No refund after returning the bus? Tesla Model X owners have waited for more than two years without getting a refund

Source: Sina Technology

Beijing time on the morning of April 11, according to reports, Danny Roman previously purchased a brand new Tesla Model X electric SUV, he "Xi ti new car" on February 28, 2020.

However, just three days after the new car arrived, he informed Tesla that he was going to return the car according to the seven-day unconditional refund policy promised by the company's CEO, Elon Musk at the time.

But now that more than two years have passed, Roman has not received a refund or regained the car. The total price of the car is about $116,000, which includes various optional and other expenses.

Records show that Tesla did take the Model X, which was returned by Roman, and the company loaded the electric SUV into a trailer on March 8, 2020, and he expects his refund to arrive quickly after completing the return. His bank advised him to ask Tesla to initiate a "termination of sale," he recalled, and then a Tesla sales representative told him his refund would be processed quickly.

But a few weeks later, while he was still communicating with Tesla about its returns, Roman received a service alert from Tesla telling him to pick up the electric SUV. The company explained that the car has been repaired and is at a service center in Burbank, California, though he originally bought the vehicle in Century City, about a 40-minute drive from the two places.

Roman told the media he was shocked by the service alert. He said he never asked or authorized Tesla to make any repairs to the vehicle, and that Tesla had previously accepted his request to return the vehicle. Roman showed the media a record of his communication with Tesla, which also confirmed his claim.

In the previous month, Roman had stopped the repayment process for the vehicle because the artificial return process had been successfully started. However, the bank told him that he had missed a repayment, so his credit rating was downgraded by 30 points. When he called to inquire about the matter, he was told that Tesla had not issued notice of the termination of the sale to the bank.

Roman, a small business owner who runs a business that provides cycling and hiking services in Southern California, said he must maintain a very high credit rating to run his business smoothly. So, given Tesla's stubborn stance on the Model X, he had no choice but to continue paying the bank and insuring the car, even though he had barely used the Model X and the vehicle was not in his own hands.

Roman wanted to avoid the situation where the vehicle was recovered by the bank, and he knew that if he did not continue to pay, there was a good chance that the financial institution would lower his credit score, which was the most unacceptable thing for him. In addition, he had to buy insurance for the car that was not with him every year to prevent damage when the vehicle was in Tesla's hands. Roman said helplessly: "If you stop paying the bank, this practice will ruin you!" ”

As a result, For the past two years, Roman has been paying the bank for installments, and the car is not under his control. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the customer's bizarre dilemma.

Reason for the return

Roman told the media that he chose to buy the Model X because he was a fan of Tesla, and he saw in the media that the Model X received a high safety score. In addition, he believes that by using pure electric vehicles as a means of transportation for his daily driving, he can contribute to environmental protection and minimize his impact on the environment.

At the time of the car purchase, Roman had just been promoted to a grandfather, so he was very concerned about the safety of the vehicle. In addition, as the owner of a sustainable outdoor adventure business, he feels that buying a pure electric car is a good way to emphasize environmental protection.

When marketed, Tesla claimed that the Model X's battery range could exceed 400 miles (643 kilometers), and such a long range was essential for him, so he often had to travel from Southern California to the San Francisco Bay Area, and often needed to lead the cycling team to various attractions along the way.

However, after his first trip on the Model X, the vehicle's performance mileage showed that the battery had been reduced by 15% less than half a mile from home. The actual endurance performance and the publicity are so different that Roman feels unexpected.

On his first day of buying a car, he tried to charge the vehicle through a fast charging pile, this time at a Tesla Supercharger station in Culver City. Roman said that the charging time is up to several hours, and the charging market is much longer than the sales representative promised, who previously promised to charge the battery to more than 80% in 45 minutes.

Roman showed the media a picture of the vehicle's display and charging status during that trip. Roman also revealed that what is even more difficult to accept is that before officially charging the vehicle, he also queued up for an hour at the charging station to get an idle charging pile. The sight of a large number of Teslas queuing up once again puzzled him. "It's Los Angeles, and it's like everybody has a Tesla," he said. Before Tesla moved its headquarters to Texas, California was home to the company's headquarters and their largest market in the United States.

Roman said that in addition to the battery problem, he has encountered other vehicle quality problems. When he tried to open one of the vehicle's eagle wing doors, he found that the door seemed to be glued. He also found that installing a charger in the apartment building where he lived cost 10 times more than Tesla sales representatives claimed. Sales representatives had previously promised him that he could install a charger in his home for about $700; Roman said the salesperson had made an offer for the price of a separate garage knowing he lived in an apartment building.

In the spring of 2019, Musk told his million followers on Twitter: "What I want to make clear is that orders are fully refundable, even if they have been purchasing a car for a week, they can still be refunded." If someone really wants to return the car on the 8th day after buying the car, if it is not a malicious return, then it is also possible. ”

After seeing Musk's statement, thinking of his poor car experience, Roman made a decision to return the car.

At one point, Tesla sent a message to Roman that the company tried to convince him that there was no seven-day unconditional return policy when he bought the car. But Tesla's return policy on its website lasted until October 2020, months after he bought and returned the Model X. The return policy is also mentioned in his sales contract. After three months of back-and-forth communication with the company, he was first told that his refund was coming, and then told he could take away the repaired vehicle, and a disappointed Roman decided to file a lawsuit against the company.

To his surprise, however, he was told that his case would be sent to an alternative dispute resolution procedure rather than proceeding in court. By the time he signed the papers to receive his Model X, Roman had effectively agreed to an arbitration clause.

Vulnerable consumers

Roman's woes about the Tesla Model X underscore the fragility of American consumers, who are rightfully pushed into arbitration agreements in order to buy services or goods.

Paul Bland, executive director of Consumer Justice, a consumer advocacy group, said forced arbitration is common in the process of new and used car transactions. He said that for all practical purposes, consumers receive almost no benefit in arbitration after agreeing to accept arbitration. For businesses, however, their motivation is to limit liability, and if they do something illegal, it will make it harder for consumers to win in individual cases, Brand also said: "It's a mysterious system, it's harder for consumers to discover what happened to people in previous related cases, and it also makes it harder for consumers to initiate class actions against businesses." ”

Roman said he would not have purchased the Model X and would not have agreed to arbitration if he had realized in advance that the company had not been honest with him in the car and return process. His arbitration is still ongoing.

At the same time, Roman had to lease another car to replace the Model X. He told the media that he rented a Toyota Prius hybrid.

"Every month, my money is sucked out of my account, and I can only take a breath of cool air every time," Roman said. In addition to the money, I have spent more than a hundred hours trying to solve this problem, and this incident has only caused me to worry. ”

In February, Tesla sent Romain a message telling him that the car, which he hadn't seen in more than two years, had been repaired and that he could go to a repair center to pick it up. Tesla still refuses to admit that they accepted Roman's request to return the car.

Confused, Roman emailed Tesla saying he would come and pick up the car. However, Tesla was reluctant to make an appointment for him to pick up the car. They asked him to contact the bank to arrange a pick-up, which in fact only made him waste more time.

Roman was angry and curious about what happened to the Model X over time, and he logged into Tesla's app to see if he could see where the car was. It turned out that the car he had purchased was parked in a scrap recycling station just 11 miles from his home.

Roman told the media: "After all this, I am still a big believer in Tesla, Musk and electric cars. I hope that my experience will be communicated to the top management of Tesla, and I hope that they will make the necessary changes so that their future customers will not encounter this situation again. ”