Tesla Buyers Complain About Delivery Time While Company Struggles to Meet Production Goals

As Tesla struggles to exit “production hell,” customers are beginning to complain about the long wait times to receive the vehicles they paid for.

The LA Times reports that as Tesla struggles to meet production goals, some customers are becoming increasingly annoyed by the wait times to receive their vehicles.

According to the Times:

There’s no doubt in Richard Lam’s mind: When he takes the wheel of his Tesla Model 3, he’ll be thrilled with it. “I hear that owners, once they get their cars, are very happy,” said Lam, 31, an electrical engineer from Diamond Bar.

Getting it is the problem. Lam has been waiting more than two months. He’s already paid Tesla for the highest-end Model 3 available, which costs $79,500. He’s paying principal and interest on his loan. But for now he’s left driving a 1999 Mustang, a loaner from his brother.

“I’m not very happy with the current situation,” he said.

Complaints from other owners are beginning to pile up as well, with some owners attempting to contact delivery representatives only to hear a message informing them that the representative’s voicemail box is full. Breitbart News previously reported that even when customers do receive their cars, many require repairs that can take significant amounts of time.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk acknowledged the long wait times for the company’s vehicles in a tweet stating: “Due to a large increase in vehicle delivery volume in North America, Tesla customers may experience longer response times. Resolving this is our top priority.” The LA Times reached out to Tesla for a comment, a spokesperson declined to comment on what steps the company is taking to resolve these issues but did state that she spent Wednesday “volunteering at one of the delivery centers.”

The LA Times once again spoke with Tesla customer Richard Lam about his experience with the car manufacturer:

Lam said that since he was promised a specific Model 3, two delivery dates have been broken. On Aug. 8, he was told 45 minutes before scheduled pickup that the car wasn’t available.

Then, on Aug. 30, one Tesla representative told him his car hadn’t yet been put on the delivery truck, and another told him the car had not yet been built.

The Aug. 8 delivery was canceled, Lam was told, because the car hadn’t passed quality inspection. Social media is filled with customers complaining about Model 3 quality, including paint bubbles, dents, dirt, dead batteries, broken bumpers and cars delivered in the wrong color.

A sales representative from a Southern California Tesla retail store told the Times that major changes are needed to fix the company’s delivery system. “We’ve grown too fast,” said the rep, “Every quarter we have a meeting to figure out how we’re going to make delivery work this time, and it never does,” he said. “By the time we actually come up with a plan, the plan is outdated. They change their mind all the time.”

When asked whom he meant by “they,” the rep replied, “Elon.” “I do believe in the company and its mission, but the execution is very poor,” said the sales representative.

Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk have faced a rough few weeks, with Goldman Sachs predicting a 30 percent drop in Tesla’s stock price over the next six months, suppliers growing skeptical of Tesla’s production goals,Tesla’s bond prices hitting a record low following CEO Elon Musk’s renewed attack on the British cave rescuer who saved the lives of a Thai soccer team, and Musk drinking whiskey and smoking weed on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast. These latest production issues are only adding to the company’s growing list of problems.