As Tesla's value soars, buyers of EV bitch, moan about mediocre customer service

The Tesla sales and service center in Paramus, N.J. This company photo shows the outside of the showroom.

Owners often come last 

at a sales-service center

staffed by millennials

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- I typed a letter to Tesla's legal department in California, put in an envelope, affixed a stamp and a return-address label, and put it out for the mail carrier.

I can't remember the last time I wrote a letter, but my repeated emails to Tesla Motors have been ignored since last November, when I sold the 2015 Model S 60 I bought new and purchased a used 2016 Model S 75D from Tesla.

The first issue I had was getting a refund for a 2-year extended warranty I bought for $2,100 when the 4-year factory coverage on my 2015 Model S ended last April.

The warranty was in place from last May to last Nov. 14, when I sold that car to Carvana.

I emailed the warranty cancellation and refund-request form provided to the email address on it -- and then to a second email address and to a third provided by a service advisor in Paramus.

All my emails were ignored.

Damage to 2016 Model S

The second issue was getting Tesla to repair minor damage to the bottom of the front bumper of the 2016 Model S I bought in November -- damage that occurred after a company employee emailed me photos that showed no such damage.

I feel that was bait and switch. The damage likely occurred when Tesla employees or agents transported my Model S by truck to Paramus, N.J., from storage in Newburgh, N.Y.

Leaving the Paramus showroom on Thursday, I spoke to a man who said he had flown down from Vermont to pick up the 2016 Model S he was looking over in the parking lot.

He said he bought the car from the Tesla website and photos he was sent showed scratches on the front bumper, below the headlight, but didn't show damage and a hole in the front left fender liner he was inspecting.

A dent, mismatched touch-up paint and scrapes on the lower bumper of my 2016 Model S 75D, above and below, that I pointed out to Sean, a Tesla delivery advisor in Paramus, N.J., on Nov. 14, when I picked up the car. He said Tesla wouldn't pay for repairs.

Go to service center

So, a couple of weeks ago, I drove to the Tesla sales and service center (less than 4 miles from my home), and sat with Andrew, a service advisor, for nearly 30 minutes as he searched for an email address I could send my requests to.

When got home, I composed a detailed email and attached the warranty cancellation/refund form and photos of damage to my 2016 Model S to CustomerSupport@Tesla.com, only to get a response in a few minutes:

"This email address is no longer monitored."

I was urged to log into my Tesla.com account to ask any questions or make any requests -- "this is so we know who we're speaking to and can help you quicker."

That didn't help, either. I got no response.

Then, I called a woman at Tesla Finance who collected my final payments last year on 3 Powerwall storage batteries I had installed on my home, which has more than 60 solar panels.

She gave me two phone numbers, but I could not speak to a human at either one.

Second trip to Paramus

Last week, I read that the electric carmaker's shares soared, pushing Tesla's market cap past $100 billion and officially making it the second-largest automaker by value after Toyota.

Little comfort to me as I set out for my second trip to Paramus, where I made a point to seek out Jose Solis, a service advisor who gave me good customer service in the past.

Solis pored over the extended warranty and found the address for Tesla's legal department.

I went home, wrote and mailed the letter, which invokes Tesla's "dispute-settlement program," and now I'm waiting.

Ageism at Tesla?

Tesla Paramus is staffed by millennials -- in sales and service -- and I'm 75 with salt-and-pepper hair and a goatee.

Is that why I usually get treated like chopped liver?

That's my hunch. What do you think?

Another possibility is that the Paramus service center got a lot busier after the introduction of the Model 3, and that might have resulted in less attention to Model S owners like me.

What others say

Charlotte P. of Manhattan told Yelp:

"Terrible experience- the sales guy gave me his cell phone number telling me I can call him anytime - after selling the car he disappeared and never picked up the phone - terrible customer service as well - kept me on the phone for three hours and still could not tell me how to turn on the emergency Light on the car.

Another woman, from Secaucus, told Yelp: 

"Very lukewarm experience at the Paramus Tesla. The staff wasn't very eager to answer questions.  The staff was busy on their cell phones or talking to other sales reps. The floor was not busy so I don't understand why we weren't assisted. I'd look at another location for better and actual service."

Craig Cochran told TESLA Owners Worldwide:

"How do you get a human being on the line when you call Tesla service? When I call, I get a circular voicemail menu that doesn't seem to ever direct to a human. I simply need to ask a question and I don't want to schedule a service appointment to do it." 

Read: Best and worst of Tesla customer service

Read: Don't trust Tesla to give you

 the best trade-in value, loan

Ellen, please be kind to the planet, not just to your fellow humans, gorillas in Rwanda

LUNCHTIME IN RWANDA: Ellen DeGeneres, right, and wife Portia de Rossi with a mountain gorilla. The Ellen DeGeneres Wildlife Fund is supporting global conservation efforts for endangered species.

Talk show host is living large, 
aggravating our climate crisis

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- In these dark times for our environment, comedian Ellen DeGeneres is definitely part of the problem, not part of the solution.

Ellen signs off every episode of her mid-afternoon talk show with "Be kind to one another," and The Ellen Fund raises money to save the mountain gorillas in Rwanda.

But at home in California, Ellen drives noisy German and Italian sports cars or an SUV that guzzle gas and pollute the air with the same emissions that cause tens of thousands of premature deaths every year. 

Last October, Ellen surprised her wife, Portia de Rossi, with a silver Lamborghini -- not a silver Tesla. 

Solar energy?

Not much of a gift, when you consider Ellen chose deadly emissions over zero emissions.

