The policy was intended as a display of confidence in the quality of its
cars. Recent quality control issues might be to blame for the change.
Tesla has stopped offering its "no questions asked" 7-day return policy. CEO
Elon Musk had touted the unique guarantee as a show of confidence in the
quality of his company's products, but the change in policy comes at a time
when the automaker is dealing with mounting complaints about the quality of
some of its recent cars. The move does the exact opposite of instilling
confidence.
The company's policy previously stated the following:
“Owning a Tesla vehicle means you are driving one of the most advanced, best
performing and safest vehicles available. We are confident that you will
feel great about your new vehicle, and so are giving you time to experience
and enjoy your new Tesla. Subject to the terms and conditions of this
policy, if you are unhappy with your vehicle, you may return it to us within
seven (7) calendar days.”
There was always the caveat that the car must be returned with no damage and
less than 1,000 miles on the odometer to get a full refund, so it wasn't
exactly possible to do a coast-to-coast Cannonball Run with one of the cars
anyway, if that's an idea you ever had.
According to Electrek, there isn't a new stated policy to replace the
7-day offer, and dissatisfied buyers will be referred to Tesla's service
department if they want to return a vehicle. Tesla knows what it's selling,
so why does it feel the need to walk back its generosity and bravado now?
Where's the confidence? Tesla has been running into a lot of quality-control
issues with the new Model Y, including problems with the exterior paint and
misaligned doors, not to mention the incident when the sunroof flew off one
owner's car while he was driving down a highway. It's possible that the
company hopes it can dissuade nervous customers from returning their vehicles
for a refund when they have to actually speak to an employee.
The 7-day return policy was appreciated by customers exactly because of those
issues, it can take multiple days of driving to actually identify problems
like leaking windows. The company often identifies issues in its first cars to
roll off the line and then fixes its manufacturing process to remedy them in
later vehicles.
Tesla is obliged to fix faulty cars, but it's notoriously slow at completing
such repairs and doesn't authorize third-party shops to fix its vehicles.
Owners have reported waiting months or even up to a year for Tesla to complete
requested repairs.
By offering a generous policy, customers were more
willing to forgive Tesla for any issues. The company is lucky that other
automakers have been so far behind in electric, but it can't afford to
continue this way as they start to catch up.
Credit:
inputmag.com
Also: Tesla previously offered a two- to four-year warranty on used Model S and X vehicles, but now only offers a warranty of one year or 10,000 miles over the original policy.
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