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

[ggnykk]

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 It also meant that my car would effectively be out of date less than 4 weeks after I took delivery of it.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.

Since you got an inventory 60, i assumed that you got a huge discount? If so, you can easily trade in your 60 now, and just order a new car. I bet you actually will make a profit since you got a huge discount with the inventory 60.

Also, I never trust anything a marketing or sales guy say, doesn't matter what company they are or who they are. At most, I only trust half of what they say, and then try to independently verify their claim myself. I learned from very long time ago that vast majority of marketing or sales guy say are BS. What do you expect really?

 

[davidc18]

Really looking forward to AP 2.0 in the future but for now I am able to enjoy the car I have.

 

[Max*]

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.

Don't take this the wrong way (don't you love it when people start like that?), if you were concerned about resale value of a 3-year old car, you should have leased instead of purchased. You take out the unknown, you have a flat monthly payment and in 3 years you get the latest and greatest.

Anyone who knows anything about Tesla, knows they're constantly innovating. And any Tesla in 3 years will have much more technology than the current generation of Tesla's.

 

[suraj1194]

Teslas should not be viewed as a car as much as an automobile consumer electronics device. What you buy is not something in its final form. It constantly evolves through software updates several years out. There are no model years, with the flip side of that being that features are added as and when they mature, not at fixed release periods. There's no prior timeline or notification - it's announced when it's announced. If that product churn affects your perception of value, Tesla offers multiple short term leasing choices.

For example, on my part I took delivery two months before EAP/AP 2.0 . I knew it was coming and that I had the option of waiting it out or buying then. I made my decision. AP1.0 in its current form is excellent and suits my needs. AP2.0 won't work well until a few months at least, and I don't wish to wait. I plan on owning my car anywhere from 6-10 years (my last two cars were owned for 9 and 6 years respectively). It'll be obsolete technologically relative to its peers in that time, but its current feature set is fantastic for my needs. Diminished resale value is not really a concern because I drive a lot and have a small kid and I'll consume enough of the car's value in my ownership - and possibly pass down the family - that resale value is not really a concern.

Most cars on the road will remain non-autonomous and I'd rather have hands on wheel to handle corner cases than leave it to an evolving level 4/5 capability. Relatively a handful of self-driving capable cars amidst a sea of manually driven ones does not really change my perception of autonomous driving. I'll re-evaluate in the early 2020s.

 

[Gig103]

I don't get the feeling that Gallery advisors really know much. When I went in to discuss CPO, they literally brought me to an iPad and pulled up Tesla.com like I could have at home - no backend access for searching inventory (like ev-cpo.com does so brilliantly).

My GA kept trying to convince me that for the same price, a custom 2016 90D would be better than a 2014 P85D "because of all the seen and unseen improvements on the line in the last two years". I decided to go with the performance b/c of the manic grin it gave me when I drove it. 10 days later AP2.0 was released (I haven't taken delivery and could still change my mind for only the $1k deposit). But even in hindsight, I don't particularly think that he was trying to warn me of AP2.0 without saying as much. After some initial anger, I decided I'd still rather a Pxx over AP2.0; both just isn't in the budget.

 

[bob_p]

Depending upon the state, Gallery advisors may be limited in the assistance they can provide in ordering or purchasing custom or CPO cars, if they are not allowed to make direct sales from the Gallery/store due to the state's dealership laws.

For anyone who's followed the forums over the last 4 years, the Tesla gallery, store, service center and support staff generally try to be as helpful as they can, and sometimes go too far in expressing their opinions on what changes Tesla is planning and when those changes might be released. Until there's been an official announcement, it's not clear the Tesla "field" staff have any better knowledge of what's coming vs. the speculation that we've seen on the forums.

If I had an order in process, and for $1K I could change that order to get a car with AP 2.0, I'd be very tempting to eat the $1K now, and get hardware that has the potential to do much more than AP 1.0.

 

[spooky981]

Elon was fully aware of the Q3 inventory liquidation, and the discounting that accompanied it. An ironclad Tesla rule of everyone-gets-the-same-price was shattered because the AP2 announcement would render existing inventory obsolete.

