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Employee who sent $30,000 off email was FIRED!

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I may be wrong,but I think that there is a problem in communication regarding paying the same for a car.

For the exact same car (same VIN) everyone pays the same price at any single point in time. There is no traditional haggling.

The price of a specific car can change over time due to: mileage, time since manufacture, change in standard equipment. However, that reduced price is the same for everyone.

The price of a specific type of car (model, option packages) does vary, due to above reasons. But again, everyone pays that price.

Again semantics: the purchaser is not getting a discount, the car has a discount.

Tesla needs to provide incentive for people to purchase vehicles with showroom wear and potentially previous gen equipment. How they go about letting everyone know about these vehicles equally is where I feel they could improve.

Also regarding sub 50 mile reduced price inventory. The vehicles that sit in the showrooms get lots of door and seat cycles, along with some wear and tear, but no miles.

Yes, but my point is: this is not really happening this way when it comes to inventory cars.

Yes, that is the way with factory orders, but not really with inventory. Even new inventory cars have been discounted varying amounts, not necessarily derivable from any formula...

I think supporting the line that Tesla does not discount/deal is hard to support with the precedent we have.
 
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Also regarding sub 50 mile reduced price inventory. The vehicles that sit in the showrooms get lots of door and seat cycles, along with some wear and tear, but no miles.

You know you can/could buy an inventory car while it was still being shipped to the service center from Fremont. Ie, one with zero door and seat cycles and the factory foil still on it?
 
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More nonsense from Tesla Marketing ... No Tesla customer ever has to be concerned about not getting a “good deal"! :cool:

Here’s a statement from a Tesla spokesperson on this story:

Recently, an unauthorized and inaccurate email from a Tesla sales associate was circulated that directly contradicted Tesla’s sales principles. This email suggested that Tesla was offering a $30k showroom discount, when in fact we have a strict no negotiation and no discount policy. This has been true since we first started taking orders more than ten years ago, a fact we reaffirmed last year. There are zero exceptions to that policy: every Tesla customer pays the same amount for the same car, period. That is true for Elon, friends and family of the company, or anyone else.

What the sales associate was referring to was not a discount on a new car from the factory. He was referring to a pricing adjustment that is made to test drive vehicles, service loaners, cars that had been damaged and then repaired, or old models, as these cars have wear and tear, mileage, or discontinued features. Naturally, the more miles, wear and tear, or discontinued features that a car has, the greater the pricing adjustment that is made.

No Tesla customer ever has to be concerned about not getting a “good deal.” A “good deal” is code for how a company takes advantage of a customer. We don’t do “deals.” We treat everyone the same. This will never change, ever
Reading Tesla's followup to the story is what prompted my last post. Frankly, I consider this response to be more misleading than the original email. Through my sales process, I received 4 different documents or communications that reference the price discount/adjustment.

The original and revised quotes, emailed to me by the OA, refer to a "Showroom Adjustment".
The screenshots from the inventory search the OA used refer to an "Adjustment".
Once I confirmed my order and placed a deposit, the MyTesla page displayed my VIN and clicking it brought up the order with a "Showroom Discount" and my "Referral".
The Pro-Forma Motor Vehicle Purchase Agreement, refers to a "Showroom Discount" and "Referral Credit".

Tesla obviously takes objection to the word "Discount", but in my experience it was only on Tesla's website and my sales paperwork that it was referred to as a discount. Everything my OA sent me said 'Adjustment". If Tesla wants to deliver a consistent message, then they need to start with things that are outside of the OA's control.

There's also a big red flag in that statement, regarding repaired damage. I specifically asked if my car had ever been damaged and was told it hadn't. I would be leary of any vehicle price adjustment that you couldn't explain away as age/mileage depreciation or feature/base price changes.
 
I might agree with this if Tesla would let me be removed from sales/marketing e-mails. I let them have my e-mail so that I get important updates about the vehicle I own such as recalls or info on new policies such as the idle fees. They send me sales e-mails in addition those actual important e-mails. I can't choose what types of communication I want to receive from Tesla - it's all or nothing.

What's even more annoying to me is we have received unsolicited sales phone calls from Tesla Energy. Tesla Motors has my phone number so they can call me when my car is done from service. But apparently that phone number once in the system, now gets shared with Tesla Energy too, as I have never given them ANY of my information.

That's a legitimate complaint that I'd encourage you and others affected so to address with Tesla to get changed.

When TE called did you ask to speak to the person with the power to make sure you're never called again? That's what I do and then I make a written record of the day and time and who I spoke to, employee number etc...
 
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IMO it seems like, when it comes to discounts, it is possible Tesla is trying to do one thing and say another.

Inventory seems to get discounts to drive quarterly demand, new inventory included at times, and not just mile/age adjustment formulas.
 
IMO it seems like, when it comes to discounts, it is possible Tesla is trying to do one thing and say another.

Inventory seems to get discounts to drive quarterly demand, new inventory included at times, and not just mile/age adjustment formulas.
I'm not sure it's anything that nefarious. Take VIN 053557 for example. https://www.tesla.com/new/5YJXCBE41HF053557?redirect=no

That's a new inventory 50 mile car for $144,200 that teslainventory.com shows with a $19,050 discount. You can't build the exact same car today, but the same color and seating options come out to $151,000, only $6,800 more. Compared to a new build, the inventory car is missing the towing package and premium audio that are now standard. So, the $19,050 discount is really only $6,800 off a new order and it's missing $3,700 in options. The remaining $3,100 discount could easily be explained away as 2 months (2%) depreciation.
 
