NBC News reports:
[Tesla 3 owner Alexandre] Ponsin contacted Tesla and booked a service appointment in California. He later received two text messages, telling him that “remote diagnostics” had determined his battery was fine, and then: “We would like to cancel your visit.”
What Ponsin didn’t know was that Tesla employees had been instructed to thwart any customers complaining about poor driving range from bringing their vehicles in for service. Last summer, the company quietly created a “Diversion Team” in Las Vegas to cancel as many range-related appointments as possible.
The Austin, Texas-based electric carmaker deployed the team because its service centers were inundated with appointments from owners who had expected better performance based on the company’s advertised estimates and the projections displayed by the in-dash range meters of the cars themselves, according to several people familiar with the matter.
Misleading customers? Isn’t that fraud?
My MiniCooper SE may only show a 120 mile range in summer, but at least I feel like I can trust it. Now I wonder what other topics involve Tesla falsehoods.
And then I think about the huge scandal when behemoth car maker VW, an established business with a long history, was caught cheating on emissions tests.
Maybe I shouldn’t be so complacent about BMW-owned Mini.
