I paid $250,000 a little over 6 years ago to the day, for a 2020 Roadster Founder's Series reservation. Since order confirmation, I have literally never heard from Tesla -- even by email, and I only have a reservation confirmation number on their website. I've tried contacting them numerous times through the years and on the phone they say "we have no info on the Roadster" and online I get no replies. Here are the simple questions I posed in one email to them.
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We all understand a bit of delay due to covid, supply chain issues, etc. but it is many years, and now they are literally shipping the Cyber Truck
before the Roadster so I wonder if they even have the tech to build the car at the advertised specs?
I think Tesla is an amazing American company and I am a big fan. I stayed strong with my deposit during talk of their bankruptcy risk, which was hard. 2020 came and I anxiously awaited a call to configure my vehicle but that call never came, and now we are almost in 2024. I am certainly fortunate to be able to afford such a dream car, but it was a stretch to make this purchase and it is the biggest (non-home) purchase I have ever made. This is a LOT of money for me and Tesla has never even told me there is a delay -- I am reduced to reading message boards and tweets, which is so disheartening and concerning with this much money at risk.
Below is an excerpt from my reservation terms and conditions. You can see there is a clear incentive to not lose your place in line by requesting a refund and my place in line would be early since I ordered in November 2017 like so many did with the excitement around the Roadster.
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Here below you can also see that the T&C does NOT guarantee the price, but all of their advertising at the time did suggest $250,000 was the purchase price and many on this board have suggested they will honour the price, but will they? Does anyone have an opinion on this? The opportunity cost of money for the last 6 years has been very high.
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Here below you can see the old website communication (left) and the newer communication (right) and the old version says "Base Price" and "Founders Series Price" very clearly as a separate figure from "Reservation". This suggests Tesla intended the $250,000 reservation is the price of the car, but is it?
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I know there are others in this situation and every day you consider pulling your reservation as many have done, but there is no way to make an informed decision as tomorrow may be the day they call you to configure your new Roadster, and is the price locked in? I have never sued anyone and feel the courts are over-used, but I feel out of options. Is there not a legal duty of care to communicate that you will be 3-4+ years late, or at least sending one email in 6 years to give any sort of update? My money has deteriorated in value and I don't even know if Tesla will honor the price shown above. Are there others in this same situation and does anyone know if there is an option to use the legal system to get Tesla's attention? I don't want my money back, I want the car, but if they don't have the technology to build it to the above specs then I want to know this too. I just want to be able to make an informed decision and I am sure others feel the same way. Does anyone have any ideas as to what options we have, or care to team up with me on this?
Here is what Chat GPT had to say:
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