Facts? The op shared a private correspondence with the world and started the problem. This sounds harsh but imho making public a private invitation was not a proper thing to do.

Unless there was some confidentiality clause somewhere in the body of the email, OP technically did nothing wrong. And even if there was a confidentiality clause, it may still not have any legal standing. For example, an NDA is not valid unless both parties sign off on one. One party can't simply declare confidentiality unilaterally.
 
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I think when we're discussing discounts, we're talking past each other.

  • Price reduction discount (available to anyone): These are the cars advertised for a lower price, due to age, mileage, and/or overall condition. This is available to any buyer and is not what Tesla means when they say 'they don't discount'. Recently we've seen multiple instances where new, lowered pricing has been applied retroactively to buyers who haven't taken delivery - keeping pricing a level playing field.

  • Negotiated discount: A customer obtains a lower price than advertised, a price not offered for the same configuration/new/etc. This is what Tesla says they do not do. A new customer shouldn't worry that someone else would be able to gain a better deal. (However, there are several instances of the $1800 delivery fee being waived...)

I wish Tesla had been more precise regarding what they mean by 'we don't discount', it would have saved a large number of posts in this thread alone.
 
Again semantics: the purchaser is not getting a discount, the car has a discount.
Although I dislike the phrase "that's just semantics", since "semantics" is meaning so that phrase is equivalent to "that's just meaning", in this case I'd say this is more than (that traditional, odd sense of) semantics: Elon's point is that Tesla doesn't put customers in the traditional car buyer's position of actively negotiating with the car company, where the amount you pay depends on your negotiating skill, what the sales guy thinks of you, what zip code you live in, etc. That's an important "cultural" break from traditional car companies and not one that should be lightly dismissed, IMO.
 
Unless there was some confidentiality clause somewhere in the body of the email, OP technically did nothing wrong. And even if there was a confidentiality clause, it may still not have any legal standing. For example, an NDA is not valid unless both parties sign off on one. One party can't simply declare confidentiality unilaterally.
No one is talking about needing legal standing or NDAs.
 
I think when we're discussing discounts, we're talking past each other.

  • Price reduction discount (available to anyone): These are the cars advertised for a lower price, due to age, mileage, and/or overall condition. This is available to any buyer and is not what Tesla means when they say 'they don't discount'. Recently we've seen multiple instances where new, lowered pricing has been applied retroactively to buyers who haven't taken delivery - keeping pricing a level playing field.

  • Negotiated discount: A customer obtains a lower price than advertised, a price not offered for the same configuration/new/etc. This is what Tesla says they do not do. A new customer shouldn't worry that someone else would be able to gain a better deal. (However, there are several instances of the $1800 delivery fee being waived...)

I wish Tesla had been more precise regarding what they mean by 'we don't discount', it would have saved a large number of posts in this thread alone.

Wait, you're saying Tesla has a comms problem? :D
 
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granted maybe he shouldn't have been fired for posting it maybe he has. .. why isn't anyone saying anything about electrk lifting the article.. that guy lifts ALOT of content from these forums and repost it over there and it appears to be acceptable. If it wouldn't have been picked up by them and reported it it might not have gotten that much traction and he might still have a job. My point in this is there is blame to go around or than the OP who put it up here in the 1st place.
 
I think when we're discussing discounts, we're talking past each other.

  • Price reduction discount (available to anyone): These are the cars advertised for a lower price, due to age, mileage, and/or overall condition. This is available to any buyer and is not what Tesla means when they say 'they don't discount'. Recently we've seen multiple instances where new, lowered pricing has been applied retroactively to buyers who haven't taken delivery - keeping pricing a level playing field.

  • Negotiated discount: A customer obtains a lower price than advertised, a price not offered for the same configuration/new/etc. This is what Tesla says they do not do. A new customer shouldn't worry that someone else would be able to gain a better deal. (However, there are several instances of the $1800 delivery fee being waived...)

I wish Tesla had been more precise regarding what they mean by 'we don't discount', it would have saved a large number of posts in this thread alone.

I've also seen negotiated discounts in terms of removing software options (i.e. EAP/FSD). While that seems innocuous as the customer is just not paying for something that is related to software, many others are forced to take those options because sales people refuse to remove these options. So its yet another area where Tesla is inconsistent and some buyers benefit while others lose out. I find the lack of negotiation to be a turn off in terms of buying a Tesla mainly because its not a system that is enforced fairly and at least open negotiation is pure caveat emptor so buyers can go in with both eyes open. Instead Tesla pretends that they are trustworthy and instead there are plenty of behind the scenes games some buyers play to get a better price than others. Inconsistency is so unfair in this situation and leaves buyers with a bad taste in their mouth.
 
Is it really private when the same email is sent to numerous, unrelated people? This wasn't some internal company email sent to an alias.

Yes it is still private. A private dinner party is private whether 2 or 2,000 are invited and whether they all know each other or not.

Like I said before, if what gets delivered to your password protected email account isn't private then give me your email password or don't password protect your account. Nobody who disagreed with that position has yet to give it to me. Gosh, big surprise. :rolleyes:

If the email had been posted on Tesla's website or some other Internet place BY Tesla THEN it's not private.
 
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