Any lawyers around?

[ivangr]

From what I remember of being taught about contract law many years ago, to be valid a contract MUST have three parts:

A invitation to treat (the offer from the vendor)

An acceptance of that invitation by the purchaser

An exchange of a consideration (normally the agreed purchase price paid by the purchaser in return for the goods or service as described by the vendor).

In the case of an order, then there is no completed contract until the full purchase price has been paid by the purchaser, and the goods or services have been delivered and found to have been as described. Paying the deposit for a vehicle does not count as being an exchange of a consideration, and the vendor is perfectly entitled to just refund the deposit in full and refuse to supply the vehicle.

I'm not a lawyer, though, and my instruction on contract law was solely in relation to procurement contracts associated with my work, with the intention of ensuring that us technical bods did not accidentally create a contract with a supplier.

this is totally true. in my industry we sometimes offer customers “free” additional services however we still charge them £1 for it to make sure it’s in a binding agreement and cannot be disputed.

 

[Rooster6655]

I'd say Apple-like products with the opposite of Amazon-like service.

Their logistics for delivering a lot of products is second to none and for customers their refund process is very good, if you however have a problem that requires some thought then its in Tesla territory as being completely useless.

 

[Durzel]

I’ve been waiting for them to come up with some sort of deal. I was treated very badly (I know that’s not unique!). I did as they asked, kept checking my account which was at the ‘awaiting delivery’ stage for a couple of weeks, then called because I hadn’t heard anything, to be told “sorry, someone else is driving that car, you’re on a waiting list’. It’s only recently they’ve used the no longer available line. I’d have taken a 3P if they’d have made some allowance, but a set of mats doesn’t come close in my opinion.

Maybe there is another escalation level?

Right now, and maybe for the foreseeable future, Tesla are not struggling for customers. Demand far outstrips supply.

While that is the case they aren’t going to be particularly motivated to bend over backwards for you, particularly as you want a car that no longer exists.

I think a LR with the Acceleration Boost upgrade is a perfectly acceptable compromise, but trying to get Tesla to accept that is another matter. Again, they can sell these cars many times over it seems.

I don’t think you have a leg to stand on legally really, as the contract was not fully formed. They can (and will) simply say that the product ordered is discontinued.

 

[Rooster6655]

Right now, and maybe for the foreseeable future, Tesla are not struggling for customers. Demand far outstrips supply.

While that is the case they aren’t going to be particularly motivated to bend over backwards for you, particularly as you want a car that no longer exists.

I think a LR with the Acceleration Boost upgrade is a perfectly acceptable compromise, but trying to get Tesla to accept that is another matter. Again, they can sell these cars many times over it seems.

I don’t think you have a leg to stand on legally really, as the contract was not fully formed. They can (and will) simply say that the product ordered is discontinued.

They have more orders than they can supply by design, they could increase their supply if they wished it would just take more cash to be thrown at the problem.

For this reason I see them always being at full capacity which is of course probably the best way to run efficiently.