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Have some of us been cheated by the Tesla sales experience?

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When I was looking to purchase my Model S in September 2016, I had a feeling a hardware update to Autopilot was coming. Since Autopilot is important to me due to my long highway commute to work every day, I asked the sales representatives if I should delay my purchase and wait for the new hardware suit. The response I received was that there would be no hardware updates in the near future. In addition, I was told I could always upgrade the hardware after it was released. Both these claims have turned out to be false.

Another misleading claim by the sales team happened shortly after I paid my deposit and was informed I was being offered a 60D inventory car at the same price of my ordered 60. When this offer was made I was told “the only catch with this offer” is that I need to take delivery of the vehicle before September 30th, which was quarter end for Tesla. When I asked if this deal was being offered because a new Autopilot hardware suit was about to be released, it was reiterated to me that it did not appear there would be an Autopilot hardware release coming soon. Looking back, given that the delivery date for my car was scheduled to be in late October, there was in fact a huge catch not mentioned to me for accepting the offer that I was being made. That catch was that my car would not include the new Autopilot hardware suite, an important feature for me. It also meant that my car would effectively be out of date less than 4 weeks after I took delivery of it.

In sum, I was misled during my purchase experience and it’s very disappointing. I believe my experience highlights an important flaw in Tesla’s marketing strategy that should be rectified if the company wants to differentiate itself with a no nonsense sales approach. I bought a Tesla after coming close to purchasing a Chevrolet Volt, but got put off by the usual dealership shenanigans. When I walked into a Tesla store it was a breath of fresh air and I felt I could trust what I was being told. Sadly, my experience has proven otherwise.

In conclusion, what bothers me the most is that I want nothing more than to be a proud ambassador for Tesla. I’m 35 years old and I love the idea of only owning Tesla vehicles for the rest of my life. Tesla is the future. Sadly, feeling cheated by the company has undermined my fervor towards the brand.
 
It doesn't matter when you buy, there will always be something better on the horizon. Buy the car you want and enjoy it. If you wait for the next thing, you will always be waiting. I wish I had your 'problem'.
You are too positive. I liked it, it is a good thing. But in my case, it is not that simple. My car was not driveable for 3 months. Some background: https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/posts/1796914/
 
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We all understand insider trading, and why it's bad, right?

Tesla is a public company.

You announce when you announce. You can't announce to some people ahead of time. No matter when you announce, there will always be someone that wished they had the information earlier.

I sure wish most public companies would tell me (and only me) their upcoming plans...
 
I have no doubt that the sales people did not know, but are the company's practices wrong?

I certainly understand your frustration but the other side of the coin is that Tesla announces 6 months ago that new hardware would be coming in 6 months and most people delay their purchase.

Tesla is still a relatively small company in the capital intensive car manufacturing business, if their sales dropped dramatically for a few months they might not survive.
 
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And in 2-3 months TM could announce that going forward all new Teslas will have some form of Tesla Glass HUD. Then, all of us who may be lucky enough to get AP2 hardware this go-around will be complaining. Six months after that, TM will announce some other new feature and the complaints will resume. At some point in time we simply have to accept the inevitable.
 
When I was looking to purchase my Model S in September 2016, I had a feeling a hardware update to Autopilot was coming. Since Autopilot is important to me due to my long highway commute to work every day, I asked the sales representatives if I should delay my purchase and wait for the new hardware suit. The response I received was that there would be no hardware updates in the near future. In addition, I was told I could always upgrade the hardware after it was released. Both these claims have turned out to be false.

Another misleading claim by the sales team happened shortly after I paid my deposit and was informed I was being offered a 60D inventory car at the same price of my ordered 60. When this offer was made I was told “the only catch with this offer” is that I need to take delivery of the vehicle before September 30th, which was quarter end for Tesla. When I asked if this deal was being offered because a new Autopilot hardware suit was about to be released, it was reiterated to me that it did not appear there would be an Autopilot hardware release coming soon. Looking back, given that the delivery date for my car was scheduled to be in late October, there was in fact a huge catch not mentioned to me for accepting the offer that I was being made. That catch was that my car would not include the new Autopilot hardware suite, an important feature for me. It also meant that my car would effectively be out of date less than 4 weeks after I took delivery of it.

In sum, I was misled during my purchase experience and it’s very disappointing. I believe my experience highlights an important flaw in Tesla’s marketing strategy that should be rectified if the company wants to differentiate itself with a no nonsense sales approach. I bought a Tesla after coming close to purchasing a Chevrolet Volt, but got put off by the usual dealership shenanigans. When I walked into a Tesla store it was a breath of fresh air and I felt I could trust what I was being told. Sadly, my experience has proven otherwise.

In conclusion, what bothers me the most is that I want nothing more than to be a proud ambassador for Tesla. I’m 35 years old and I love the idea of only owning Tesla vehicles for the rest of my life. Tesla is the future. Sadly, feeling cheated by the company has undermined my fervor towards the brand.

I too took delivery on Sept 30th. And while I did have to reflect on my feelings, I do love love love the car. Now my belief is that AP2 is a ways out from doing things practical that my AP1 car does today and further out from surpassing it. Like many have said, if you continue to wait until you have the last eat, you will never be able to buy one....they will keep improving! While I wish I had a path to upgrade beyond sell and buy, I accept that it happens and as a shareholder, I am happy that they press on relentlessly.

