Tesla to Discontinue Door-to-Door sales by Solar City

[Karma]

Tesla Is Halting Door-to-Door Sales for SolarCity Amid Slowdown

Not sure the reasoning behind this - as it appears to be more of supply issue than a demand, at least in the Tamp/Clearwater/St.Pete Florida markets. SC moved sales people to Florida in November, once the voters defeated the anti-solar, utility sponsored amendment. From talking to the sales people, demand has been tremendous.

Looking forward to comments on from members on this thread.

 

[TexasEV]

Door to door sales has a slimy reputation and is more expensive than selling through Tesla's stores and online. It doesn't quite fit Tesla's image.

 

[electracity]

Not sure the reasoning behind this

Tesla is laying off sales people in an attempt to focus on profitable business. Their customer acquisition cost is too high.

 

[TheTalkingMule]

The market is changing, solar knowledge can now be accessed in the mainstream. No need to spend $.91/W sitting in people's living-rooms explaining physics and economics.

Love this move and am excited to see if there's an all-in-one product(for simple online purchase) around the corner. I'd like to order a Tesla triple-play just like Fios.

 

[Ampster]

Does this mean I won't see them at Home Depot anymore?

 

[electracity]

Does this mean I won't see them at Home Depot anymore?

Probably not. That sort of approach seems like a good way to find qualified leads.

 

[Dwdnjck]

No. It means that the Home Depot presence will expand as the roofing product becomes available. Solar city will become more of a manufacturer and less of an installer as new and replacement roofs will be installed by contractors. A little birdy told me.

 

[Mark Z]

I received a SolarCity TCPA Settlement postcard in the mail today. Seems Solar City may have been making unauthorized sales calls and a class action lawsuit settlement has been reached: SolarCity TCPA Settlement - Home

All I can say is I got a very nasty phone call tonight from "Go Green" from the 714 area code pushing solar and if I had previous business dealings with Solar City. Something odd is going on. I told them to put me on their no calling list.

 

[arcus]

I received a SolarCity TCPA Settlement postcard in the mail today.

Me too. I have never received a soliciting call from Solar City though. Quite the contrary, they call me back when I was enquiring about solar panel installation and they came up as one of the preferred installers. Upon learning that we have an exclusive electricity provider in my area they politely but firmly stated that unfortunately they cannot work with me on my project.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Door-to-door sales are a very rare thing nowadays because of the cost. The Internet, emails and call centers make things a lot cheaper and easier. Door-to-door is OK for a one-hit awareness campaign but at this point it's just not necessary.

Solar City has had a high customer acquisition cost, which needs to come down. This is more of the post-Rive clean-up that will see Solar City's sales model dropped and duplication eliminated.

 

[swaltner]

All I can say is I got a very nasty phone call tonight from "Go Green" from the 714 area code pushing solar and if I had previous business dealings with Solar City. Something odd is going on. I told them to put me on their no calling list.

Making the request for the no call list or hanging up on them isn't going to help. I would suggest signing up for Jolly Roger Telephone Company. There may be other companies out there that do similar, but I don't know of any. Basically, you can shuffle your telemarking calls off to JR, which uses automated bots that do their best to get a real person on the line and waste their time. I signed up for Jolly Roger's $6/year service and have them handling my voicemail now on two cell phones. Real people, it works like voicemail, but after repeated calls from telemarketers, BRING ON THE BOTS. My parents signed up as well and since they have Vonage with simultaneous ringing capability, Jolly Roger automatically intercepts their telemarketer calls. While I haven't received too many calls since signing up, I've gotten much more than $6 worth of entertainment out of it, and I'm only 1 month into my subscription. Typing up this post is part of that entertainment as I imagine this leading to more subscribers and more wasted time for telemarketers and scammers.

Jolly Roger Telephone Company, saving the world from bad telemarketing
#deep6telemarketers

TED Talk with system designer introducing the service

Jolly Roger to Telemarketer: "There's a bee on me. I'm gonna be real quiet, but you keep talking"

 

[TheTalkingMule]

This exists?