a first time EV or even hybrid owner. I bought this car online and test drove one a few days before delivery. It was enough to sell me on it. The purchase process, very simple and easy, the finance, very simple and easy. Communication with sales rep, spotty. The real problem I had and see for Tesla's future, at least for the location in Eatonville FL is customer service. It does not exist. I arrived early by 30 minutes, no one there too great meet or most people in the lobby also waiting like me for someone to make eye contact. Finally someone passed by and asked after watching many Tesla employees walk by me and several others without a word. Car was inline for delivery, dirty, full of wax residue, wax areas that had not been cleaned and with several scratches on paint. Frankly, it looked like garbage. When I brought this up, I was given two options, refuse delivery and wait several more weeks, or have one brought in from another part of the state at my expense, but was told there was no guarantee it would be in better shape. So after being there for almost 2 hours, excluding my arriving early, a nice employee realized what my issue was and grabbed a detail person to work on the car. This is after I was told the manger would speak with me, he or she never came or was seen by many others also asking for a manager. This removed most scratches but not all. I was told they would take care of them if I wanted to on a service visit in the future. Frankly, if I didn't like the car I would have gone the Audi route with a etron. It should not be up to a customer to seek help when a new car is to be delivered. It was quite a poor show. A show room should never be absent of employees or customer greeters, a manager should be visible when a customer asked for their assistance. The excuse for the poor delivery of my vehicle and several others that were there waiting like I was should not be its the end of the month and we are delivering all cars fast. The other excuse was that I had a 5:30pm appt and everyone has been here since before 8am. So Tesla, if you care and read this, pay attention. You build a great car, with some production flaws, just like everyone else. It is up to the management in your dealerships/distribution centers to catch and fix those before they are shown to the buyer, it can't be a take it or leave it excuse. This is where the next generation of EV builders (VW, AUDI, etc) will beat you. You can't have a take it or leave it mentality when the competition finally arrives. By the way, I have been trying to fix my paint flaws, but now I am told no loaner can be had because they are to busy to hold one for me. Even though is will take a few days to fix my paint scratches and blemishes.
> 
> View attachment 37676
> 
> After all that, My 3 is great in so many ways, for someone who has had cars from V8 muscle cars to my last car an Audi RS3. I just wish I had a better first time experience. The cars clearly sell themselves.


This is certainly a point to be addressed. Tesla Quebec city has been flawless-from delivery to service (they had to refit my roof glass because of a manufacturing fault) and had a MS onhand and a thousand apologies. Had a driveway service call for a noisy door trim which finally had to be replaced-again rapid efficient service- beating my Dodge,Ford ,and chevy experience 10X...


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## furiousD

Just to put this out there for reference, my buying experience at the end of March 2021 went very well. 

The dealerships and service centers are all run slightly different, just like any traditional manufacturer. 

When I bought, the sales person in the mall dealership was very helpful and trustworthy, and walked me through the process on their computer. There are always staff available when I walk by.

The down payment and alerting me on delivery dates / instructions was handled 100% online or through text. When I wanted to change my down payment, I called support and didn't have to wait long for friendly help - - it took all of 5 minutes.

After waiting for 2 weeks from purchase, the contactless pickup of the car was smooth. I drove to the service center, saw my car parked like a boss out front, walked up and signed into the app, unlocked the car, opened the door (classical music was playing - - nice touch!), signed some papers in a red folder, dropped the folder in a dropbox, and then drove home saying "holy ****!" with a smile on my face after every red light and on ramp. Didn't talk to a soul that day, no swarmy back office signings. 

The paint was in great condition, a few swirls and spider webs, and one small faint scratch, then a few dirt smudges on the white seats and some adhesive left on the black trim. Nothing to complain about, I got lucky compared to others. This is probably within tolerances for any new vehicle, not sure tho.

The only problem I had was minor: the keycards were wavy on one side, as if exposed to heat. I went back to the dealership in a few days and had my only questionable customer service. As I walked in, a rep was walking out carrying a license plate (probably on way to work with customer in test drive area) and asked if I needed help. Told him the issue, he said they can definitely replace, but I need to email the local service center. It almost felt like he was bouncing me around and didn't want to deal with it. 

