I see a lot of people posting their referral award PW2s for sale.
I just want to post a warning to any of these buyers and sellers that Tesla Energy has a clear policy that these awards are NOT transferrable. Now way, no how. I've posted a lot about this in the Referral thread, but I'll summarize here.
I worked directly (for two months) with the Tesla Energy (TE) group responsible for getting these PW2 awards out and installed. I had already "sold" three of them to other TMC members (I had taken only a $1000 deposit for each). TE tried several different avenues to allow me to "transfer" these awards to these other people, and the bottom line is -- the PW2 awards can only be awarded and installed in the home that the referral award winner owns. No exceptions. This was run all the way up both Tesla legal and finance departments, and the answer was "no". (leave it to the lawyers to spoil all the fun.).
They do realize that many people do not have a house that can support a PW2 install, or are renting, and for these people (or at least for me), they have offered a $5500 "Tesla credit" for each PW2 that can be used for other products (cars, solar roof, etc).
This quote helps to explain why:
Since there are several contracts, parties, and agreements involved here, as well as tax issues (they are issuing 1099s for the PW2 awards), they can't just transfer those to someone else's house who is not the award winner. And even if they could, the award winner is going to have a 1099 for the award amount and the lawyers/finance people don't like that if someone else is getting the actual award (they shouldn't care, but they do).
And it says it very clearly in the referral contest rules "awards are not transferrable". Also, as you can see, the PW2 awards aren't just drop-shipped. They are part of the install process with many prerequisites.
Yes, the email survey you received asks for name, address, etc of where you want the award "sent", but that's just a disconnect between the referral team, and the Tesla Energy team responsible for the installation. What they really want is *your* name, address, phone number. The rubber actually hits the road when the TE group gets to your name and calls you up to schedule a site survey to begin the installation process. The will not call whoever you put down on the survey form.
Now, I know many of you don't or won't believe me, and that's OK. Or maybe you're saying "Tesla doesn't know who they're dealing with -- I'll get them to do what I want!" which I say -- good, go for it and let us know how it turns out so others can get them transferred.
Or maybe you're thinking "they can't do that -- they can't tell me what I can or can't do with the awards I've rightfully earned" -- to which I'll say, yeah, I think they can. It's right there in the rules.
Anyway, don't take it from me, some random guy on the internet with a sample size of one. I'm just sharing my experience that other people have also run into when trying to transfer the PW2 awards. Of course, YMMV.
And if you do decide to buy a PW2 award from someone, I'd suggest to all buyers: (1) only sending a deposit until the PW2 is installed, or use a trusted escrow service, (2) having some sort of short agreement saying the deposit is fully refundable, and (3) know and trust who you are dealing with.
The PW2 awards aren't like the Arachnids or other prizes that are just delivered to whoever. Tesla is taking these awards and rules very seriously. And yes, I had to refund all three deposits I had taken in and I'll likely apply my "Tesla Credits" to an AWD Model 3 next year.
