Well, 2 weeks I guess....although maybe we should give them until the end of the week. I agree, there should be a monthly e-mail from someone higher up on the Model S project giving us updates (even if it's fluff every now and then).
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I think you guys need to seriously chill.
We waited 718 days for our Roadster. About 400 days "late" and a much bigger deposit. Probably had 3 contacts originating from Tesla until the last 45 days when the build started.
- I agree they should be better.
- I think probably not much has changed (yet)
- Love the High School kid idea (proposed something similar)
- If it's any consolation, once you have the car they treat you wonderfully.
I would start raising a "What about us?" stink when they get caught up in Roadster deliveries -then they have less of a "We are busy getting out Roadsters" excuse.
I think the over all point is that communication skills from TM has been greatly lacking from day 1. If they want to grow their clientel they better start working on it and fast. With Roadster owners they were huge supporters of the cause and willing to forego some communications but I think with adding Model S owners many of they will be there much more for the car and not as much for the cause. Many people feel that if you don't have the time to communicate with me while I am getting ready to buy one that once I actually buy I will hear even less from you. This may or may not be the case with TM but I think that is the prespective of the general public at large. "Service is always the best before you get the car" kind of idea. It is a very simple thing and very simple to correct and makes a HUGE difference in customer satisfaction.
Kevin, while I agree (I've said similar), we have to also remember that we are the minority. Many people place their deposit and wait for news while they lead their lives. Very few actually hop online constantly researching Tesla news -- for those folks, the scraps of info they get from time to time probably more than suffice. Heck, they'd probably get annoyed with weekly emails of fluff.
I say this to say that their lack of info may not be harming their rep in the eyes of as many as you might suspect
I say this to say that their lack of info may not be harming their rep in the eyes of as many as you might suspect
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I agree there are probably only a small, vocal minority of people that want frequent updates but Tesla is a small company and needs to try and keep people as happy as reasonably possible. I don't think people are asking for personal phone calls weekly or anything like that, just an occasional e-mail update. Especially when the say something like "we'll tell you in two weeks". Either be vague or reach you stated timeline. If the timeline passes, let people know about the delay. The only reason that last e-mail went out was because I e-mailed someone in sales letting them know that an e-mail explaining the delay would be helpful.
Anyway, I'm excited about the Model S and it would take a lot more than lack of e-mails to get me to cancel my deposit. Hopefully they'll get around to it eventually.
I agree with you guys there, and I guess that's where Martin shone.. if he were still there today he'd probably be blogging weekly and giving everyone their Tesla fix
Arnold Panz
Model Sig 304, VIN 542
I'm very sympathetic to a small company not having the bandwidth to communicate regularly with depositer -- I'd much rather they divert as much of their time, attention and resources to designing and building the cars, and servicing existing customers. I don't think the "hire so teenagers to write fluff e-mails for you" would work. The time needed to tell them what to write each week (or month), plus the time reviewing and editing what they write, makes it just as time-consuming as if they did it themselves. I was actually OK with the level of communication we were getting, which were e-mail updates roughly once a month.
Here's my only beef -- when we sent in our deposits, we were told we'd get our sequence number in May. Then, two weeks ago, they sent an e-mail saying we'd get our sequencing number "in two weeks."
Don't make promises you can't deliver!! It's Customer Service 101. My deposit isn't going anywhere because their ability to communicate effectively with me at this stage of the process has nothing to do with whether they'll build a great car or not, but that's me (and probably a lot of us). When you're trying to sell 20,000 cars a year, though, not everyone is going to be as committed to the cause, or as patient.
My only suggestion to TM would be that if they aren't 99% certain that they'll be able to meet a self-imposed deadline, then don't set it! It sends a negative message about your ability to "deliver" on your promises. If the e-mail we got had said we'd hear within a month on the sequencing, no one would have complained -- they set two weeks as the deadline, not us, so it's perfectly reasonable to be irked that they missed the deadline.
I agree. Over the course of 30 months or so, I don't expect weekly or even monthly updates but when they give detailed timeframes (when they don't have to), they should try and stick with them or at least let us know when they misjudged their original estimate.
Arnold,
I completely agree and that is what I have been trying to say - though not quite as well as you did I guess. I also think that now that they are getting into Model S people that they are going to have many more people that are less willing to accept no communications for more than a month. How long does it take to type out a 1 paragraph update and say we are still thinking of you. Everyone likes for other to think about them. It strokes the ego and keeps them interested. I think they would be very hard pressed to send out TOO MANY updates and start pissing people off with them.
I completely agree and that is what I have been trying to say - though not quite as well as you did I guess. I also think that now that they are getting into Model S people that they are going to have many more people that are less willing to accept no communications for more than a month. How long does it take to type out a 1 paragraph update and say we are still thinking of you. Everyone likes for other to think about them. It strokes the ego and keeps them interested. I think they would be very hard pressed to send out TOO MANY updates and start pissing people off with them.
xcelero.ii
Push Start Go
@efusco: Can I be that 2-3 hour/week communications specialist?? *raises hand* :biggrin:
Tesla models themselves after Apple but as someone who has worked for Apple; I can say, they have an opportunity on the communications piece.
@vfx: I can surely appreciate your feelings on the matter as Roadster owners had a much, much longer waiting period void of any real consistent communication.
@ALL: Apple doesn't do much advertising but they do a great deal of communicating to their customers, members of services, and all employees. And it really helps. For those owners not interested in getting quick bursts of information, they can opt-out of the emails.
Im sure Tesla has access to good CRM tools. They just need a team to utilize them
Communication is more than key. It's your connection back to your most valuable asset. The customer.
They reached their own stated date and failed AGAIN to even send out a note saying they would be another delay?
I do agree that the design and production of the model S takes priority. However it isn't that hard. And email to 1000-1500 takes up little bandwidth. Heck, none if you take advantage of many third party solutions.
I would hope they had corrected the issues they had at the last round. It certainly seemed they had and had a wonderfully fast response.
Come on guys (Tesla) you have an awesome product, a wonderful Roadster already on the road, and a large following of interested customers. You can do it!
I do agree that the design and production of the model S takes priority. However it isn't that hard. And email to 1000-1500 takes up little bandwidth. Heck, none if you take advantage of many third party solutions.
I would hope they had corrected the issues they had at the last round. It certainly seemed they had and had a wonderfully fast response.
Come on guys (Tesla) you have an awesome product, a wonderful Roadster already on the road, and a large following of interested customers. You can do it!
Arnold Panz
Model Sig 304, VIN 542
Come on guys (Tesla) you have an awesome product, a wonderful Roadster already on the road, and a large following of interested customers. You can do it!
Nice pep talk! I was thinking about replying this weekend to the guy at Tesla who e-mailed two weeks ago to give him a similar admonition/pep talk. Maybe if enough of us do it they'll get the message.
xcelero.ii
Push Start Go
I just can't understand what the issue is. I know that California time is a bit lackadaisical, but really.
Kevin: you seem to have contacts at Tesla from what I can gather from your posts. Have you expressed everyone's concern about their poor communication? I imagine it would be something easy to fix like we've all been talking about with an occasional e-mail and with sticking to self-imposed deadlines.
Dave
johnr
Member
xcelero.ii
Push Start Go
Don't question it, it'll take another 2 weeks for an explanation of the delay :biggrin:
johnr
Member
On Friday I emailed Matt Zatto at Tesla about this and that was the essence of his reply. He was quick to reply and apologized for the delay, but didn't offer a reason. I didn't ask. So that's all the info I have right now. If they send it out on Monday as expected, it would only be a delay of 5 days past the 2 weeks, so it's not as long as it seems.
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