Photo: Tesla/GJK/edited by autoevolution
On December 29, we told our readers that Tesla was using bad weather as an excuse to backtrack its promises of a $7,500 discount and 10,000 miles of free Supercharging for everyone who bought their EVs until December 31. GJK started a thread on a Facebook group to discuss that and discovered other people going through the same issues. Tesla eventually honored its promises to her, but it took work for this customer.
GJK was left with very few options, all of them pretty lousy ones. The first one was to simply cancel her order even after she had fully paid for the car. That would make her lose $250 (a cancelation fee) and $628 (the deposit and a wall charger she would not use if she didn’t get the Model Y she ordered). The alternative was to keep her purchase, receive the car in 2023, and have nothing that Tesla promised she would get. That was not an option: she only bought the EV at that moment because of the advantages she would have.
She decided to work with a third option: if Tesla was unable to honor what it had offered her, it was also not her fault. In fact, Tesla was the one responsible for delivering her the car in the conditions it said it would. That said, it was also up to Tesla to give her a full refund – without the cancelation fee and giving back everything else GJK paid for. The delivery took place at the Colorado Tesla Service Center where it was supposed to happen when it was scheduled to occur: December 31.
This argument seems to have worked. GJK said she had to endure “lots of phone calls and text messages” when politely answering someone who said she was screwed. That was just an example of a lot of abuse she endured from more than enough Tesla advocates. One of these guys said she was in a white-hot rage, but that she was to blame after ordering the car so late (on December 23). According to him, that was more than expected for everyone that had to wait months for their Teslas. This person missed the memo on demand drop and lower used Tesla prices, but she was elegant enough to say Tesla did what it promised – on short notice, which he deemed almost impossible. If it were, Tesla should have refused to take her money for the EV in the first place.
This was just an example of several others in the thread she opened. It was wise of her to just let some of these guys talk to themselves and get embarrassed in the end. She also defended the company from people apparently attacking Tesla. As GJK said, she just wanted the EV maker to honor the deal it had with her.
Unfortunately, that was not the case for several other people facing the same delivery delays she experienced. Most kept their faith that a miracle could happen at the last minute, but they did not write about that anymore, which suggests they missed the discount and the $7,500. We’d like to think that our article helped, but that would not be a true win with so many people missing what they were told they would get. At least GJK got what she wanted. Let’s hope her story does not get bitter due to the several flaws Tesla vehicles present: her Model Y may be an exception.
She decided to work with a third option: if Tesla was unable to honor what it had offered her, it was also not her fault. In fact, Tesla was the one responsible for delivering her the car in the conditions it said it would. That said, it was also up to Tesla to give her a full refund – without the cancelation fee and giving back everything else GJK paid for. The delivery took place at the Colorado Tesla Service Center where it was supposed to happen when it was scheduled to occur: December 31.
This argument seems to have worked. GJK said she had to endure “lots of phone calls and text messages” when politely answering someone who said she was screwed. That was just an example of a lot of abuse she endured from more than enough Tesla advocates. One of these guys said she was in a white-hot rage, but that she was to blame after ordering the car so late (on December 23). According to him, that was more than expected for everyone that had to wait months for their Teslas. This person missed the memo on demand drop and lower used Tesla prices, but she was elegant enough to say Tesla did what it promised – on short notice, which he deemed almost impossible. If it were, Tesla should have refused to take her money for the EV in the first place.
This was just an example of several others in the thread she opened. It was wise of her to just let some of these guys talk to themselves and get embarrassed in the end. She also defended the company from people apparently attacking Tesla. As GJK said, she just wanted the EV maker to honor the deal it had with her.
Unfortunately, that was not the case for several other people facing the same delivery delays she experienced. Most kept their faith that a miracle could happen at the last minute, but they did not write about that anymore, which suggests they missed the discount and the $7,500. We’d like to think that our article helped, but that would not be a true win with so many people missing what they were told they would get. At least GJK got what she wanted. Let’s hope her story does not get bitter due to the several flaws Tesla vehicles present: her Model Y may be an exception.
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