5 ms·

Yikes. They should give him a better car at the agreed upon price.

by et2o 11y ago

noir_lord 11y ago
If they have any customer service savvy they'll get ahead of this, public statement apologising and a much better car at the original price. It's easily fixed if they just get ahead of it and then figure out what the hell went wrong and how to prevent it in future. It's like that thing about Doctors getting sued less if they just apologise for screwups, shit happens and most people are understanding if you are honest about it - mealy mouthed platitudes from the "Big Book of Covering Screwups" however annoy people.
- Laaw 11y ago
  Exactly, I don't think anyone's looking for much beyond a, "Whoa, that was a blunder on our part, let's make this right" from Tesla. Relatively easy fix from a PR perspective, but based on this account of their internal process, I wouldn't be surprised if this gets missed too. They're obviously very good at engineering, which is kind of a classic mistake to then not bother trying to be good at the other stuff, too.
  - dragontamer 11y ago
    > They're obviously very good at engineering Everyone's very good at low volume. I'd say wait for the mass-production model (ie: Model 3) before we judge their engineering skills.
- mkaziz 11y ago
  My car insurance tells me to never apologize even if it is my fault because that can be equated with admission of guilt. I imagine Doctors are told the same in regard to malpractice suits.
  - s0rce 11y ago
    In Ontario and apology is not an admission of guilt: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/09a03 https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/09a03 Seems like a good idea.
    - acveilleux 11y ago
      As a fellow canadian, given how often we apologize when it's clearly not our fault, this only makes sense.
  - Joof 11y ago
    This is a fault in US law if I heard properly. Its also horribly misaligned with getting appropriate results both financially and socially.
    - URSpider94 11y ago
      Probably, and yes. In the US, you can tell when a business has well and truly screwed you when you hear, "I'm sorry, all further communications will have to be through our attorney."
  - riahi 11y ago
    This is true. We are told not to apologize. Institutions sometimes have funds to compensate patients with errors, but they don't typically admit fault per se. In our current legal setting, admission of fault means uncapped potential for damages hat can ruin anyone's ability to ever practice again.
  - kbenson 11y ago
    Part of the problem seems to be that some people (me included), use "Sorry" to sometimes mean "I'm sorry for what has happening to you", not "I'm sorry I caused this problem", but it can be construed as the latter in court. Using this ambiguous construct when, at some point, someone is going to look to see if there's a way to assign blame, is not wise. If the purpose is to express sympathy, there are less ambiguous ways to do so. ("This/that sucks.", "I feel for you", etc.)
  - mikeash 11y ago
    That's because you might think you're at fault, but actually not be. Or you might truly be at fault, but in a way that can't be proven. And there might be a huge amount of money at stake, if someone is injured and requires extensive medical treatment. None of that applies here. Tesla is clearly at fault, actual damages are basically zero (the guy got his money back, at least), and making it right will be pretty cheap, if Tesla actually decides to do so.
    - mkaziz 11y ago
      I don't disagree with you; my response was to parent's comment about doctors who apologize.
      - mikeash 11y ago
        I see, I didn't quite connect the dots there. Well, if anybody cares about why I think insurance companies might say that, there it is....
    - mkaziz 11y ago
      I don't disagree with you; my response was to parent's comment about doctors who apologize.
  - hamburglar 11y ago
    I've had a claims agent directly tell me that this absolutist advice is a myth, especially if it's truly obvious that you're at fault. This is because apologizing can reduce the likelihood that the other party sues, which means that if you're probably going to lose, it can actually help.

Yikes. They should give him a better car at the agreed upon price.

by et2o 11y ago

Yikes. They should give him a better car at the agreed upon price.

If they have any customer service savvy they'll get ahead of this, public statement apologising and a much better car at the original price. It's easily fixed if they just get ahead of it and then figure out what the hell went wrong and how to prevent it in future. It's like that thing about Doctors getting sued less if they just apologise for screwups, shit happens and most people are understanding if you are honest about it - mealy mouthed platitudes from the "Big Book of Covering Screwups" however annoy people.

Laaw 11y ago
Exactly, I don't think anyone's looking for much beyond a, "Whoa, that was a blunder on our part, let's make this right" from Tesla. Relatively easy fix from a PR perspective, but based on this account of their internal process, I wouldn't be surprised if this gets missed too. They're obviously very good at engineering, which is kind of a classic mistake to then not bother trying to be good at the other stuff, too.
- dragontamer 11y ago
  > They're obviously very good at engineering Everyone's very good at low volume. I'd say wait for the mass-production model (ie: Model 3) before we judge their engineering skills.
mkaziz 11y ago
My car insurance tells me to never apologize even if it is my fault because that can be equated with admission of guilt. I imagine Doctors are told the same in regard to malpractice suits.
- s0rce 11y ago
  In Ontario and apology is not an admission of guilt: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/09a03 https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/09a03 Seems like a good idea.
  - acveilleux 11y ago
    As a fellow canadian, given how often we apologize when it's clearly not our fault, this only makes sense.
- Joof 11y ago
  This is a fault in US law if I heard properly. Its also horribly misaligned with getting appropriate results both financially and socially.
  - URSpider94 11y ago
    Probably, and yes. In the US, you can tell when a business has well and truly screwed you when you hear, "I'm sorry, all further communications will have to be through our attorney."
- riahi 11y ago
  This is true. We are told not to apologize. Institutions sometimes have funds to compensate patients with errors, but they don't typically admit fault per se. In our current legal setting, admission of fault means uncapped potential for damages hat can ruin anyone's ability to ever practice again.
- kbenson 11y ago
  Part of the problem seems to be that some people (me included), use "Sorry" to sometimes mean "I'm sorry for what has happening to you", not "I'm sorry I caused this problem", but it can be construed as the latter in court. Using this ambiguous construct when, at some point, someone is going to look to see if there's a way to assign blame, is not wise. If the purpose is to express sympathy, there are less ambiguous ways to do so. ("This/that sucks.", "I feel for you", etc.)
- mikeash 11y ago
  That's because you might think you're at fault, but actually not be. Or you might truly be at fault, but in a way that can't be proven. And there might be a huge amount of money at stake, if someone is injured and requires extensive medical treatment. None of that applies here. Tesla is clearly at fault, actual damages are basically zero (the guy got his money back, at least), and making it right will be pretty cheap, if Tesla actually decides to do so.
  - mkaziz 11y ago
    I don't disagree with you; my response was to parent's comment about doctors who apologize.
    - mikeash 11y ago
      I see, I didn't quite connect the dots there. Well, if anybody cares about why I think insurance companies might say that, there it is....
  - mkaziz 11y ago
    I don't disagree with you; my response was to parent's comment about doctors who apologize.
- hamburglar 11y ago
  I've had a claims agent directly tell me that this absolutist advice is a myth, especially if it's truly obvious that you're at fault. This is because apologizing can reduce the likelihood that the other party sues, which means that if you're probably going to lose, it can actually help.