And none of her enormous homes appear to be self-powered, as they could be with rooftop solar panels charging storage batteries that would run them at night.

Or, Ellen could cool and heat her homes using geothermal energy from the ground.

So, sadly, Ellen is aggravating climate change, and the warming that has sparked dangerous wildfires near her California homes and her wife's native Australia.

$77 million a year

That's irresponsible, given that she certainly has the means to convert all of her homes to solar power and geothermal energy, and buy a fleet of Teslas and other zero-emission electric cars.

According to Forbes, Ellen earns $77 million a year for her talk show hosting duties. The Ellen DeGeneres Show is now in its 17th year.

That doesn't include income from another TV production, Ellen's Game of Games, and the money she receives for endorsing several products and services.

LISTED FOR $49 MILLION: This photo of Ellen DeGeneres' Beverly Hills compound (from the Hollywood Reporter) shows the exterior and lack of solar panels. Ryan Seacrest bought the property in 2012. It was listed for $49 million.

$24M beach house

Last July 4, CNBC.com reported Ellen was selling her beach house in Carpinteria, Calif., adding: 

"Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres is known as a house flipper, and has bought [more than] 12 houses in 20 years. Take a look at the oceanfront estate ... that she and wife and actress Portia de Rossi are selling for $24 million."

A CNBC video shows the roof of the beach house, and there isn't a single solar panel in sight -- this, in California, where the sun shines nearly every day and could zero out her energy bill, and reduce the demand for electricity from a utility that can't always generate the power residents need.

Greta Thunberg

On her show last Nov. 1, Ellen interviewed Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old environmental activist, and promised viewers she and Greta would discuss what viewers and audience members could do to ease the climate crisis.

After the break, Ellen announced her show was dedicating $100,000 to a web page on EllenTube: Join Greta Thunberg & The Climate Crisis Movement.

But that was as far as she went. 

When Greta said she had stopped flying, Ellen didn't pledge to sell her private jet, nor did the world's funniest women tell us she would convert all her homes to solar power and buy electric cars.

In fact, Ellen made no reference to her profligate lifestyle or any steps she would take to ease her tremendous impact on the environment.

Read: How Tesla is helping me

 cut the cord to the utility company

The opening of a new Little Ferry H Mart awaits repaving of flood-prone parking lot

GRAND OPENING SOON! After the old H Mart in Little Ferry closed unexpectedly last July 31, customers of the Korean supermarket have been teased by signs in the new store at 260 Bergen Turnpike, above and below: "GRAND OPENING SOON!" and "BIGGER, BETTER, BRAND NEW!"

OPENING DELAYED UNTIL MAY 2020? Employees at H Mart's Lyndhurst headquarters wouldn't address a rumor that the new 43,000-square-foot supermarket in Little Ferry won't open until May.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- The cyclone fence that now surrounds a large shopping center on Bergen Turnpike in Little Ferry is a sign that the opening of a new H Mart has been delayed once again.

The old supermarket -- which operated in the other half of a sprawling building -- was one of the biggest H Marts in Bergen County (and also the shabbiest).

But the store drew customers for its low prices on produce, fresh fish, rice and many other items, as well as free Korean food samples on the weekends.

The old store closed unexpectedly last July 31, but company officials haven't announced an opening date for the new, 43,000-square-foot store and food court.   

The new and old H Marts are part of what once was known as the Valley Fair Shopping Center for the discount department store that operated there for many years.

Lawsuit, paving

A Little Ferry official said a lawsuit, which has been settled, delayed the opening of the new Korean supermarket, but she would not provide any details.

Last Thursday, an employee at the Lyndhurst headquarters of the Korean-American supermarket company said H Mart was waiting for a permit needed to make repairs to the parking lot, which is prone to flooding.

About a month ago, I drove past the new but unopened H Mart only to see a large puddle and a dozen or more seagulls where customers would be parking.

Today, I saw that a portion of that same lot has been torn up in preparation for repaving.

H Mart leases the space from the owner of the property, the employee said.

At 43,000-square-feet, the Little Ferry H Mart is bigger than another H Mart planned for American Dream, the megamall in East Rutherford. 

H Mart Smart Members

To buy fresh fish on Sundays ever since the old Little Ferry H Mart closed at the end of July 2019, I have been driving to the Super H Mart in Ridgefield or to 99 Ranch Market, the Chinese supermarket in Hackensack.

H Mart offers a "Smart Member" loyalty card that returns 1% of your purchases, redeemable for a $10 certificate after you spend $1,000 at its supermarkets.

Bad decisions

The long delay in opening a new supermarket in Little Ferry is the second time H Mart officials have acted against the interests of their customers in Bergen County. 

In 2018, company officials blindsided loyal Korean-American and non-Korean customers (like me) by closing the H Mart in Englewood -- a move that wasn't announced beforehand -- only days before a new H Mart opened at the traffic-choked Routes 17 and 4 intersection in Paramus.

That Englewood supermarket has been torn down.
  

Read: In 2015, customers thought

 Little Ferry H Mart was closing

Read: How H Mart screwed

 Englewood customers

WALKING THE DOG: On Dec. 21, a couple was seen walking their dog past unopened stores in the H Mart shopping center in Little Ferry.

MORE SHOPPING: The entrance to another store in the H Mart shopping center, this one near the entrance to the old supermarket, below.

MADISON WINE: A liquor store continues to operate just inside the entrance to the old supermarket.

PROPERTY OWNERS: Allied Builders and Management is the contractor for paving of the parking lot, not the owner of the property.