Photo: Joe Rogan / YouTube screenshot
A few good years ago, a funny commercial suggested you shouldn't buy products made during the playoffs because the people making them were too busy watching the action on TV instead of paying attention to the assembly line.
Well, it's 2021, and the same can be said about buying Tesla cars built toward the end of the quarter as the company does one of its usual pushes to boost the delivery numbers before the end of June and, therefore, the second quarter. Tesla is on a mission to break sales record after sales record since these numbers are pivotal in keeping the stock valuation high.
But it's not just potential quality issues buyers should be aware of. According to Twitter user Digitalboi, the company takes things a few steps further into very shady territory by removing VINs from certain buyers and assigning them to others, presumably to hasten the delivery process.
In other words, people who had orders placed, VINs assigned, and delivery dates scheduled (for this Friday, in Digitalboi's case) would see their delivery postponed. The sole reason for that is to allow Tesla to hasten the delivery by offering the vehicles scheduled for them to people who ordered their EVs later but happen to live closer to the plant where the car is assembled.
Besides his Twitter post, Digitalboi also talked to company-friendly site Teslarati where he continued to express his frustration with the practice. “They’re sacrificing customer happiness and satisfaction to pump delivery figures for Q2, and that’s disappointing,” he said, pretty much stating the obvious.
And that's not all. According to another EV-specialist site (Electrek) that is usually very positive toward Tesla, Elon Musk's company uses other tactics to make sure it delivers as many cars before the end of the month as possible, even if that means the buyer's delivery experience would take a hit.
Electrek reports that Tesla workers who take care of deliveries have been told to skip the face-to-face vehicle orientation process and replace it with videos sent to new buyers before the hand-off. That opens the door to zero-interaction deliveries (something Tesla already does), which may sound like progress. Still, it also means owners don't get to check the vehicle out for defects before taking delivery, having to book service visits afterward to remedy any issues. And even though Tesla's quality control has improved, its vehicles are still far from perfect.
Many people will defend Tesla's tactics under the premise that everything is acceptable given what they perceive to be the company's ultimate goal: to save the planet from cars with internal combustion engines. Other people, though, will interpret this as a complete lack of respect for the consumer, and to be fair, unlike the first group, it's pretty hard to argue against it.
Furthermore, a Reddit user pointed out they weren't able to book a test drive because all test vehicles had been sold with the same goal of boosting delivery figures. We guess the bottom line here is that if you want to buy a Tesla, you should try to place the order so that your delivery won't be scheduled toward the end of a quarter. Why? Simply put, because you never know what can happen.
But it's not just potential quality issues buyers should be aware of. According to Twitter user Digitalboi, the company takes things a few steps further into very shady territory by removing VINs from certain buyers and assigning them to others, presumably to hasten the delivery process.
In other words, people who had orders placed, VINs assigned, and delivery dates scheduled (for this Friday, in Digitalboi's case) would see their delivery postponed. The sole reason for that is to allow Tesla to hasten the delivery by offering the vehicles scheduled for them to people who ordered their EVs later but happen to live closer to the plant where the car is assembled.
Besides his Twitter post, Digitalboi also talked to company-friendly site Teslarati where he continued to express his frustration with the practice. “They’re sacrificing customer happiness and satisfaction to pump delivery figures for Q2, and that’s disappointing,” he said, pretty much stating the obvious.
And that's not all. According to another EV-specialist site (Electrek) that is usually very positive toward Tesla, Elon Musk's company uses other tactics to make sure it delivers as many cars before the end of the month as possible, even if that means the buyer's delivery experience would take a hit.
Electrek reports that Tesla workers who take care of deliveries have been told to skip the face-to-face vehicle orientation process and replace it with videos sent to new buyers before the hand-off. That opens the door to zero-interaction deliveries (something Tesla already does), which may sound like progress. Still, it also means owners don't get to check the vehicle out for defects before taking delivery, having to book service visits afterward to remedy any issues. And even though Tesla's quality control has improved, its vehicles are still far from perfect.
Many people will defend Tesla's tactics under the premise that everything is acceptable given what they perceive to be the company's ultimate goal: to save the planet from cars with internal combustion engines. Other people, though, will interpret this as a complete lack of respect for the consumer, and to be fair, unlike the first group, it's pretty hard to argue against it.
Furthermore, a Reddit user pointed out they weren't able to book a test drive because all test vehicles had been sold with the same goal of boosting delivery figures. We guess the bottom line here is that if you want to buy a Tesla, you should try to place the order so that your delivery won't be scheduled toward the end of a quarter. Why? Simply put, because you never know what can happen.
@elonmusk So I wake up this morning to find that my VIN that was assigned to me and scheduled for delivery from the SC next Friday has been removed and given to someone else, all for Q2 delivery goals?! How on earth is this a business policy that you can allow to take place?!
— Digitalboi (@Digitalboi) June 24, 2021
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