Update April 13: Mailed a cancellation first class letter 4/12, and sent another web contact cancellation at the Tesla website today. I have not received the Tesla cancellation email promised 4/7, or any answers to my web contact submissions. A reply by email or snail mail confirming a cancellation would be good.
Has anyone who canceled a reservation received a refund yet?
Update April 12: I have not yet received the cancellation email promised on 4/7. I sure hope that I do not have to start this process over again in 10-15 days.
Just for info, here is my experience canceling. I would love to own a Tesla someday, but after some more thought, just not the model 3 just now.
Called before the reveal, told that refunds are quick, but after more than one year refunds take 3 days by paper check.
Reserved online at first web chance before the reveal, my card was charged quickly (March 31, 2016).
Decided over the weekend the model 3, a fantastic vehicle, is just not for me now.
I called Monday, cancellations were not possible because of the unexpected large number of orders. I was told to try again maybe Thursday (4/7) or Friday.
Canceled by phone Thurs. 4/7, told cancellation email would follow, with refund in 10-15 days.
I received another confirmation email evening of 4/7, possibly they needed to make another step of confirmation as part of the cx process.
Just one experience, not great, but not horrible (so far), so you know what to expect should you decide to, or need to cancel a reservation. It is a little surprising that with everything computer automated that 200k reservations break a system that was intended for 50k reservations, unless they literally have people processing each and every reservation. There does not seem to be an online way to cancel directly or automatically, so I guess each cancellation is an individual phone call. When I tried to confirm my cx online, I noticed there is now cancellation item on their online contact page.
I hope the alternative is not true, that they want to keep the reservation numbers high, or want the "float" on the advanced funds by intentionally delaying refunds. I had to explain why I was cancelling, but it was not as hard as cancelling satellite TV.
Has anyone who canceled a reservation received a refund yet?
Update April 12: I have not yet received the cancellation email promised on 4/7. I sure hope that I do not have to start this process over again in 10-15 days.
Just for info, here is my experience canceling. I would love to own a Tesla someday, but after some more thought, just not the model 3 just now.
Called before the reveal, told that refunds are quick, but after more than one year refunds take 3 days by paper check.
Reserved online at first web chance before the reveal, my card was charged quickly (March 31, 2016).
Decided over the weekend the model 3, a fantastic vehicle, is just not for me now.
I called Monday, cancellations were not possible because of the unexpected large number of orders. I was told to try again maybe Thursday (4/7) or Friday.
Canceled by phone Thurs. 4/7, told cancellation email would follow, with refund in 10-15 days.
I received another confirmation email evening of 4/7, possibly they needed to make another step of confirmation as part of the cx process.
Just one experience, not great, but not horrible (so far), so you know what to expect should you decide to, or need to cancel a reservation. It is a little surprising that with everything computer automated that 200k reservations break a system that was intended for 50k reservations, unless they literally have people processing each and every reservation. There does not seem to be an online way to cancel directly or automatically, so I guess each cancellation is an individual phone call. When I tried to confirm my cx online, I noticed there is now cancellation item on their online contact page.
I hope the alternative is not true, that they want to keep the reservation numbers high, or want the "float" on the advanced funds by intentionally delaying refunds. I had to explain why I was cancelling, but it was not as hard as cancelling satellite TV.
Last edited:
With the cancellation term missing from the contract, they may be relying on some California commercial default contract period, possibly 30 days? Any CA admitted lawyers here? I am pretty sure that eventually it will turn out okay, it is just a pain to get the refund.
