Please help me. I lost my Valentine and I'm not in a good place. :)

[P100DHG.]

I have been a HUGE Tesla fan since I took delivery of my first Model S in March 2013. I love the company and its fearless leader Elon, its mission, other Tesla owners, and of course its products. Since I was bitten by the Tesla bug I followed the boards, supercharger progress, and any and all news Tesla. Lately, however, I've lost interest. My love affair with Tesla is on the rocks. And it comes down to something that to me seems incredibly trivial.

Like many, I jumped on getting a loaded S90D when Tesla communicated that unlimited supercharging was coming to an end. I never really used superchargers much but free was FREE--and awesome. And since the Model S I owned was perfectly fine I told DS to delay the car as late as possible. Ideally I wanted to miss the snow and salt of Minnesota roads in March. The DS said I better get the order immediately (Mid-December) because I had to take delivery in March and production was filling up fast. She also assured me that any changes were not possible after a week but any upgrades or changes made available after the first week could be added without penalty--as long as the car was not it production. Soooo. When the S100D was announced I called my DS and said, please upgrade my order to the S100D. I don't need supercharging anyway. Well, the answer that came back from California was "Not possible, the parts have already been sourced for your car and we are preparing to put it in production." I was very disappointed with this response from a company that's producing just 2 models. Couldn't these parts be used on other cars. I pleaded to apply my $2500 toward the newer car with the upgraded batter to no avail. My local Minnesota team tried and tried with no luck. So I canceled my order and decided to reorder when I felt better about the situation. My car was built 2 weeks later. I'm baffled that a company that makes real-time manufacturing changes cannot alter my order to a car that suits me better with 3 weeks notice. I know I signed an agreement that my deposit would be lost if I canceled--but I didn't want to cancel, I wanted to upgrade. And while I hate losing $2500, I'm more miffed my beloved Tesla treated me worse than the Ford dealership down the block.

That's about enough of my whiny rant about my first world problem. Just hoping this letter--and you guys--will help me feel better about Tesla again. Any insight, support, sympathy cards, chocolates, would be appreciated.

1. You should have kept the order 90D is great
2. I switched to an inventory P100D one day before my order couldn't be changed. I'm sorry you didn't have good luck. That's sucks cause I asked for my order to be ASAP and it was delayed and you wanted yours delayed and you got is ASAP. Go figure

 

[JHWJR]

Thanks for the response JHWJR. I fully agree that I should "share the pain" for the inconvenience--just disagree that the change costs Tesla $2500. I even offered to meet Tesla in the middle at $1250. I have trouble believing it's that difficult to make my original build an inventory car and applying a partial credit to a different, more expensive vehicle. In my business I would make that concession to save the sale especially for a bigger order. And that type of goodwill goes a long way toward creating a lifelong customer. Doesn't strike me as good business. My two cents.

I hear ya, but, if the penalty was $1,250, folks would say Tesla should compromise and make it $625.

 

[P100DHG.]

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie - Wikipedia

Nothing else to say.

 

[johnster007]

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie - Wikipedia

Nothing else to say.

Finally something I can understand. My business is children's book publishing and now I get it. Thanks DHG!

 

[MP3Mike]

There's a minor spacer and ring change on the HV connector, but as far as I'm aware, that's it. A couple owners are watching for 100 kWh salvages to swap into their older vehicles. So I don't believe they're in a situation where Chassis A supports only 100 kWh batteries, and Chassis B supports only 60-90 kWh batteries.

I think the difference in connector is only between the current generation of packs and the older packs. WK057 has put the 100kWh battery from a salvage Model S into his salvage Model X so it can be done.

 

[Sully's8]

There's a minor spacer and ring change on the HV connector, but as far as I'm aware, that's it.

Yep, that's the thread, and the HV connector was the difference. You're right, not structural so much, but it does create a hybrid materials order none the less.

I fall into the "ordered the 90D and confirmed hours before 100D came out," crowd and would have upgraded to 100D but the new interiors didn't include my preferred combo. My OA said that I wouldn't have a change fee either, just a 3K upgrade fee.

So, I remain super excited that I got a "custom" car that was my design ground up, rather than a "package" and I retained FUSC and ventilated seats in the process.

but I also remain hopeful that they run out of 90D packs before they build my car, so I can have my cake and eat it. But I'd be shocked if they did.

I suppose they could run out of the old spacers and HV connector mechanisms as well, but they probably use the same ones in the 75.

In short, probably not happening.

 

[TexLaw]

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie - Wikipedia

Nothing else to say.

Finally something I can understand. My business is children's book publishing and now I get it. Thanks DHG!

I love it. Nicely done. This is a good, gentlemanly discussion.

As far as building cars for inventory, I understood that Tesla only built cars intended for inventory when those same cars were intended to be showroom or test drive cars. The rest of the inventory cars come from situations like we're discussing, cancelled orders and the like (many of which end up as showroom or test drive cars).

Come to think of it, I wouldn't be surprised if that's why they also have gone to package interiors, rather than pure "have it your way" choices. I'm sure some of that has to do with purchase and manufacturing logistics, but it also would not surprise me if it were because they want some cover on cancelled orders.