@ntam has excellent points and honesty in summarizing where things have gone wrong in the past year (which one can objectively determine by a 50% drop in TSLA over the past year, which has never been good for any publicly-traded company).
1. I bought my 6-yr-old S (with extended warranty through 2020) believing my greatest risk/expense would be $12,000 for a replacement battery someday. Wrong! I learned just a few months ago here on TMC that Tesla’s original $12k offer is now actually $25,000! Guess what? Virtually no one will buy a used Tesla in a few years when the single largest part that goes bad is $25k (cause most don’t have a spare $25k laying around). This is a huge Achilles heal for EVs when they want mass adoption by the 99% who don’t get EVs. And if my original MCU goes bad in 2021? It’s only $4-5k
2. I tried multiple times to buy TESLA solar panels, 60 of them. In Iowa, sorry said Tesla! My $50k went to the competition. It’s almost impossible to understand how Tesla has mismanaged their multi-Billion $ purchase of Solar City. Why do they refuse to sell me solar, regardless of where I live?! Partner with local installers and make it happen!
3. I wanted the Powerwall on day one of its unveiling long ago...nope! I ordered the PW2 on day one (Tesla today still has my $500 deposit from long ago)...again, nothing. Promised installation well over a year ago, then nothing. Also bought another red PW2 referral prize - and paid $2k deposit to someone on TMC - after Tesla then confirmed it WAS transferable to me...before they changed their mind. Another great Tesla product, albeit pricey, that I can’t actually buy. Bad business policy and practice. See a pattern?
4. I was super happy to earn free Arachnids for my S on the last day of the referral program. Was texted by Tesla to order before Feb 28 or forfeit my prize, so I quickly used my iPhone to do so. My link gave me only one option (delivery location, so I chose Westmont). Immediately I received a congratulatory reply that my forged 3 wheels would arrive in July! Wait, what?!? I wanted the 21” Arachnids for my S, so I IMMEDIATELY called and got a circular automated message that ended (twice) with a hang up of my call. So 30 minutes of that non-sense led me to email Tesla about the simple error on Tesla’s part/system. A few days later came my reply...nope, NO ARACHNIDS 4U! I was told my “order/selection” was final and absolutely nothing could be done! I explained clearly and politely what had happened and that I was given no CHOICE. Another week later, same reply...I’m SOL. I begged on the next email to please investigate because others most certainly are facing the same problem ordering the correct rims they wanted (since lots of folks own more than one Tesla). Finally, after about a month, Tesla admitted my solo choice was due to MY failure to properly register my S...which I explained I had done one week BEFORE buying my 3! Another month passed, and finally some new dude congratulated me on my Arachnids that would soon arrive at Westmont by April. No apology whatsoever for THEIR mistake. And it’s May 22, and still no rims. This should have been a really awesome prize for talking non-stop to every friend and stranger about how awesome TESLA is! Instead, it’s an embarrassing story to share here...telling more about what’s really wrong with a company and product we all love for different reasons.
Finally, I think the REAL reason Tesla isn’t being adopted by the masses is...FEAR
! Folks I talk to every day tell me they’re freaked out by self-driving cars! They state they would NEVER want one. I explain - and show them with my app - all the benefits and cool tech. They remain apathetic. This single issue isn’t properly understood by Tesla. Elon likely thinks everyone loves tech (and Mars) as much as he loves it. But fear of EAP/FSD is a real thing. I’m amazed every day that virtually everyone has this same response about the very feature I find most fascinating about my 3