Conveniently two days before the end of the quarter he releases a statement feigning shock that discounts were being given. A necessary step to restoring the old Tesla non-negotiation rule. But Elon knew what was happening and anyone who purchased prior to September 2016 really ate *sugar*.

 

[zambono]

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.

Please chime in if I am wrong but 60's are no longer available so you wouldn't have received the new AP hardware with your current configuration. I am pretty sure they discontinued the 60's with the new AP because it would have lowered the margin too much. You would have had to had ordered a 75.

 

[fasteddie7]

Please chime in if I am wrong but 60's are no longer available so you wouldn't have received the new AP hardware with your current configuration. I am pretty sure they discontinued the 60's with the new AP because it would have lowered the margin too much. You would have had to had ordered a 75.

60's are only not available in the model x, the model still has a 60 version with EAP and self driving features available.

 

[zambono]

60's are only not available in the model x, the model still has a 60 version with EAP and self driving features available.

got it

 

[CarSam]

Thanks again to everyone for the comments, you perspective is helpful.

I'm really enjoying my car and will continue to do so.

Before AP2.0 came out I was considering upgrading sometime in the future to a 75 for the additional range. Sadly, given that my car is now somewhat outdated, this upgrade at a cost of $9,000 seems a lot less worthwhile.

 

[deonb]

Sadly, given that my car is now somewhat outdated, this upgrade at a cost of $9,000 seems a lot less worthwhile.

Your car isn't outdated. Its still state of the art, and will be for many months to come. Maybe even years.

You can't buy a better car right now - only a better promise.

 

[Wknapp0924]

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.

I got a 70 at the price of a 70. One week later there was the $1000 rebate, new rims, and a center console, 3 months later the refresh came and now AP. I too was like you and felt slighted, but you got more than what you paid for. That is a win.

I don't worry about it anymore and I just enjoy driving my car and I will for years to come. AP is awesome and driving myself is awesome.

Your resale will be fine and you can even unlock the full 75D if needed.

 

[spooky981]

Upgrading the car has never been my beef. But I do feel for the people who purchased right before the rampant discounting started.

I got a huge discount and AP2.0 doesn't bother me at all. But some people paid full price for a car discounted $10,000 one month then outdated with AP2.0 the next month. That's a shitty double whammy.

 

[theslimshadyist]

First world probs.

 

[CarlK]

That's the flaw, if you call that, of Tesla's no model year practice. You can't pre-announce anything new without making people stop buying your product. On the other hand this is the only way that Tesla can continue to come out with improvements whenever they are ready. Your car probably has significant improvements over cars sold months ago even from the same model year. No one "complains" of that.

 

[deonb]

That's the flaw, if you call that, of Tesla's no model year practice. You can't pre-announce anything new without making people stop buying your product. On the other hand this is the only way that Tesla can continue to come out with improvements whenever they are ready. Your car probably has significant improvements over cars sold months ago even from the same model year. No one "complains" of that.

Holy necropost batman!

 

[sidmini]

It also meant that my car would effectively be out of date less than 4 weeks after I took delivery of it.

This happened to me too, when the facelift was announced and my car turned up 4 weeks after as a pre-facelift. There are a few people who are on the edge before the major changes and they miss out, that's just the way it is. I still love my car and the brand however a little bitter pill to swallow. The sales people genuinely would not know until its officially released.

 

[NickFie]

File under “Time Machine”

AP1 owners had about 2 years of functional superiority or equivalence after AP2 intro. Not too shabby. AP2 owners have only recently stopped complaining about inferiority to AP1.

As signature shows, we have AP2 in our S and AP2.5 in the 3.

Last weekend drove a loaner with AP1 Philadelphia to Cleveland and back. My first experience with that generation.

AP1 was impressive - excellent lane positioning, caught and reacted to nearly every speed limit sign. Safe lane changes.

AP2 still doesn’t read signs, recently added NoA and automatic lane changes.