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Yes, I just now got the email from them! So it looks like they're notifying all reservation holders.

Wow! A company that listens to suggestions. This is amazing. I e-mailed them saying that from a PR perspective, leaving people in the dark probably not a good idea and they listened. Maybe I should ask for solar panels and keyless entry too:smile:
 
To be fair, I'm glad they put the nose to the grindstone on the CAR instead of the website... didn't the designer say he came on in September and they worked almost up to the minute of the debut on the car?

Regardless if the IDEA was around, the product is still pretty new, and from what we've been told, was developed in a very short amount of time.
 
Yep, got it too. darn closely worded to what I suggested, though I guess there aren't too many ways to skin that particular cat.
--evan

After seeing Zythryn's and your comment, I sent them an e-mail basically saying that there are some people who were expecting to hear this information in early May and that it might be a good idea from a PR standpoint to send an e-mail to all the Model S buyers explaining what the delay was and they did it. Pretty cool.
Will be interesting to see how the sequencing shakes down. Guess it doesn't matter too much because 30+ months is still a long time to wait.
 
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Nice to see the email went out.
I called an canceled my reservation on Tuesday.
They were very polite and asked me if they could ask why?
I was happy to tell them how important good communication was with a company, especially when the only contact we have is via the internet.
I received a call later than afternoon from one of their PR people. She appoligized, confirmed that the refund had just been processed and then asked if she could discuss it with me further.
I gave her a bit more detail about the reasoning and how I felt a lack of information is bad enough, but when you say you will be giving us information in May, and then fail to AND fail to communicate at all... well I just loose trust in that company.
I am very glad they got their act together and cranked up the communications.
I am also looking forward to buying a model S (after all you guys that are in line get yours first;)).
I have faith in the company, I needed to be clear I view that type of treatment of customers as unacceptable.
 
Zythryn, canceling your reservation is drastic, but perhaps the kick in the butt they needed. I follow another "alternative vehicle" that's being developed, but also lost all faith in them because of bad communication. Tesla is delivering cars now, but not a lot and the Model S is still vaporware. For start-ups like Tesla, their word is all they have for most customers. It is all they can offer me. It gets down to integrity. And I believe that a lot of companies do not realize that integrity is the most valuable thing they can offer.
 
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I appreciate you moving me up in line, but I think that decision was hasty. While I agree with the need for communication and such I think other leverage could have been used.

As much as you demand integrity and communication so does Tesla need our patience and support...each one of us represents a lot of other people in the US.
 
I appreciate you moving me up in line, but I think that decision was hasty. While I agree with the need for communication and such I think other leverage could have been used.

As much as you demand integrity and communication so does Tesla need our patience and support...each one of us represents a lot of other people in the US.

I agree wholeheartedly. Plus, we are all mini-investors in the company -- our $5000 deposits are helping to get the Model S developed. As much as I would love more communication from the company, I don't want them hiring a bunch of people just to communicate with me (and other depositors) because it will make me feel better. I'd much rather they focus their time and energy developing their cars. Communications have to be vetted and approved and can distract from the task at hand. I agree that they shouldn't have set themselves up for dissapointment by saying we'd have our sequencing in May, but I'm willing to give them a lot of slack because unlike a big company, they don't have an army of people just dedicated to communicating with customers.
 
They seem very receptive to input. All it took was sending them an e-mail and within 24 hours, they sent that e-mail out to the Model S buyers. It's still a young company and they are going to make mistakes. That doesn't mean they still shouldn't do it right the first time though but maybe explains some things.
 
Well, Tesla hasn't done anything outrageous enough for my to cancel my reservation just yet, but even if so, might have been a good idea to hold onto it and transfer it to another buyer if you were pretty high up on the list.
 
Zythryn, canceling your reservation is drastic, but perhaps the kick in the butt they needed.

I do appreciate their position and do plan to purchase a model S (which I will still call the White Star:biggrin:).
And it may be easier for me to do this as I have another EV coming much sooner. But I feel it was necessary to send a very clear message that I won't deal with a company with such poor communication with paying customers.
I do hope it did some good. I have a feeling the others here that let them know how they felt did a lot of good as well.
They did adapt, and corrected the issue in a very short timeframe. It is one of the reasons I have full confidence in Tesla and look forward to driving a model S in the future:)
 
Well, Tesla hasn't done anything outrageous enough for my to cancel my reservation just yet, but even if so, might have been a good idea to hold onto it and transfer it to another buyer if you were pretty high up on the list.

Perhaps, but then the message would not have been as... clear.
And I agree with the others that have mentioned that it is better for them to put effort into the car, rather than customer service. I just don't believe it is an either/or issue.
I was involved in a small company that was internet based. All of our communications were through our web site and email. We had tens of thousands of customers with a customer service staff that is likely smaller than Tesla's right now.
Sending out a mass email to a thousand or so customers or updating your web site to indicate a delay is not, in my mind asking too much. And from the conversations I have had on the phone, the Tesla PR staff agree.
I demand decent levels of communication with the companies I deal with and my patience just wore out.
Again, I think the Model S is an awesome car, and I think the response from Tesla was above and beyond. I look forward to doing business with them in the future.
 
Ok, maybe I'm not as patient as I thought I was. Hopefully they send out the e-mail too. It'd be nice if the owners forum had an area we could interact with someone from Tesla to give feedback, feature ideas...etc. Of course they'll just be suggestions but we're in the unique position of putting down this much money for a car not even fully developed yet.
 
So, it's been 12 days since we were told "two weeks" until we heard from Tesla and got our production order number and info for the owner's section of the website. I hope that they meet their self-imposed deadline and get the e-mails out by Wednesday. It also wouldn't kill them to, you know, set expectations lower and exceed them. They could have told us 3 weeks with the expectation of having it done by this Wednesday and giving everyone waiting a pleasant surprise.
 
So, it's been 12 days since we were told "two weeks" until we heard from Tesla and got our production order number and info for the owner's section of the website. I hope that they meet their self-imposed deadline and get the e-mails out by Wednesday. It also wouldn't kill them to, you know, set expectations lower and exceed them. They could have told us 3 weeks with the expectation of having it done by this Wednesday and giving everyone waiting a pleasant surprise.

The Disney theory of business!

I agree, I can't understand why some of these businesses don't hire a 2-3 hour/week HS kid to do some of this scut work. Hammer out an e-mail a week filled with fluff. Send and update with expectations that can be exceeded. Reply to stupid questions from antsy depositors, etc. Dollar cost to them negligible, customer satisfaction benefit--huge.
 
The Disney theory of business!

I agree, I can't understand why some of these businesses don't hire a 2-3 hour/week HS kid to do some of this scut work. Hammer out an e-mail a week filled with fluff. Send and update with expectations that can be exceeded. Reply to stupid questions from antsy depositors, etc. Dollar cost to them negligible, customer satisfaction benefit--huge.

+1

Makes sense to me...