Consumer Reports: Tesla

You have to wonder why anyone would make such as claim without verifiable proof since it sounds so ridiculous of a claim and such an obvious case of legal or consumer backlash if true.

Mike

 

I suspect they are referring to someone who bought a salvaged title Tesla, and then brought it in for warrantee work.
Tesla informed the new owner that the car, because it was salvaged, would need to be certified before use.
As Tesla is very concerned that a battery pack is in good working condition and all the safety features are in perfect condition after a car is salvaged.
Tesla won’t allow updates to, or do any work on, or allow supercharger use of non-certified cars.

If this is the event they are referring to, it is isolated, and extremely misleading to state this was because the new owner complained on social media. They have been lied to.

 

Looking for where that was, found this, still looking.


Tesla buyers, be careful what you write about the company — if you're deemed "rude," you just might get banned from buying a Tesla car.


That's what happened to Californian venture capitalist Stewart Alsop, whose Tesla order got canceled — by company CEO Elon Musk, no less — after he wrote a blog post criticizing the company's Model X launch event.


In September 2015, Alsop wrote a blog post titled "Dear @ElonMusk: You should be ashamed of yourself," asking Musk to apologize for making Tesla customers wait nearly two hours for the Model X event to start, and then making them wait even longer for a chance to test-drive the car they had pre-ordered.


Alsop, currently a partner at Alsop Louie Partners, spent some 20 years in tech journalism, both as editor of InfoWorld and columnist for Fortune. Here, however, he insists he's just a regular customer. His post ends up with praise for Tesla and its Model X, with Alsop ultimately asking for an apology "to the people who believe in this product." That apology never materialized; instead, Alsop's Tesla Model X order got de-materialized.

On Monday, Alsop wrote another post, titled "Banned By Tesla," in which he claims Musk personally called him, and while he didn't disclose the content of that conversation, the result is that Musk personally canceled his Tesla Model X order.

"...you have decided that I can’t own one of your cars, and I am terribly disappointed," Alsop wrote. "...in the many articles and posts I have written criticizing products, companies and people, I have never been banned from doing business with any of the companies!"

On Wednesday, Musk confirmed the story on Twitter, wondering why "denying service to a super rude customer" got so much media attention.


The old adage says that the customer is always right, but it may not be so in Tesla's world. Granted, we mostly know Alsop's side of the story — Musk's "super rude" comment might be related to the phone conversation the two men had, or something else entirely. However, a company — especially a big, multinational one such as Tesla — banning a customer from using their products is quite rare.

One case comes to mind, though — in 2010, a blogger known only as "Protocol Snow" claimed Apple had given him a "lifetime ban" for buying too many iPads (and circumventing Apple's then two-per-customer limit on the iPad). That scenario was a little different, though — the customer actively did something against Apple's rules. In Alsop's case, he was apparently merely being critical of a company event.

We've asked Tesla for more info about Alsop's order cancellation and will update the article when we know more.

 

This was interesting, and timely.
Yesterday I received my 2018 CR Survey. I filled out the first section, which was Auto.
One comment, and mid level rating I made was for "blind spot detection". I added a comment to the effect: "While blind spot detection is shown on the center console, it would be nice if it were more 'in your face' with its alert."

Last night, I got an update which replaced the entire lane line (typically blue when in auto pilot) with a red line.
Much more 'in your face'. I still like the blind spot warnings that also have a light on the side mirrors, but this is much better than it was before.

 

You realize your original statement implies this is a regular issue that affects all owners that complain, than the isolated professional complainer, that wrote an open letter complaining about a huge reveal event that didn't start on time, and apparently didn't supply food?

Here is another take on that event. A customer was so annoying that Tesla decided not to sell him a car - The Verge

Seems someone with a complaint would write the CEO a letter first, rather than yelling it to the world.

 

Thanks!

Even 3 years ago, it was my practice to only criticize products in my hands. Sounds like Alsop jumped the gun. But then there was that unfortunate incident with the original 'Top Gear' and the Tesla Roadster.

Elon had to explain that 'Top Gear' had faked Roadster problems when he was seeking investors in the EU. So here is another case of a potential investor publicly shagging Tesla when they needed to fund the future Model 3.

I'm sure Alsop will be very happy with a Bolt or I-Pace . . . or whatever the latest Tesla killer is.

Bob Wilson

 

why would someone want to buy a product from a company they are critical of?

 

Not very bright, they tipped their hand.

Bob Wilson

 

Yes, and I can't back it up, I read it on a blog by someone trying to rebuild a Tesla, it was a false statement.

 

Thank you, I appreciate that.
I do know someone who has been rebuilding Tesla’s and selling them for years.

I don’t mind reports of anecdotal evidence. But please don’t take a single report and imply it applies to everyone.

 

We don't know what was said in the phone call.
Maybe Alsop said something like since you didn't apologize I'm going to write a bad review of your car when I get it.
And Musk said then I'm not going to sell you a car, blah, blah.
Who knows. But this has nothing to do with someone being critical of Tesla on social media.
It has to do with a personal conversation, IMHO.

Mike
P.S. But, just in case...I love my Tesla