Great Car - Crappy Company

[M109Rider]

I think the title says it all. Thank god the car is good or Tesla would have been dust long ago.

If only Elon would put his ego aside and put someone in place to run the company in a competent manner and let him focus on product innovation.

Here’s. Guy that was instrumental in pushing EV’s many years ahead of what the greedy oil and auto industry wanted.
You’re taking advantage of that now.

He’s now improved carbon emissions at the same time. You’re taking advantage of that now.

Created a boring company, that no one else has done much with, again, to improve transportation.
Created Space X, and advanced that industry also.

He’s fought a greedy system, and forced their hand, and helped change a broken industry.

His skill sets are staggering.
He’s passionate about making those companies work, so he hand holds them to do so.
He takes criticism to heart, because he pours himself into and is proud of what he’s accomplished.
His company is clearly leading edge.

He faces many growing pains, and I for one am SO glad he doesn’t run Tesla like the other auto makers do.

So YOU think his company is crappy because of his character flaws.
The guy can’t have it all right. So he’s not perfect.
I wouldn’t say he egotistical, I would say he’s passionate.
There’s a difference. It’s that passion, and drive to change an industry for the better that promotes some of his nuisances and decisions. I’m glad he does it that way.
Thank God, he’s not like the other CEO’s.

I would try to look at the end result, and less on the immediate decisions that you bundle up as his company being crappy.

I’m not sure what successes you’ve had that rival Elon, without one character flaw in the process. ?

He does hire people that add value. Maybe give him a call and show him the light on how to turn a crappy industry changing billion dollar company into a great one ...

 

[caskater47]

That is all undoubtedly true, but hopefully that transition doesn't change the ethos of the company into another "make something sell something" just like all the rest. It probably will, and at that point, yes, I don't particularly care if they fail or not, just like I'm not particularly attached to any other car company.

I agree. One of the best things about Tesla is Musk because he clearly wants to do the right thing and will take corrective action to fix mistakes. I hope that sense of fairness always stays with the company in addition to their ingenuity and dedication to make a great product.

But I would greatly appreciate a more compassionate and consumer focused customer service team.

 

[rdunniii]

Still curious what the actual complaint is here. Pricing? Something else?

Ordered, delivery date set, VIN Assigned. Drive 100 miles to get to delivery, Uh, that VIN has not even been built yet, it will be several more weeks. Takes 4 months to get a title. Call to ask service a question. All they will do is make an appointment so I can drive 100 miles each direction to get questions answered. How's that for starters?

 

[whatthe2]

Ordered, delivery date set, VIN Assigned. Drive 100 miles to get to delivery, Uh, that VIN has not even been built yet, it will be several more weeks. Takes 4 months to get a title. Call to ask service a question. All they will do is make an appointment so I can drive 100 miles each direction to get questions answered. How's that for starters?

Yeah that certainly sucks. Sorry for your troubles. But I think that is rare. And I don’t think that is what the OP is complaing about.

 

[jeffro01]

The fanboy'ism here is a bit over the top... I used to be all in on Tesla until they directly lied to me and screwed me out of $1k on my lease swap. As I tell people now, "Great cars, corrupt and incompetent company". There are a ton of examples on TMC of just how god awful Tesla is as a business... The evidence is literally everywhere... Incompetent employees, corrupt employees, a completely disorganized and discombobulated business model... One week, no retail stores, next week, retail stores are back but everyones price is going up to keep them... I mean seriously, who in the hell does that? Elon may be an innovator, a visionary, but he royally sucks at running a car company.

The moment a real, actual, competitor emerges Tesla is done. The damage they've done to their existing customer base is monumental and hasn't bit them yet because there's literally no place for someone like me to go. When that changes, I'm gone. This company couldn't walk and think about chewing gum at the same time, much less actually do it.

Jeff

 

[rdunniii]

Have the products not been innovative enough for you?

Elon is an unconventional CEO, but I'd argue that's what it takes to do great things like what Elon and Tesla have done. Nobody else is even close on the EV front, and as an investor, I support him. Sure, there's room for improvement. There is room for improvement in every organization.

I would disagree. The best thing Steve Jobs ever did for Apple was find Tim Cook and let him run the show. Sergei and Larry knew very early they had to find Eric Schmidt to run the Company. Facebook will remain in trouble until Mark figures out he needs to find his Tim or Eric to run the business cause neither he nor Cheryl are going get though it. Bill Gates succeeded because he was a business person first. Tesla will be better off as a company when Elon finds his Tim or Eric.