I had a few more questions that were answered, but the whole time he acted rushed, body language out the door. Another rep interrupted us to ask him a question, and when he turned back to me he started walking off while talking to me. I followed him because we were mostly done, but I wasn't satisfied with his last answer and the interaction resolved in a rushed divergent way. He should have had someone else help me, tho I could have done the same. 

When I emailed the service center, they quickly replied and stated they could replace the keys at no charge. The service appointment was easy to set up on the app, confirmed thru texts, and the service man who came to my house to program the cards was very nice and quick (said he had replaced many of these wavy cards recently).

The main problem is that Tesla needs to have someone readily available if any automatic digital process fails or there is a delay on delivery date, etc. This is where Tesla is more of a tech company rather than car company.


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## Kcl5038

I just bought a model 3 performance 2020 demo model 3 weeks ago. I was trying to inspect the car and the service man kept trying to push me to sign the paperwork. I saw a small paint chip and he immediately took the car from me and drove it to the detailer for 15 minutes. I didn't even have a chance to mention the dozen or so other scratches. Just wouldn't let me have some time to myself to inspect it. Then I get on the highway on my way home and about 10 minutes in I realize the tpms monitor is throwing an alarm.

It's a bent rim that will take $900 to replace. Im almost positive they knew about the rim by the way they were acting. I also got to a supercharger a few days after and it takes me 2.5 hours to charge. I schedule a service visit they tell me they'll need to replace the entire battery. 15 days after I buy the car and its getting a battery replacement. 

Tesla can't even do a basic battery diagnostic on the new cars they sell?! I fell in love with the car for the first couple days but now its going to be out of service for who knows how long. I have a 20 day road trip scheduled on the 5th and I had to beg to get that much time off... I'm beyond frustrated. Imagine buying a Ford and they tell you they need to replace your engine 2 weeks in to having it for a fundamental problem with the engine.


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## Madmolecule

Tesla doesn’t even try to call them dealerships. It is basically the same level of service you get meeting a dude in the parking lot from craigslist. The sales experience and service has got to be Tesla’s focus for 2021. Competition will be here quick, with the same batteries, inverters and very similar motors. The competition will be by people with much better experience at manufacturing, sales and customer service. Since it might be a couple years before Tesla secret sauce, it’s FSD, will be able to be leveraged, the main advantage Tesla has is it nimbleness, this is the time to take advantage of that and fix the sales and service to truly become the dominant vehicle provider. They also need to make the ownership and sales experience much more fun than the competition. Don’t engineer out the fun.

Elon Electrify Cuba!


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## Bigriver

furiousD said:


> The dealerships and service centers are all run slightly different, just like any traditional manufacturer.


Just to clarify, Tesla doesn't have car dealerships. Traditional manufacturers have independently owned dealerships. This creates a middleman who takes a profit. Some say that the dealerships then also have a motive to provide good customer service. I personally have never found car dealerships to be of any benefit to me.

Tesla service centers and retail locations are all owned by and presumably managed by the mother ship. However there are wide ranging experiences that people report from different locations. I don't know the reasons for those variations but have tended to attribute them to the individuals. I have worked in situations that theoretically me and a large number of colleagues were doing the same job, but I sometimes saw wide deviations in knowledge level and basic human skills.

I'm glad you had an overall positive experience. As you observed when you needed help with the keycard, they are not set up to handle walk-in issues with the car. They seem to want all issues (and even questions) to process through the app. I have had good experience with that method.


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## Madmolecule

Bigriver said:


> Just to clarify, Tesla doesn't have car dealerships.


yes that's my point. At first it was a relief to not have to deal with the middleman/salesman/finance manager. And then you realize you're on your own, there's no one in your pocket but there's no one helping you out. It even sounds refreshing to pick up a vehicle from a service center thanking that they would be going through it in detail and make sure it meets all the specifications of a new or used Tesla. My experience has been they just send some lacky from the back closed office area, not accessible to the public, to pull the plastic off the car, maybe wash it, and maybe put it on the charger. They have got rid of the show room idea just because it really didn't serve much for a purpose since they offered about the same advantage of a kiosk. Covid did not kill this concept, it just provided no value. Consumers want value and tesla need to start bringing the entire package. They proved the EV as a viable solution and has change the world. The question is who will take it from here. I wanted to be Tesla. Elon is the technology king and innovator but cannot be bothered with some of the details. Not sure how much of it is mine space is spent on the existing install days and the customer experience. I'm not saying it should but it should be someone of his caliper's focus.

