Customer has his Tesla order canceled by Elon Musk because he posted a 'rude' open letter

[yRaz]

I think any business Musk is in is the "wrong business".

I'm sure someone with your background is well versed in "musky business"

 

[oldikes]

"Perhaps, however, Bezos is having better success at reusable rockets right now."

Bezos took a single rocket, launched it a short ways (relatively) up into the air, and brought it straight back down. Thats pointless and if spaceX wanted to they could have done that years ago (they did, at shorter distances). Trying to land and ruse a rocket after orbit and with crazy amounts of lateral velocity is incredibly more difficult and actually useful.

 

[captaincranky]

"Perhaps, however, Bezos is having better success at reusable rockets right now."

Bezos took a single rocket, launched it a short ways (relatively) up into the air, and brought it straight back down. Thats pointless and if spaceX wanted to they could have done that years ago (they did, at shorter distances). Trying to land and ruse a rocket after orbit and with crazy amounts of lateral velocity is incredibly more difficult and actually useful.

The subject of reusable boosters has been around since the beginning of the space age. If you designed a Saturn 5 booster with with sufficient fuel on board to return it to earth safely, it would never have had enough power to put the Apollo missions into orbit.

This is something Musk has never taken into account in all his self promotions.

This clown didn't invent rocket fuels, and the extra cost & pollution he's blowing around with "landing practice", likely offsets the "ecological good" he claim he's doing saving materials.

 

[DaveBG]

The troll asked for it. Congratulations to Musk! I would do the same.

 

[Kibaruk]

Without even reading the letter, after this:

When I wrote a blog post about my BMW X1 called ‘My Car Makes Me Feel Stoopid’

I'm assuming he got what he deserved, maybe the idea was not wrong at all, as some have stated already but the way you say it it's in the end what matters.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

I can't imagine working for Musk. He sounds like a spoiled brat.

Remember, you don't get to his position in life by always being Mr Nice Guy. That and the fact he reacted like a typical South African would. Just kidding about the last statement even though it's probably true.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

"Perhaps, however, Bezos is having better success at reusable rockets right now."

Bezos took a single rocket, launched it a short ways (relatively) up into the air, and brought it straight back down. Thats pointless and if spaceX wanted to they could have done that years ago (they did, at shorter distances). Trying to land and ruse a rocket after orbit and with crazy amounts of lateral velocity is incredibly more difficult and actually useful.

The subject of reusable boosters has been around since the beginning of the space age. If you designed a Saturn 5 booster with with sufficient fuel on board to return it to earth safely, it would never have had enough power to put the Apollo missions into orbit.

This is something Musk has never taken into account in all his self promotions.

This clown didn't invent rocket fuels, and the extra cost & pollution he's blowing around with "landing practice", likely offsets the "ecological good" he claim he's doing saving materials.

You're not seeing the big picture here Cap'n. It's not about doing good for all mankind, it's all about making yourself filthy rich and leaving an enviable legacy all the while trying to fool people into thinking you're a remarkable human being... and a good samaritan.

 

[matrix86]

I'm sorry, but I'm against Elon here. The customer was upset. Hell, I would be, too. If everything about the event is as accurate as he says, he did nothing wrong.

Although CEOs usually aren't the ones who do all the planning for these events, he is the face of the company. When you are the boss, anything that goes wrong is your fault. That's how business and being a leader works. Personally, I wouldn't have blamed Elon directly. I would have done something more like, "Mr. Musk, you need to speak with your event planning team as this latest event was terrible. Overcrowding, not enough food for the guests, and a 2 hour late start time is unprofessional. I am disappointed in how badly this event went. I am also disappointed that despite having put down a deposit on this car, I was unable to test drive it. Is there any way I could do so?"

 

[wiyosaya]

"Perhaps, however, Bezos is having better success at reusable rockets right now."

Bezos took a single rocket, launched it a short ways (relatively) up into the air, and brought it straight back down. Thats pointless and if spaceX wanted to they could have done that years ago (they did, at shorter distances). Trying to land and ruse a rocket after orbit and with crazy amounts of lateral velocity is incredibly more difficult and actually useful.

