Hurricane Irma set our delivery date back. Added to this delay was that I was out of town until the 24th so that became our delivery date.
I believe Tesla’s delivery team is not interested in building a relationship with their new customer. After all, they already have our deposit and THEY think they have the best car for whatever reason. They really don’t need us and their attitude reflects this.
Kyle was my delivery specialist in Palm Beach. He rarely returned my email questions leaving me in the dark about what I thought were important points. However, the delivery day and time were set for Monday at 2 pm.
I make my living by arriving at horse owner’s barns at a set time. I LOVE being on time because it shows respect to the person who is paying me. It also is important for logistical reasons. So when we (my wife and I) arrived at 10 minutes before 2, I expected that Kyle would be alerted and show up at 2 or earlier.
What was I thinking?
We sat in the show room until 20 past (40 min total wait time). We were offered during this time water or coffee 4 different times by 4 different people. All the metrosexual men (NOT farm people or anyone I would trust) seemed awkward around me but assured me that Kyle would be right down.
Kyle never showed the entire day. In fact it was Devon, a different delivery specialist, who walked us through the paperwork and then introduced us to the X. He gave a guided tour of the features. The process was robotic but he did answer some of my questions. He was also surprised that I had already read the owner’s manual – twice.
I drove away and met my wife for some lunch.
Follow Up To The Delivery
This part of the blog was added about 10 days after delivery. There are some points to be made coming from the post-delivery experience.
- There has been no personal follow up call. Only a computer generated poll which I trashed.
- Devon never told me about the calibration period for the cameras. This would have been important reflecting on the computer firmware problem I had.
- The paper temporary tag Devon applied to the X with only 2 top screws was virtually destroyed and almost lost after a severe downpour plus 70 MPH for 400 miles. Luckily I noticed it backing into a SC when it flipped up over the back up camera. Problem solved with 2 screws bought at Home Depot. I think Tesla can afford to use 4 screws or even the license plate bracket that was given to me in a plastic bag with the words “Tesla” on it.
- A plain brown cardboard box with an iPhone adapter to install a mobile charging device was given to me by Devon with no offer to install it for me. There were 3 problems with this. 1) It doesn’t work if there is ANY cover on the phone including my very thin Apple cover. 2) There were no instructions included (I had to go to YouTube to learn how to install it). 3) The adapter should have been installed by Tesla because it is above the ability of anyone with limited dexterity. I removed it 2 days later and have trashed it.
Overall Opinion
The delivery could have been made by a robot. It was impersonal and not a great experience. Tesla really needs to improve this to establish that this is NOT a machine to person business. It is, and shall always be, a person to person business. A transaction was made but a relationship was not.