Savings from no dealerships, no advertising, tax credits and vaporware sales have all been turned to profit and reinvested in Tesla's future and not returned as savings to the consumer in my opinion,

I would like to know how the experience is more valuable than meeting the dude from craigslist in the parking lot. If your vehicle needs service they'll just schedule an appointment. It's not like he's going to call the service guy over and have them get right on it. If it needs to be left there's no loaners anymore you get an Uber credit. The dude in the parking lot could do the same thing. You just have to pack a parking lot with a level two charger. Virtually any hotel will do

Elon Electrify Cuba!


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## GDN

Kcl5038 said:


> I just bought a model 3 performance 2020 demo model 3 weeks ago. I was trying to inspect the car and the service man kept trying to push me to sign the paperwork. I saw a small paint chip and he immediately took the car from me and drove it to the detailer for 15 minutes. I didn't even have a chance to mention the dozen or so other scratches. Just wouldn't let me have some time to myself to inspect it. Then I get on the highway on my way home and about 10 minutes in I realize the tpms monitor is throwing an alarm.
> 
> It's a bent rim that will take $900 to replace. Im almost positive they knew about the rim by the way they were acting. I also got to a supercharger a few days after and it takes me 2.5 hours to charge. I schedule a service visit they tell me they'll need to replace the entire battery. 15 days after I buy the car and its getting a battery replacement.
> 
> Tesla can't even do a basic battery diagnostic on the new cars they sell?! I fell in love with the car for the first couple days but now its going to be out of service for who knows how long. I have a 20 day road trip scheduled on the 5th and I had to beg to get that much time off... I'm beyond frustrated. Imagine buying a Ford and they tell you they need to replace your engine 2 weeks in to having it for a fundamental problem with the engine.


Welcome to Tesla and to the 3. Doesn't sound the best of experiences, but not unlike many other stories. The bent rim will never cost $900 to replace, you can find those for $300, so not sure why the exaggeration on that price. Sorry to hear about the battery as well, but there are many things that can go wrong likely that would have never shown up before. I'd never complain about getting a new battery, so it sounds like they are taking care of you.

Here is hoping that the experience improves.


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## laTez

We had a similar delivery fiasco recently. We've enjoyed our July 2018 Tesla and wanted to buy a 2021 model. From our first meeting with the Tesla rep in Portland, I made it clear we knew Tesla has a track record for inconsistent build quality and that I would not accept a car that didn't have body panels and paint sorted out. A day before delivery, I told the rep to inspect the car and that I didn't want to waste my time if it wasn't a good example. He assured me he inspected it and it was good. We arrived for our appointment and no-one greeted us for 15 minutes. We wandered around the lot and spotted a Model 3 that looked like it might be ours. After a quick inspection, we saw the frunk, the passenger door, both tail-lights and the charging port flipper misaligned. 

The paint was great and so was the interior. A guy came up and confirmed it was our car. We expressed concerns and he left. We wandered around and saw several new Teslas that would have been acceptable. Our contact never acknowledged our presence, even though he must have seen us while he was talking with another party 20 feet away. Driving away from the lot, our guy finally approached and said "it meets Tesla's specs" and "you're going to have to wait to get another one." We left. Two days later we called and talked to Cameron, a guy who said he was the manager. I let him know how extremely unhappy I was with the experience. His reply "I'm sorry you..." a classic non-apology meant to place the blame back on the one who deserves an apology. I have been touting Tesla to friends and still love the car, but this experience was a huge black mark on their reputation. I'm spreading the word. Tesla! This is not the 1970's! Our model 3 from 2018 was better built than the car you tried to sell us! Get your build quality act together! Treat your customers with respect - we are not cogs in your machine.


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## sunfarm

ag13 said:


> Thanks, glad to see I was not completely nuts. Ed, I understand what you are saying, but that is my point exactly. For now, they are the main player, soon they won't be. I am not expecting anyone there to put out a red carpet, give me a bottled water etc. Pure old school customer interaction would be nice, and not delivering a car with some many things that could have been easily fixed before I got there. They only knew I was coming in 3 days after the car was delivered there, yah think that might have been enough time. The excuse of, well if you don't want it someone else will has caused many a companies in my 55 years to go under. Again, just my 2 cents.


you absolutely right


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