Bezos took two rockets up and successfully landed them. Now that we got that straight, Musk, on the other hand took two rockets up and did not successfully land either of them. Read about it yourself. http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/...the-first-to-actually-reuse-a-reusable-rocket

 

[oldikes]

Bezos took two rockets up and successfully landed them. Now that we got that straight, Musk, on the other hand took two rockets up and did not successfully land either of them. Read about it yourself. http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/...the-first-to-actually-reuse-a-reusable-rocket

Musk has actually landed a rocket, first of all. Second of all, heres an article that contains actual information. (Not even close to a consistently reliable source, but plenty enough so in the case of this article.) http://www.theverge.com/2015/11/24/9793220/blue-origin-vs-spacex-rocket-landing-jeff-bezos-elon-musk

 

[captaincranky]

OK kidz, here's the stone cold facts. According to the "Detroit News": http://www.detroitnews.com/story/bu...14/gm-record-sales-chevy-sales-fall/21767247/ GM sold 9.92 Million vehicles in 2014.

The last I heard, Tesla sold 50 Thousand last year.

So why then, don't we hear bulls**t paralleling this, "Musk is a hero for cancelling an order", coming out of the GM front office?

My guess is that Elon Musk doesn't matter, despite his legendary protestations to the contrary.

 

[Darth Shiv]

Do you guy's realize that Alsop was complaining about an event that wasn't planned properly?
He didn't write anything bad about the product,all he wanted was an apology from Musk
when Musk stood up 2 hours late to start the event.

He said in his 'open letter' that all the people invited were Tesla customers.
Now considering that most if not all of Tesla's cars are over $80k you would think that he should
at least apologies about the event been 2 hours late.

Was an open letter necessary?

 

[captaincranky]

Was an open letter necessary?

Well, Musk still hasn't apologized, or has he?

"Necessary" is a tough call. Would other CEO's have weathered it in better form? Some yes, perhaps, others no.,

Still, if one egomaniac expects to keep the peace with other trend setting egomaniacs buying his $80,000 cars, he should be better prepared to handle some squawk back.

I obviously wasn't at this event and therefore can't say. Instead I'll offer this, if Musk showed up 2 hours late, he should have offered at least a perfunctory excuse and apology.

If that didn't happen, Musk is dead wrong. If it did, this guy should STFU

 

[GeforcerFX]

If this was one in a long list of people complaining about the event, then maybe the guy had some justification for not being happy. If he's the lone wolf on the situation than that's just him whining. Others may have been having a lot of fun and because everyone was enjoying themselves the event started later than expected (this has happened at events I have been at). He wanted a reaction directly from Musk, he got one, maybe if he had approached it differently or maybe in a more private/professional manner it would have been beneficial for both parties.

I agree with what others have said I refuse to work/ help people that are trouble before I really begin, it happens rarely so business isn't hurt financially and it helps in the big picture because I didn't waste 4 x the time on that one customer trying to deal with them and was able to help other people who decided to wake up that day and act like a professional/adult.

 

[cliffordcooley]

There had to of been more offenses for Musk to close the door so abruptly. This had to of been the final straw. I don't see Musk taking such actions on one offense alone. If this is how Musk is on one offense, I wouldn't want to enter a contract with him at all. Everyone can have a bad day. I realize that doesn't excuse them, but it may not indicate how they are any other time.

 

[BMfan]

Was an open letter necessary?

Yes,he wrote on a blog that has maybe a few thousand users,Musk use's tweeter with many many twits.

Here in South Africa they write open letters in the newspaper for our so called president.
This was Musk's tweet "Must be a slow news day if denying service to a super rude customer gets this much attention"

I read that open letter and he was against the event that didn't run properly,there were no swear words,the only
thing that could be considered rude was when he moaned about the safety lecture that Musk gave, but even someone else commented on the same thing.

Musk is great in getting in the news for advertisements,he used Top Gear and Apple in the past to help his cause.
Defending Musk here is like saying Apple is the best company in the world,Alsop goes on about how the event was poorly planned
and only asked for an apology for a badly run event,he actually ends the blog about how he really wants the model X because he thinks it is
great,especially with the stupid doors.

It seems like musk doesn't want any bad press,whether it be on his cars or events,the people that commented on Alsop's blog are probably also going to have their cars taken away from them.

 

[Ira Wechsler]

His open-letter was not critical, it was an attack. This arse-wipe got what he wanted.

