Supercharging letter from Tesla 8-13-2015

[lg_golfs]

I have had some late night LAX arrivals only to be greeted with the need to rush out early in the AM 60+ miles one away from my house to deal with family matters. I use a SC because I was not able to charge enough at night. Round trip then to my parents puts me over the range edge so I tend to SC at my "local supercharger" just to ensure I get home.

I look forward to my letter and not change my "local charging" habits whatsoever.

 

[cpa]

Yes, I received one this morning too. My nearest Superchargers in increasing distance from my house are Harris Ranch (about 65 range miles and out-of-the-way unless I want to spend a relaxing weekend in Coalinga or Pinnacles NP); Manteca (135 RM north on the way to the Sacramento Valley and Tahoe); Ft. Tejon (175RM south towards El Lay); Mojave (220RM heading east.)

I have used Manteca seven times since it opened in February. I have used Harris Ranch twice in 15 months, Ft. Tejon 6 times and Mojave once. I charge at home regularly.

My problem with this mass communication is that it is vague. If their programming can cull usage, it can also cull frequency and can list the "suspicious" usage by date, time and kWh. Presumably this could be done by merging a couple of files into the boilerplate email.

Perhaps the program was written to use the closest Superchargers to our addresses, if that distance per the Tesla navigation screen (as the crow flies, before calculating the actual route) is fewer than perhaps 100 miles or so. Perhaps they just counted the total number of times we have Supercharged over the past 90 days and sent out emails if our usage anywhere in the country exceeded some arbitrary figure.

Finally, perhaps some high school English composition teacher should have proofread the email to make constructive comments about the wording to clarify the criteria used to determine the recipients.

 

[bonnie]

Like some others here, I just didn't find the letter offensive. If it doesn't apply to you, then don't worry about it. (And it doesn't sound like anyone here has been abusing it.)

 

[markb1]

Except there is no crowding problem at SoCal SCs and nobody to speak of charges daily. Pretending that there is a problem and then producing a seemingly reasonable response does not make the perceived problem any less a work of complete fiction.

There certainly have been a crowding problems as SoCal superchargers in the past. (I'm thinking particularly of San Juan Capistrano and Hawthorne.) I am not sure if that's still happening, but if not, it's likely to happen again in the future as Tesla sells more vehicles.

And there are definitely people who charge at superchargers on a daily (or nearly so) basis. I don't know if there are a lot of them, but Tesla has records, so they should know.

 

[Kbra]

Idle thought: has anyone been able to confirm -- with a real, live Tesla employee -- that Tesla actually sent this email?

There are some mischievous imps on this planet, after all, who enjoy stirring up... the pot.

Most Tesla employees find out when we do

 

[SeminoleFSU]

While the overall tone of the letter is reasonable, I think the following phrase is problematic:



When doing corp communications like this, you tend to want to bias towards false negatives instead of false positives: its better to miss a few of the folks your are targeting then hit folks who are doing nothing wrong. As this single phrase makes two specific accusations (excessive local Supercharging and leaving a car parked in an SC stall), IMO it would have been better if whomever did this applied a bit more rigor to the dataset selection, or, if this truly is a blast to everyone, re-worded the above phrase.

A couple of folks have noted "its just and e-mail", which is true. However, as much as I am a Tesla fanboi, there is a persistent level of imprecision with the company (owner communications probably being the best example), which at some point, if not corrected, will become as indelibly connected with the brand as positive traits such as performance and styling.

In terms of practical impact, say Tesla decides to throttle the SC rate of folks who excessively use local Superchargers (still free). If they use the same level of precision to target those owners as they did to target this e-mail, they are going to do an immense amount of damage to themselves.

+ 1 as a Database guy by trade the lack of precision is disturbing especially if they implement throttling which is quite possible given the folks reporting slow charging in the past

 

[gaswalla]

Seems like they intended to send it to folks that are 'using local superchargers too much.' But, a number of folks are receiving it who don't even supercharge. you know which group you're in

 

[joefee]

Like the referral program, this letter tarnishes the Tesla brand reinforces the FUD about cash burn at Tesla. Don't say SC is free for life and then send an email like this.

 

[PaulusdB]

I read a subtext in the e-mail message, not mentioned before.
Maybe the Dutch intern that composed, targeted en sent the message is trying to boost home charger sales with this campaign?
This would explain the wording 'As an abuser...', a common mistake for meaning 'When you are an abuser...'
And the emphasis on home charging reads like 'buy yourself a home charger, today'.
Finally, adult supervision could have prevented this from happening in the first place.

 

[aznt1217]

So do I send my resume straight to Ricardo? Lol

Easy guys... It's an e-mail that can be easily deleted. Wording was pretty poor though. I would've done it differently.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

I don't mean to pick on this guy, but Ricardo Reyes was hired months ago as Tesla's Director of Communications. It seems the quality of Tesla's communications has gone down the toilet since he was hired. Coincidence? You would think the Director of Communications would be responsible, in some way, for directing communications.

