Elon Musk Cancels 'Super Rude' Customer's Model X Order
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has denied service to a customer for being “super rude.”
U.S. venture capitalist Stewart Alsop wrote a post claiming that Musk canceled his Model X pre-order following a phone conversation. It appears the phone conversation was in response to another post Alsop had written, where he complained about a delay in starting the Model X launch event and how the room was stuffed. In addition, Alsop didn’t get the chance to see the crossover and said that Musk presented an “amateur” slide show at the event with too much focus on safety. According to Alsop, he had put down a $5,000 deposit on a red Model X with black leather seats and the Ludicrous Speed option.
SEE ALSO: Owner Re-Selling Tesla Model X, Jacks Up Price by $80,000
Surprisingly, Musk’s rebuttal was a simple tweet, and his sentiment is understandable, since this isn’t the first time a luxury automaker has banned sales to certain customers. Automakers such as Ferrari and Lamborghini are known to be selective with who can purchase their vehicles and even the new Ford GT is having a selection process. Now, Tesla is no Ferrari or Lamborghini, but without ever hearing what happened during the phone conversation, we will likely never know the true story or just how “super rude” Alsop was on the phone to Musk.
You can read Alsop’s full post here.
Must be a slow news day if denying service to a super rude customer gets this much attention
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 3, 2016
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Jason Siu began his career in automotive journalism in 2003 with Modified Magazine, a property previously held by VerticalScope. As the West Coast Editor, he played a pivotal role while also extending his expertise to Modified Luxury & Exotics and Modified Mustangs. Beyond his editorial work, Jason authored two notable Cartech books. His tenure at AutoGuide.com saw him immersed in the daily news cycle, yet his passion for hands-on evaluation led him to focus on testing and product reviews, offering well-rounded recommendations to AutoGuide readers. Currently, as the Content Director for VerticalScope, Jason spearheads the content strategy for an array of online publications, a role that has him at the helm of ensuring quality and consistency across the board.
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News Flash Elon: You are in the public eye. Why should you can't control this making the news? PS. Elon Musk spoke too soon for saying it's a Slow News Day. Scion's death was announced today.
So...what...is Tesla just going to keep his deposit now? What if he'd blogged against Tesla after he took delivery? Deny a customer service? ...stop him using Superchargers? This is a wake up call to anyone who supports this cashed-up child with huge dreams and no business sense. Its only news because its utterly poisonous to a companies image if a CEO acts like this. Id say more likely they were having production issues yet again and one less car to make helps the already sagging bottom line. They say there's no such thing as bad publicity...in marketing college before the teacher slaps that garbage down fast and reminds the students "Sure, bravo for getting attention...but if everyone thinks you're an a**hole it wasn't worth it".