The trials of the rich and famous! I have no sympathy for either of these arrogant billionaire a-holes. Alsop must be related to the Alsop brothers who were well known as political journalists years ago. I care about the tens of millions of underpaid and underemployed workers who struggle to survive every day. These clowns are typical of the capitalist class, the living dinosaurs of history. The next generation will eradicate commodity capitalism from the face of the globe and construct an egalitarian communist world. It is inevitable as majority of those who toil around the globe are tired and angry about the dicttatorship of the capitalist class that affects every aspect of our lives.

 

[Someone8MyPosts]

It's called reserving the right to deny service to any customer. I've worked in far "lower class" restaurants and places whereby very rude customers were told to never come back. There's a line customers should not cross. Sure, the event sounds like it wasn't up to par, but then I wasn't there, nor should you expect to get online and blurb about it, if you don't expect some kind of equally dramatic response.

Here's my take...if you didn't like the service you got, then don't buy the product. The way I see it, you were done a favor by not having to actually pay for a product/service you clearly don't really want. If you think the service was that bad in the first place, then now you're free and clear to purchase something/somewhere else.

 

[Someone8MyPosts]

"The Customer Is Always Right". The American industrial complex was built on this moto and any businessman worth his salt knows that you cannot satisfy everyone, every time, yet you must endeavor to take such critical comments in stride and continue to try to improve. Obviously there are people that are more critical than others, but if the man got his facts right, Mr. Musk owes him an apology. One thing is evident; if Mr. Musk is the face of electric cars in this country, they simply will not last because the American consumer will not tolerate or support such conduct in the market place.

Like we do with the banking industry and how much it's screwed us over the years...somehow I don't believe this anymore.

 

[Someone8MyPosts]

I can't imagine working for Musk. He sounds like a spoiled brat.

I say BRAVO to Musk for protecting his brand from someone who seems to be overcompensating by complaining so much. They spend millions creating a brand and this a$$jack is complaining about lack of food and timing. Come on, we have become a world of COMPLAINERS about everything.

Musk's time is not the only time that is valuable. Waiting two hours would piss of most people especially when you have $80K in your back pocket that you are willing to plunk down. If Musk does not like complainers, then maybe he is in the wrong business.

...and, yet, valid points or not, there are better ways to handle this. Clearly posting to a worldwide audience wasn't the best first option.

 

[Someone8MyPosts]

"Perhaps, however, Bezos is having better success at reusable rockets right now."

Bezos took a single rocket, launched it a short ways (relatively) up into the air, and brought it straight back down. Thats pointless and if spaceX wanted to they could have done that years ago (they did, at shorter distances). Trying to land and ruse a rocket after orbit and with crazy amounts of lateral velocity is incredibly more difficult and actually useful.

The subject of reusable boosters has been around since the beginning of the space age. If you designed a Saturn 5 booster with with sufficient fuel on board to return it to earth safely, it would never have had enough power to put the Apollo missions into orbit.

This is something Musk has never taken into account in all his self promotions.

This clown didn't invent rocket fuels, and the extra cost & pollution he's blowing around with "landing practice", likely offsets the "ecological good" he claim he's doing saving materials.

Hey now...my butt is a reusable booster, blows around pollution all the time, and does a lot of ecological good (natural gas production, saves materials). So...I know it's possible.

 

[Someone8MyPosts]

There had to of been more offenses for Musk to close the door so abruptly. This had to of been the final straw. I don't see Musk taking such actions on one offense alone. If this is how Musk is on one offense, I wouldn't want to enter a contract with him at all. Everyone can have a bad day. I realize that doesn't excuse them, but it may not indicate how they are any other time.

Hmm...then maybe Musk was having a bad day, so you should excuse his actions.

 

[Someone8MyPosts]

Check this out...previous post by Alsop...doesn't seem all that different to me:

https://medium.com/@salsop/I-just-stopped-following-you-1ae081909154#.otwbppdzx

 

[cliffordcooley]

Here is some irony. If Musk had of treated the event the way he delivered the cancellation, this would not be an issue. On time and with great passion.

 

[Nilbud]

"The Customer Is Always Right". The American industrial complex was built on this moto and any businessman worth his salt knows that you cannot satisfy everyone, every time, yet you must endeavor to take such critical comments in stride and continue to try to improve. Obviously there are people that are more critical than others, but if the man got his facts right, Mr. Musk owes him an apology. One thing is evident; if Mr. Musk is the face of electric cars in this country, they simply will not last because the American consumer will not tolerate or support such conduct in the market place.

It's always funny when someone regurgitates nonsense. Servility is for underclasses.