I have to admit that I smiled when I read about Stuart Alsop, the American venture capitalist, being banned from purchasing a Tesla Model X by the company CEO Elon Musk.
Alsop had attended a launch event for the new electric SUV and had waited one hour and fifty minutes for the event to start. The lack of an apology from Musk and the lack of the promised test drive in the Model X prompted Alsop to complain on his blog about the poor experience.
Elon Musk responded on Twitter by banning the potential customer from buying a car at all as he had been "rude". But Elon, you may make amazing cars and you may be a billionaire but without customers you are really nothing at all and this seems to me to be a poor way to behave.
In my experience, Tesla are not especially hot on customer service. In fact, quite the opposite. I have written about my test drive in a Model S previously - and it was a great experience. My interest was prompted by a friend who told me that you could request a test drive on the Tesla website and they would bring a car round. He had done this and it was worth a go.
Several weeks after I completed the online form and forgotten all about it I was called by Tesla to invite me to a test drive event at a hotel 10 miles and a good half hour away. They told me they didn't bring cars to people any more, I would have to go to them. Although this was a bit of a chore, I booked in and duly turned up.
On arrival I was told there were two models for test drives and I had been allocated the most basic rear wheel drive car with the lesser acceleration of the two models. There was no mention as to how this decision had been reached, but for the whole of the test drive I felt that I was missing something. Perhaps like going to drive a Mercedes S Class and when expecting the S500 being given the S280 instead.
The Tesla employee with me said that I could try the faster all-wheel drive model another time, maybe even on the same day if it was back. After a short 15 minute spin in the car we were back at base. The other car which had left at the same time was not back and using the Tesla app it was swiftly found - many miles away. So not only had they given me the car I didn't want but the other fellow was getting three times as long to drive as I had. Talk about making you feel valued as a customer!
We parted with the agreement that they would contact me when they were next at the same location and I would indeed drive the faster car. Several weeks later I got the call and was booked in. I mentioned my interest in the Model X too and that I would bring my wife along so she could see what this was all about. So they now should have understood that we are interested in two cars and Teslas don't come cheap.
Two days before the test drive was due to take place, Tesla head office called me to say they had double booked the slot and they were very sorry but it was me that had been dumped. Clearly the other customer was in the market for three cars or more. There was no other convenient time over the weekend for a drive so they agreed to call next time but this never happened.
I subsequently got an email giving 48 hours notice of the opportunity to test a Model S but this was too late to take advantage of. I replied asking to be called about the next date and asking what the current lead time was on a Model X. This was a few weeks ago and I am still waiting for a reply.
Not sure if I have been "rude" enough to offend, but the company are completely useless. They do not understand customers and have no clue about customer service. They do not deserve to have business from anyone. Now it is quite clear where this attitude comes from - the very top.
So, Elon. I would love you to ban me as well but in reality there is little point. We're sticking with our Beemers.
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