I have used my local Supercharger 2 miles away a handful of times in the last two months due to long distance appointments on opposite ends of the valley. I did NOT receive this email.

 

[robaross]

Like some others here, I just didn't find the letter offensive. If it doesn't apply to you, then don't worry about it. (And it doesn't sound like anyone here has been abusing it.)

If the email is sent to me it implies that it applies to me.

 

[aznt1217]

If the email is sent to me it implies that it applies to me.

No it just means you are on a mailing list...

 

[Spidy]

A sad day for Tesla.

I have not received the letter, but I did start the thread on TMC two months ago about it.

Why can't they instead send a usage clarification note to all owners instead?

Because it would kill the whole "Free for life of the car" PR.

Then they would also have to put that information on the website etc.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

+ 1 as a Database guy by trade the lack of precision is disturbing especially if they implement throttling which is quite possible given the folks reporting slow charging in the past

I wonder if they just left the "not" out of the SQL query as that would give them the opposite data. Most people who got the email say they've barely used the Superchargers and those who admit to using them a lot say they did not receive the email.

 

[Owner]

I agree.

I think we need to think of the mass reaction to something like this.
It is too easy for many Tesla fans to be very supportive of Tesla.

If the email is sent to me it implies that it applies to me.

 

[SeminoleFSU]

I wonder if they just left the "not" out of the SQL query as that would give them the opposite data. Most people who got the email say they've barely used the Superchargers and those who admit to using them a lot say they did not receive the email.

I rarely if ever local Spc. Probably done this 3-4x since I've owned the car 2yrs in Oct. I did not get the email (thank goodness)

 

[GregTexas]

I didn't get a letter. Today was the second time I've ever used a supercharger. Boy it's fast.

 

[tinm]

As I have been saying for months, Tesla's biggest ongoing problem is they're klutzes at communication. They lack the empathy, sensitivity, leadership, creativity, discretion, humor, accountability, and plain old good sense when it comes to the corporate bureaucracy communicating to the outside world. They lack the imagination to do wonders with technology -- to integrate it creatively into the car, into the TM website's My Tesla section, and into the mobile apps -- to make the communications between company and customer as wonderful as the car itself. They have not shown any consistent understanding of the importance of managing expectations. This leads to customer confusion, customer disappointment. A disappointed customer is the worst thing a company can have. Especially in the social media, always-on internet age. Of ALL companies Tesla should understand this. They do not. Or they do, but they haven't made it a priority. It reflects poorly on management, and management is sorely responsible for these screwups.

As I have also been saying for months, ALL of this is fixable. It takes management recognizing and admitting there is a problem, understanding the urgency of correcting the problem, finding competent people who know how to fix the problem in terms of process, people, and IT infrastructure, trusting them to be turned loose to make the changes, and making it clear to the whole company this is how things will be done from now on: each employee whose job outwardly faces the customer world needs to be accountable. Systems need to be put in place, and quality assurance tests done and verified, that when the company communicates out to the world, the message is correct, the appropriate recipients receive the message, inappropriate recipients do not by accident receive the message, and things just WORK.

This is not Tesla today. It NEEDS to be Tesla soon or the company will be in a world of hurt come mass deployment of the X and the 3.

 

[Lump]

As I have been saying for months, Tesla's biggest ongoing problem is they're klutzes at communication. They lack the empathy, sensitivity, leadership, creativity, discretion, humor, accountability, and plain old good sense when it comes to the corporate bureaucracy communicating to the outside world. They lack the imagination to do wonders with technology -- to integrate it creatively into the car, into the TM website's My Tesla section, and into the mobile apps -- to make the communications between company and customer as wonderful as the car itself. They have not shown any consistent understanding of the importance of managing expectations. This leads to customer confusion, customer disappointment. A disappointed customer is the worst thing a company can have. Especially in the social media, always-on internet age. Of ALL companies Tesla should understand this. They do not. Or they do, but they haven't made it a priority. It reflects poorly on management, and management is sorely responsible for these screwups.

As I have also been saying for months, ALL of this is fixable. It takes management recognizing and admitting there is a problem, understanding the urgency of correcting the problem, finding competent people who know how to fix the problem in terms of process, people, and IT infrastructure, trusting them to be turned loose to make the changes, and making it clear to the whole company this is how things will be done from now on: each employee whose job outwardly faces the customer world needs to be accountable. Systems need to be put in place, and quality assurance tests done and verified, that when the company communicates out to the world, the message is correct, the appropriate recipients receive the message, inappropriate recipients do not by accident receive the message, and things just WORK.

This is not Tesla today. It NEEDS to be Tesla soon or the company will be in a world of hurt come mass deployment of the X and the 3.

Thank You!