Photo: Tesla
Tesla is among the carmakers that try to prevent people from reselling their cars. The EV maker has put a clause in the sales contract that can have people banned from ever buying a Tesla again if they are found to act as a reseller. Tesla is not shy about enforcing this clause, as one customer has found out recently.
In the current economic environment, cars have become so precious that carmakers make less profit from selling them than the customers who flip them for profits. That’s because used cars are now valued more than their new price. Tesla is trying to prevent that, especially as the EV maker has its own used-car business. That’s why there’s an obscure clause written in fine print that grants Tesla the right to cancel a customer’s order if it thinks they intend to resell the car.
Tesla is not afraid to use that leverage to keep its customers disciplined. It’s not always working as intended, and sometimes it gives false positives, but it is what it is. We’ve talked in the past about the very active “Tesla Loss Prevention Team” sending letters to customers who they fought are in violation of that pesky clause. Not only do the customers risk having their pending orders canceled, but they are also prevented from placing new orders in the future. Yes, Tesla can afford that. Their backlog stretches for months.
We’re unsure what triggers the loss prevention team to attach the “reseller” badge to a customer. Until now, it was thought buying and selling several Teslas would qualify. How many are too many is not clear. Things are probably down to whoever takes the decision and his state of mind at the time. In the case of Frederick Foley Rousseau, this happened when they tried to upgrade two Model 3s (his and his wife’s) to Model Y.
“Me and my wife had 2 Model 3 2021,” said Frederick on Twitter. “I sold mine and ordered a Model Y. Because I was hesitating between an LR and a Performance, I ordered both, having in mind that my wife would probably like to upgrade too. Tonight while dining at restaurants with my wife, I get called by a Tesla rep saying our orders got canceled because they think we are resellers, which is not the case.”
Despite explaining the situation to the Tesla representative, Frederick could not convince him to reverse the decision. He also lost his locked prices for both orders, which means that if he is ever allowed to place another order, he’ll have to pay the current price, which is significantly higher. But the worst thing is that Frederick was not called before a decision was made to hear his arguments, and there is no way he can appeal it.
Frederick took his story to Twitter as a last resort, hoping that someone could help. Before you’d say there’s little chance for that to happen, I remind you that such things did happen. In another story of Tesla wronging a customer, a viral Twitter thread was all it took for Tesla to straighten things up. Hopefully, a similar decision will also be taken in Frederick’s case.
Tesla is not afraid to use that leverage to keep its customers disciplined. It’s not always working as intended, and sometimes it gives false positives, but it is what it is. We’ve talked in the past about the very active “Tesla Loss Prevention Team” sending letters to customers who they fought are in violation of that pesky clause. Not only do the customers risk having their pending orders canceled, but they are also prevented from placing new orders in the future. Yes, Tesla can afford that. Their backlog stretches for months.
We’re unsure what triggers the loss prevention team to attach the “reseller” badge to a customer. Until now, it was thought buying and selling several Teslas would qualify. How many are too many is not clear. Things are probably down to whoever takes the decision and his state of mind at the time. In the case of Frederick Foley Rousseau, this happened when they tried to upgrade two Model 3s (his and his wife’s) to Model Y.
“Me and my wife had 2 Model 3 2021,” said Frederick on Twitter. “I sold mine and ordered a Model Y. Because I was hesitating between an LR and a Performance, I ordered both, having in mind that my wife would probably like to upgrade too. Tonight while dining at restaurants with my wife, I get called by a Tesla rep saying our orders got canceled because they think we are resellers, which is not the case.”
Despite explaining the situation to the Tesla representative, Frederick could not convince him to reverse the decision. He also lost his locked prices for both orders, which means that if he is ever allowed to place another order, he’ll have to pay the current price, which is significantly higher. But the worst thing is that Frederick was not called before a decision was made to hear his arguments, and there is no way he can appeal it.
Frederick took his story to Twitter as a last resort, hoping that someone could help. Before you’d say there’s little chance for that to happen, I remind you that such things did happen. In another story of Tesla wronging a customer, a viral Twitter thread was all it took for Tesla to straighten things up. Hopefully, a similar decision will also be taken in Frederick’s case.
Tonight while dinning at restaurants with my wife, I get called by a Tesla rep saying our orders got cancelled because they think we are resellers , which is not the case… lost our place in the line (6 months waiting for our Model Ys) AND our prices. @WholeMarsBlog @elonmusk
— Frederick Foley Rousseau (@ffoleyr) July 28, 2022
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