California dealers file complaint about the Tesla referral program

[palmer_md]

I saw this coming the day they announced the program. Its too bad there are so many of these strange laws on the books that can be used against folks.

Model S referral program - Page 16

 

[mdevp]

I think it's funny how people complain about dealers here. I bet they would love to run similar programs themselves...

Americans really seem to hate certain professions, unions etc. and then no matter what they do it's all bad.

Dealers are terrible in the States. Even the nice ones like my former Lexus dealer would charge 400bucks for a lost key fob + "programming" . Another Merc dealer quoted my brother 500 bucks for a key fob and would gouge him for any tune up, oil change etc. And haggling for a price, don't even get me started. Dealers in the states have one of the worst reputations among most people I've talked too for ripping people off.

 

[AB4EJ]

Now, if a few states determine that this is illegal due to state law, would that also bar other reward programs? For example, DirecTV has been running a promotion for years where you can get $100 for referring a new customer to them; this is pretty much the same thing as the Tesla offer isn't it?

I thought it only applied to automotive referral sales

Probably true; I'm just saying, the two situations seem equivalent to me.

Maybe DirecTV just has better lobbyists; they were able to get federal law put in place to override homeowner association rules that would have excluded their antennas.

 

[jvonbokel]

Dealers are terrible in the States. Even the nice ones like my former Lexus dealer would charge 400bucks for a lost key fob + "programming" . Another Merc dealer quoted my brother 500 bucks for a key fob

This is probably off-topic, but how much does it cost to replace a lost/damaged fob for the Model S?

 

[jerry33]

This is probably off-topic, but how much does it cost to replace a lost/damaged fob for the Model S?

It was $174.14 last August according to one post. Another in September had $159.11.

 

[AnOutsider]

It was $174.14 last August according to one post. Another in September had $159.11.

There was a significant price drop too. Unsure what it was before that.