Supercharging promised but not delivered

[NiallDarwin]

More media, front page of stern.de - A German news site with apparently high readership:

Neuseeländer verklagt Tesla, weil sein reparierter T90D nicht mehr aufgeladen wird

My last video on the subject until this is settled:

Reported (in part) on Newshub here in NZ:
Watch: Raglan man Niall Darwin appeals to Tesla's Elon Musk over alleged broken promise

 

[Lasttoy]

P85 is correct. Tesla seems to be losing its way in the PR Karma dept.
There was a post yesterday where a guy bought CPO. Had things broken, yet SC refused to fix it. There have been several post lately about the SCs not being customer friendly.
Tesla management needs to get a handle on this. If we really see increased failure to address our concerns, and tell our friends,
It can hurt the S and X sales.
For example, i am not allowed to call my local SC. I get Utah call center. I dont want to talk to them, i want to talk dieectly . I cannot call the parts dept. This is insane. Bad karma, lousy PR.

 

[Lasttoy]

Oh, another really weird thing. If you want to buy a CPO, you cant see our touch it till you have paid for it, transfrred it.
What is that all about? The post on here have been really bad about SC refusing to fix the cars. They are nasty dirty. Etc etc.
I read a lot of post, it is trending now about bad karma and customer service. Sad but true.
Elon needs to appoint someone to fix this now.

 

[Lasairfion]

Good luck Niall. Definitely a breach of contract since you were told by them that they would re-enable support, and easily proven since it was written. I'm surprised that they haven't just made an exception to whatever internal policy they have and sorted things out for you. As you say, you don't really have much choice now other than legal recourse.

 

[NiallDarwin]

At 4m 44s this guy sums my feelings up perfectly:

Anyone know if he's on here?

 

[NiallDarwin]

Since my last post I've had two sessions vs Tesla at New Zealand's disputes tribunal. The first in late September was hard and I didn't feel I did very well. The second and final session was last Tuesday (4th December) and I had a much better time. Maybe knowing a bit more what to expect, maybe feeling like I had nothing to lose but either way, it was good. No result announced at the time but a promise of a decision by Christmas. I wonder which way it will go?

 

[rooter]

Best of luck Niall.

I'm sure that Tesla would have loved to make an exception for you, but that it would set a precedent. That wouldn't have made much difference, however you've been publicizing things here from the start so their decision was made for them.

I believe it's a fine car too (and an advanced company), but I've long bypassed and don't use them. We all pick our battles. My opinion is that we salvage owners are a tiny minority and will become and even smaller percentage with the M3 rollout, as its systems are beyond the abilities of most, even more so than the MS.

Even if the court finds for you it won't affect anyone else, unfortunately. Only in municipalities where there's legislation (Massachusetts) will they bend.

PS: If you win Tesla will almost certainly have to appeal, so brace yourself.

 

[NiallDarwin]

Thanks Rooter. I appreciate your thoughts and wishes. I agree with most of what you've said. I must take issue with you for one statement:

....you've been publicizing things here from the start so their decision was made for them...

That's not true and its not how I like to conduct my business so I'd like to clear his up. I had been in regular private contact with Tesla for over a year -from shortly after purchasing the car (June 2017) to their unequivocal 'No, you won't even get CHADEMO ability' in June of 2018. I only went public when they did this without apology or recompense.

Also, my going public got me CHADEMO and that in itself is some kind of statement-at the very least its getting Tesla AU NZ to play by the rules of Tesla US.

 

[rooter]

I stand corrected.

You probably know that Tesla US -used- to shut off Sc and 3g/LTE but don't bother anymore. It's not policy to allow Sc, it's just inoculation from (well-founded) lawsuits and possible precedent they wouldn't like.

It's much easier for them to defend their recert policy, than unilateral revocation of paid-for options.

 

[NiallDarwin]

The verdict's in and I lost. Ah well. I tried.

 

[Exiom]

I kinda knew it would end up being something like this... because whether it was a salvage vehicle or not... technically... when you move your Tesla from your home market to another... the local Tesla does not support you and says so in the warranty.

So perhaps if you shipped your car back to Australia then it may become a different matter.

While disappointing... I think many of us expected this to be the outcome.

I would look forward to the CCS Adaptor... they can support power above and beyond the current iteration of Superchargers so while you dont get to use the Tesla Supercharger... your car can charge on DC so I would assume once the adaptor is released you can take advantage of this new charging power.

 

[croman]

The verdict's in and I lost. Ah well. I tried.

Sorry that the outcome was not more equitable. A real shame. At least you've got a Tesla in a beautiful country.

 

[rooter]

No bother mate. Just hack it like the rest of us. They've asked for it.

I've taken several well-grounded cases to trial and, here in the US anyway, unless there is a habit of finding for the plaintiff as with landlord/tenant disputes, they will almost always find against the plaintiff. Usually using cheating technicalities. This is why I now always demand a jury trial and don't trust judges to render an unbiased decision. Their goal is to discourage litigation, rather than to make a reasoned and fair outcome.

 

[NiallDarwin]

Thanks for all your positive messages here. I had hoped to win but as soon as I learned that the court I used can't admit evidence from overseas companies even if they are clearly the same company in all but paperwork I kinda knew I was finished. Still I took a bunch of their time and hopefully highlighted the issue. The sections of the company I've dealt with seem dreadful and I'll try not to let that take away from the fact that the vehicles and the mission are awesome.

Sorry that the outcome was not more equitable. A real shame. At least you've got a Tesla in a beautiful country.

For now, I'll take croman's advice because he's right. Life is bloody good even if its not perfect. Here's some photos from a trip we took in the car last October. I took the seatbacks out of the back and we had a fossil-fuel free campervan

 

[Eevee]

WOW

I'm really disappointed in Telsa here. It does not seem like honoring it would have cost them very much to simply honor their promises and give you what you needed. This is really sad.

 

[emmz0r]

Very sad to hear, I know it's 2 separate entities, but it's a part of a larger enterprise / concern...

I wonder if there's similar cases where the same thing happens. I think you would have won in court though, but it's the chance of losing and that would cost much more than supercharging is worth.

If the majority of communications was from aus, it would be logical that both Tesla Australia and Tesla New Zealand acted as the same entity in "good faith".

So the lesson is when buying in country A, NEVER accept a promise or information from country B, and force them to relay it through country A.

 

[NiallDarwin]

So the lesson is when buying in country A, NEVER accept a promise or information from country B, and force them to relay it through country A.

Unfortunaley this is the Catch-22 as there was no other way to do these things. What I should have done is refused to discuss the issue on the phone and instead insist on email correspodance. That way I'd have proof of what Tesla NZ said and also how tightly intertwined they are with both Tesla AU & US