Technically Tesla owes Roadster owners nothing of course but Tesla has done a lot of things differently than most companies. Supporting customers with older products in whatever way is financially responsible for the company builds good will and is good PR. With Tesla only selling about 0.1% of cars sold each year they have a lot of room to grow and and keeping early costumes happy is important.
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New Roadster Goodies for 2014
- Thread starter hjr
- Start date
I was using an absurd example on purpose but let's run with it. Say I do what you say. Hot Dog guy sits on my $10 while he builds the perfect hot dog. At any point I can go to Hot Dog guy and get my money back and give up my place in line. So when the perfect hot dog is created and he gives mine to me, is there still a relationship there? Maybe a casual one as we likely talked and got to know each other during the wait. But when Hot Dog guy has tens of thousands of customers lined up waiting for hot dogs does he "owe" me anything? No. He might let me cut in line (Model S/X R-list anyone?) but he can do that at his discretion. If he comes out with some new topping 3 years down the line he doesn't have to offer me just the new topping. It's reasonable to ask me to buy another hot dog if I want the latest. Ok, this analogy is getting pretty thin
So then what were they doing exactly? Were they investors? Those are people who give money to a company in exchange for equity. The early buyers were not investors. They were customers. That's all they were. They gave a company money in exchange for a product. The fact that they put down a deposit is not novel. It is used in lots of other buyer-seller transactions. If Tesla had gone bankrupt they would have become unsecured creditors.
I can't stop you from hanging onto some romantic notion that the Roadster buyers and Tesla have some kind of special connection. But all it's going to do is cause you heartache and stress and life's too short for that kind of disappointment. I'll let you drive my AWD PXX Model 3 when I get it
You are technically right. Roadster owners (early owners) weren't technically investors but in spirit they were. They loaned Tesla $100,000 for a few years with no guarantee they'd even get a car and received no equity in return.
djp
Model 3 Performance
Technically Tesla owes a new battery pack to those Roadster owners who pre-paid for it. And they're building the new packs in the cheapest and most straight-forward way possible, with good PR as a side benefit. All fine by me!
JRP3
Hyperactive Member
To pick the nit even further he used an additional qualifier "probably". Probably about 400 miles has now unfortunately become 400 miles written in stone.
bonnie
I play a nice person on twitter.
More like 0.01% of all cars sold annually. As Elon has said, Tesla sales aren't even "next to the decimal point!"
Yes, a LOT of room to grow.
thefortunes
Active Member
Umm....no.
(Unless they suddenly revise the forecast for ≡ sales upward to 7-8 MILLION per year.)
Jaff
Active Member
Very true, lots of room to grow... and happy customers are repeat customers (easy growth)...
I would suggest that Tesla is completely alone amongst auto manufacturers in having such a huge, active, and knowledgeable customer base acting as an army of unpaid "sales advocates" on their behalf ...ergo, happy customers are very important to Tesla...
You are forgetting that I purchased extended warranties for both the car and battery. I expect Tesla to honour these contracts and if necessary I will pursue this through the courts. So yes, Tesla "owe" me.
Raffy.Roma
Rome (Italy)
Kevin sorry but I disagree with you. By thinking to sue Tesla it means that you don't trust Tesla and don't think that Tesla is doing a work that is not only of economical kind (selling cars) but mainly in the interest of mankind (lowering CO2 concentration in the atmosphere).
IMO you could argue with Tesla but to me it seems out of place to think to sue Tesla.
I purchased an extended warranty because I wanted to keep my Roadster on the road. The car has now been in the Tesla workshop for five weeks and I have no idea whether the warranty will be honoured. I think it's important for Tesla to support the Roadster or allow owners to do it for themselves by providing relevant service information.
I personally attend ten or more events a year promoting Tesla and the Roadster... it's truly ridiculous to suggest that I have been anything other than supportive of Tesla.
bonnie
I play a nice person on twitter.
Well of course they're honoring the extending warranties. That's not the same as a battery replacement option, is it? Where did anyone say anything about them not honoring extended warranties?
That's totally different than the point being made of some owners feeling Tesla owes them something after a business deal has been concluded. You're talking about a business deal in play. I know you understand that. Soooo... just looking for an argument? 'Cause on this forum, it's easy to find one.
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I have to fully agree with you Kevin. For a Tesla SC to suggest that the battery is fine, when the logs tell a different story is sad at best. You paid for the warranty, the battery has issues, time for Tesla to step up.
Tesla has really good service, but every once in a while, you hear of one of these nightmare stories. I really don't know what to make of it.
What evidence do you have to support that statement? I have the extended warranties and I do not believe it's being honoured.
bonnie
I play a nice person on twitter.
Well, I only have the evidence of people saying their extended warranty is being honored. If you don't believe yours is being honored, would you care to elaborate as to why?
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Oh sorry, just saw your post upstream with more info. So what has Tesla been saying to you?
chickensevil
Active Member
Soooo... just looking for an argument? 'Cause on this forum, it's easy to find one.
No it isn't!
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