L.A. Times: Some Model 3 owners are reporting quality problems...

[RubberToe]

Some early owners of Tesla's Model 3 are reporting quality problems. Do buyers care?

This is the front page lead story in the Business section today...

And includes reference to TMC and several specific user quotes: @roblab , @Norge , @206er

The story on the web contains an actual HTML link to the "Sunk-in Hood" thread:

Sunk-in hood

RT

 

[gregincal]

Determining quality by anecdote is problematic. How come they didn't quote me? "User gregincal reports his car has no problems whatsoever".

 

[SteveG3]

I can report quality problems with the LA Times... they have been emphatically pumping out fun house mirror distorted images of Tesla for years. They created the $5 billion in government subsidies behind Elon Musk's ventures distortion. For some perspective, they even used Mark Spiegel as a source for that article and its narrative... you can read a list of Mark Spiegel's blogs on Seeking Alpha to see just how creative he gets when voicing an opinion on Tesla. Sounds like their source for this current article was cherry-picking anonymous comments on internet forums.

 

[Catman20009]

Years ago I had a similar problem with my Mercedes. Same solution. Bring it in and we'll fix it. Where was Seeking Alpha when I really needed them???

 

[TexasEV]

Determining quality by anecdote is problematic. How come they didn't quote me? "User gregincal reports his car has no problems whatsoever".

Exactly. What’s the denominator?

 

[Catman20009]

They may be qualifying a few random reports but they certainly are not quantifying them.

 

[Electroman]

another hit piece from LA Times.

 

[bonnie]

The article is a great example of a "journalist" looking for quotes to fill out a story that they're planning to write. He cherry picked, looking for posts that supported his view. He left the positive stuff out from one person he interviewed (and I know what they said) & he ignored the positive forum posts.

There's a reason that some of us have signature lines saying we can't be quoted outside this forum without permission. This kind of article is why.

It's lazy journalism to just scrape a forum to fill out a story. And the fact he quoted a known troll should be embarrassing to him. I hope his colleagues see some of the feedback here. He is not a journalist, only a story monkey, producing whatever will get clicks.

 

[Buddyroe]

The article is a great example of a "journalist" looking for quotes to fill out a story that they're planning to write. He cherry picked, looking for posts that supported his view. He left the positive stuff out from one person he interviewed (and I know what they said) & he ignored the positive forum posts.

There's a reason that some of us have signature lines saying we can't be quoted outside this forum without permission. This kind of article is why.

It's lazy journalism to just scrape a forum to fill out a story. And the fact he quoted a known troll should be embarrassing to him. I hope his colleagues see some of the feedback here. He is not a journalist, only a story monkey, producing whatever will get clicks.

Trust me, this article is not intended to be journalism, or anything close to news worthy, it is intended to decive their followers who are slowly seeing through the big Tesla haters' lie. People who 5 years ago thought Tesla cars got 30 miles per charge and caught on fire every other day are now suddenly saying, "damn, those cars are nice". And, the publications like the LA Times and Fox News are desperate to stop this any way they can.

Trust me, I live in South GA - where 5 years ago the only people who had heard of Tesla only did so because of the Mit Romney quip in the 2012 debates, Fox News constantly spreading lies, and the mega $5B LA Times lie about subsidies. And that was only about 5% of the population here. Now, the tide is beginning to turn. The old people here still scoff at my car and I've even had pickup trucks swerve at me, but the young people are in awe - and they know EXACTLY what a Tesla is and they love them (and BADLY want one!).

These articles won't work. They had an effect years ago, but those days are long gone.

 

[S'toon]

Some day someone will have to explain to me what the heck LA Times has against Tesla.

 

[ecarfan]

He is not a journalist, only a story monkey, producing whatever will get clicks.

Love the “story monkey” phrase.

 

[chibi_kurochan]

The article is a great example of a "journalist" looking for quotes to fill out a story that they're planning to write. He cherry picked, looking for posts that supported his view. He left the positive stuff out from one person he interviewed (and I know what they said) & he ignored the positive forum posts.

There's a reason that some of us have signature lines saying we can't be quoted outside this forum without permission. This kind of article is why.

It's lazy journalism to just scrape a forum to fill out a story. And the fact he quoted a known troll should be embarrassing to him. I hope his colleagues see some of the feedback here. He is not a journalist, only a story monkey, producing whatever will get clicks.

unfortunately I just learned it the hard way.. he just took my entire comment here and paste it on his article.
there were more positive stuff on the thread, and took all the negative ones..

 

[bonnie]

Love the “story monkey” phrase.

Haha. Yeah, when I wrote that I thought, 'Hope his colleagues see that and call him that from this day forward'. I cursed him!

 

[bonnie]

unfortunately I just learned it the hard way.. he just took my entire comment here and paste it on his article.
there were more positive stuff on the thread, and took all the negative ones..

Sorry, Chibi. It's happened to a lot of good people on this forum. You're in good company.

 

[EinSV]

Buried in the article is Tesla's response, which seems consistent with the reactions of the vast majority of Model 3 owners who have posted on TMC and elsewhere:

In a statement to The Times, [Tesla] said: "Tesla's customer satisfaction scores for Model 3 vehicle quality and condition are at an all-time high of 94% — the best scores we've received from customers for quality and condition ever, across all of our vehicles, during early ownership. In the rare case a customer does have an issue, we take it very seriously, working closely with each owner to proactively address it."​

 

[Todd Burch]

The article is a great example of a "journalist" looking for quotes to fill out a story that they're planning to write. He cherry picked, looking for posts that supported his view. He left the positive stuff out from one person he interviewed (and I know what they said) & he ignored the positive forum posts.

There's a reason that some of us have signature lines saying we can't be quoted outside this forum without permission. This kind of article is why.

It's lazy journalism to just scrape a forum to fill out a story. And the fact he quoted a known troll should be embarrassing to him. I hope his colleagues see some of the feedback here. He is not a journalist, only a story monkey, producing whatever will get clicks.

The Wall Street Journal pulled the same garbage with me when they interviewed me about Autopilot about 2 years ago. In fact, they left me out completely from the story because I had almost exclusively positive things to say--and the story focused on negative propaganda.

Spent 30 minutes on the phone with the reporter. I will never get those 30 minutes back.

 

[SteveG3]

Some day someone will have to explain to me what the heck LA Times has against Tesla.

I found it striking to find out a couple of years ago that 90% of US media- print, TV, etc,- is owned by 6 corporations. One can wonder how much of what is mass communicated is journalism, and, how much is paid presentation. I don’t intend this as a comment about either political party or any specific outlet, but, something one can wonder about nearly all mass media in general.

 

[SteveG3]

I wonder if TMC would consider pulling together feedback from members who’ve been contacted and/or cited for this story and past ones (including those like Todd Burch, whose comments were, well, inconvenient and not included in stories) and release a statement about the nature of the media’s use of content on TMC.

 

[TexasEV]

Some day someone will have to explain to me what the heck LA Times has against Tesla.

Probably the same thing all newspapers have against Tesla. It doesn’t buy ads. Auto dealers are newspapers biggest advertisers.

 

[Scrith]

Some owners of cars that aren’t made by Tesla are also reporting quality problems, I hear.