My unsolicited advice is to take the path to happiness and appreciate that you are driving what many consider to be amongst the best vehicles ever produced. You could instead bought another company's car that is more predictable with their upgrade cycle, but you'd be driving a far worse car. Not a trade-off I was willing to make personally.
 
The salespeople should be told to say, when asked about new or potential features coming down the line: "We don't know what is coming, so we can't know when it's coming" and only say that when asked about new features. And they should just repeat it when asked. It's the truth and saying that will make Tesla a better company, even if it costs them some short term sales.

Having said that, while I appreciate the OP's concerns, he knows when he asked the salespeople those questions that they didn't know the answers, and he also knows they are there to sell vehicles. He wanted to believe them so he did. I'm not sure I blame Tesla for that. It's caveat emptor if you ask me.

If I can offer any advice to him, it's this, as I said in another thread: It's all a frame of mind. You create your own reality. You can either be happy with what you have, or envy what others have. Really, what you are saying is that you'd be happier if no one else got all these new constant great changes. Well that's a pretty bad attitude if you ask me. I was happy when people got AP shortly after I got a non-AP vehicle. And I've enjoyed it every day since. When it comes time to upgrade, I'll get all these new great things too... but only for a short time until the next great thing comes out.

It's all part of life. We can't control how it unfolds but we can control how we react to how it unfolds.
 
Many of you have made some great comments, thanks for the perspective.

I did want to believe the sales team and I do love the car.

That said, buying a car is not like buying a phone, resale value is an important factor when purchasing a vehicle. I suspect that at some point Tesla will have to reevaluate it's release approach if it's not able to deliver major innovations regularly. Otherwise, people will catch on and always wait for the latest release before making a purchase. That will create peak and low demand periods which seem unpractical for this type of manufacturing.
 
Many of you have made some great comments, thanks for the perspective.

I did want to believe the sales team and I do love the car.

That said, buying a car is not like buying a phone, resale value is an important factor when purchasing a vehicle. I suspect that at some point Tesla will have to reevaluate it's release approach if it's not able to deliver major innovations regularly. Otherwise, people will catch on and always wait for the latest release before making a purchase. That will create peak and low demand periods which seem unpractical for this type of manufacturing.
They're gonna do it when they stop worrying about quarterly results and when they create production lines for more models.
 
I too took delivery on Sept 30th. And while I did have to reflect on my feelings, I do love love love the car. Now my belief is that AP2 is a ways out from doing things practical that my AP1 car does today and further out from surpassing it. Like many have said, if you continue to wait until you have the last eat, you will never be able to buy one....they will keep improving! While I wish I had a path to upgrade beyond sell and buy, I accept that it happens and as a shareholder, I am happy that they press on relentlessly.

My unsolicited advice is to take the path to happiness and appreciate that you are driving what many consider to be amongst the best vehicles ever produced. You could instead bought another company's car that is more predictable with their upgrade cycle, but you'd be driving a far worse car. Not a trade-off I was willing to make personally.


I agree that the sales showroom staff have very little knowledge reagrding the upgrade timelines. It is what it is. I have to admit, I initially felt the same way CarSam does when I heard the announcement fro the hardware upgrade. I placed a deposit for an inventory car at the end of September. I briefly thought about eating the deposit and starting over, Once the dust settled, I came to realize, as others have posted, that this technology is in rapid flux. AP2 today. Revolutionary battery technology tomorrow. AP3 the day after. 3 years from now, I may find that it is worth upgrading. I still think there will continue to be a market for CPO vehicles. EVs will continue to gain popularity for a variety of practical reasons unrelated to autopilot. I don't think I can even consider myself an early adopter anymore. Just look at how fast CPOs, even pre-AP, steel today.

Bottom line, I'm scheduled to pick up my MS this week and I'm pretty excited.
 
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Many of you have made some great comments, thanks for the perspective.

I did want to believe the sales team and I do love the car.

That said, buying a car is not like buying a phone, resale value is an important factor when purchasing a vehicle. I suspect that at some point Tesla will have to reevaluate it's release approach if it's not able to deliver major innovations regularly. Otherwise, people will catch on and always wait for the latest release before making a purchase. That will create peak and low demand periods which seem unpractical for this type of manufacturing.

And you did get a discount? And you didn't have to pay more for the new features that don't yet exist and no one knows what they will really look like when they do exist.

A new car depreciates a huge amount the minute the papers are signed. Over a 3 year period, you perhaps didn't loose more in value that the amount you saved. Of course, time will tell.
 
I have no doubt that the sales people did not know, but are the company's practices wrong?

If that's truly the case, then you weren't "misled" as you originally posted. You were misinformed by people who lacked the information. They did not make false claims, but they did make incorrect ones. Much different than "cheating," at least at the sales person level. But there's no denying it was a bad experience... just after the fact. You didn't say so, but I would guess that you were quite happy with your purchase right up until Musk's recent announcement about the new AP tech. Is this a correct assumption?

Perhaps it's not the sales experience you feel cheated by, but the ownership experience of a product line that is updated so often, it sometimes appears to render previous iterations nearly obsolete?
 
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It sounds like you were in a better position to predict the mnew hw than the sales person. I expect they told you that they did not know if new hw was coming, not that it wasn't coming. Did you get a discount on the inventory car?
I got the 60D at the price of a 60. But 3 years from now it's the Autopilot hardware that will mainly affect resale value and It won't make up the 5k difference.