 

[tomas]

Do I sound upset? I am not upset. I just think the company is almost comical in the way it handles itself. It seems like Elon, just say -"Hey lets do this!" and then they say they are doing it without actually thinking things through. He does not seem like a competent CEO as this stage of the game. This is not unusaul as the skills and temperament required to start a company like this and build it are the not the same as what it take to run a Public company.

If he didn’t say hey let’s do this, you wouldn’t have the car. You can’t have the wonderful creation without the impulsive creativity. So you cannot love the car and hate the company, because without the company, there is no car to love.

Even if you get frustrated with pricing, service, or sales... you must have a MUCH better dealer than I’ve experienced in 60 years to compare it to! I mean, I’ve had isolated good experiences with dealers, but they are rare.

 

[OCR1]

I would disagree. The best thing Steve Jobs ever did for Apple was find Tim Cook and let him run the show. Sergei and Larry knew very early they had to find Eric Schmidt to run the Company. Facebook will remain in trouble until Mark figures out he needs to find his Tim or Eric to run the business cause neither he nor Cheryl are going get though it. Bill Gates succeeded because he was a business person first. Tesla will be better off as a company when Elon finds his Tim or Eric.

You disagree with me? Isn’t that exactly what I just said?

“I have stated before though, and I still agree, that he needs to hire someone to help him run the company. He should focus on product innovation, not business operations.”

Where Steve and Elon differ is that Steve was able to maintain a steady executive team. Turnover at Tesla has been absurdly high, with the common theme being how much of a micromanager Elon is and how temperamental he is to deal with. Those are not signs of a good CEO.

 

[tomas]

The fanboy'ism here is a bit over the top... I used to be all in on Tesla until they directly lied to me and screwed me out of $1k on my lease swap. As I tell people now, "Great cars, corrupt and incompetent company". There are a ton of examples on TMC of just how god awful Tesla is as a business... The evidence is literally everywhere... Incompetent employees, corrupt employees, a completely disorganized and discombobulated business model... One week, no retail stores, next week, retail stores are back but everyones price is going up to keep them... I mean seriously, who in the hell does that? Elon may be an innovator, a visionary, but he royally sucks at running a car company.

The moment a real, actual, competitor emerges Tesla is done. The damage they've done to their existing customer base is monumental and hasn't bit them yet because there's literally no place for someone like me to go. When that changes, I'm gone. This company couldn't walk and think about chewing gum at the same time, much less actually do it.

Jeff

Please go buy something else and complain on that forum! Geez, screwed over $1k on I’m guessing a $70k purchase. Poor you!!!

 

[OCR1]

Please go buy something else and complain on that forum! Geez, screwed over $1k on I’m guessing a $70k purchase. Poor you!!!

These comments do not add any value to the discussion. A forum like TMC needs to welcome all opinions. Not everyone is going to like everything about the company. There is nothing wrong with that. Criticizing someone for having a different opinion does not accomplish anything.

 

[M109Rider]

The fanboy'ism here is a bit over the top... I used to be all in on Tesla until they directly lied to me and screwed me out of $1k on my lease swap. As I tell people now, "Great cars, corrupt and incompetent company". There are a ton of examples on TMC of just how god awful Tesla is as a business... The evidence is literally everywhere... Incompetent employees, corrupt employees, a completely disorganized and discombobulated business model... One week, no retail stores, next week, retail stores are back but everyones price is going up to keep them... I mean seriously, who in the hell does that? Elon may be an innovator, a visionary, but he royally sucks at running a car company.

The moment a real, actual, competitor emerges Tesla is done. The damage they've done to their existing customer base is monumental and hasn't bit them yet because there's literally no place for someone like me to go. When that changes, I'm gone. This company couldn't walk and think about chewing gum at the same time, much less actually do it.

Jeff

That’s a lot of whining, for $1,000.
How much have you saved in gas. ?
Your saving that money because of Elon and Tesla.
Yikes.

 

[yerEVan]

Life is too short to not have a fart app. And we would not have that fart app without a brilliant car. But agreed. His tweets may need a filter. He makes good though on promises. 5k refund for perf, track mode for all perf models.

He's strange but I don't see any other EV car company out there yet with a supercharge network as it is. Pretty impressive.

 

[whatthe2]

The fanboy'ism here is a bit over the top... I used to be all in on Tesla until they directly lied to me and screwed me out of $1k on my lease swap. As I tell people now, "Great cars, corrupt and incompetent company". There are a ton of examples on TMC of just how god awful Tesla is as a business... The evidence is literally everywhere... Incompetent employees, corrupt employees, a completely disorganized and discombobulated business model... One week, no retail stores, next week, retail stores are back but everyones price is going up to keep them... I mean seriously, who in the hell does that? Elon may be an innovator, a visionary, but he royally sucks at running a car company.

The moment a real, actual, competitor emerges Tesla is done. The damage they've done to their existing customer base is monumental and hasn't bit them yet because there's literally no place for someone like me to go. When that changes, I'm gone. This company couldn't walk and think about chewing gum at the same time, much less actually do it.

Jeff

Sounds like you are jaded because of losing $1k in a lease swap. Some of us (fanboys or not) aren’t worried about price increases, stores closing etc.

Btw, not a fanboy, just happy with the car I bought.

 

[OCR1]

It’s difficult to get information on who exactly the management team at Tesla is. Their corporate website has a bio for Elon and JB Straubel, who has been there long term and leads the engineering side of the business. JB has obviously found a way to get along with Elon. The only other person listed is Deepak Ahuja, who was well respected as their CFO but just announced his departure after the company announced the price drops last month.

Other than that we see news articles about the latest departures from their executive team, including their General Counsel who only lasted there two months. The question is, who at Tesla can stand up to Elon when he makes a questionable decision and get him to listen? Former executives have described him as intimidating, erratic, and a micromanager. So if he makes a seat of his pants decision to shut down all fo the stores without thinking out the logistics of how to do this, who is there to get him to slow down and think it through before announcing it via twitter?

 

[Joshan]

And they said the same thing about Blackberry...until Apple and Google came along.

Agreed, but the issue with this statement is the following....

Blackberry = GM, Ford, Chrysler, etc
Apple = Tesla

 

[Mod3forMe]

Still curious what the actual complaint is here. Pricing? Something else?

Sorry, historically most of what I don’t like has been irresponsible PR the company/musk has put out. In this day what bothers is that the company announced the closer of stores and layoff of several employees and then reverse much of it says later.

Good companies don’t tell people they are losing their job unless they are certain they are doing it. It is possible that Tesla gained some unexpected information that was impossible to anticipate that changed the decision, but this seems unlikely.

As for the pricing change. I don’t really care about it any ‘personal’ way. My car is cheaper now, so what. How things were handled look sloppy though and as in investor it does not build confidence in the company.

 

[OCR1]

Agreed, but the issue with this statement is the following....

Blackberry = GM, Ford, Chrysler, etc
Apple = Tesla

For now this may be so. But take a look at a company called Pagenet, which used to be the largest wireless messaging company in the world. Then Blackberry came along, and Pagenet went out of business. And Blackberry could do no wrong for many years.

So for now Tesla rules the EV space and they can get away with a lot of quirkiness because they have great products that nobody else can compete with. But that doesn't mean their great products will forever protect them from having questionable business discipline. If they don't clean this stuff up someone will come along with an equally good product but better business execution.

 

[caskater47]

For now this may be so. But take a look at a company called Pagenet, which used to be the largest wireless messaging company in the world. Then Blackberry came along, and Pagenet went out of business. And Blackberry could do no wrong for many years.

So for now Tesla rules the EV space and they can get away with a lot of quirkiness because they have great products that nobody else can compete with. But that doesn't mean their great products will forever protect them from having questionable business discipline. If they don't clean this stuff up someone will come along with an equally good product but better business execution.

Tesla is a lot like Apple, but not Apple from 2001. They are like Apple from 1983 and Microsoft hasn't shown up yet.

 

[SM18]

Here's the "crappy company" part. Mr. Musk just told his entire sales department he wanted them gone, and then had to walk back the store closures because he demanded immediate action without looking into whether it could even be done first. In the days in between, he left the employees to sit on their hands wondering if they'd still have a job. Even those with jobs no longer earn bonuses or commission. I feel bad for these kids sitting around wondering if the man that inspired them will discard them or not after all. The issue isn't the idea to switch to only selling online, it's the reckless and painful execution of that idea. https://jalopnik.com/tesla-employees-call-bullshit-on-online-sales-claims-am-1833201246

 

[strykeroz]

Often you hear that as a leader you need to fail fast and often in order to learn and progress rapidly. It's hard to disagree with that as a rule. However Tesla does this in public view. And it's hard to determine what's nimble, and what's erratic from the outside.

I'm personally hopeful. But frequently shaking my head also.