Doctors are learning how to navigate the online space. The old paternalistic model is giving way to a more patient-centric model. Old habits die hard. But many doctors ARE thriving in this new environment.
Still, many businesses feel that the customer is in the driver’s seat and they have little control over their online reputation.
Tesla just flipped that trend on its head.
A little background.
Stewart Alsop is a venture capitalist. He drives a BMW X1. He was not happy with his car. He wrote a blog post called “My Car Makes Me Feel Stoopid.”
In any event, he felt it was time for a change. He ordered a Tesla Model X and sent a $5,000 deposit. What’s not to like? It’s a great car.
He was invited to some type of Tesla event. Apparently the event started late (8:50 PM instead of 7:00 PM). Mr. Alsop stuck around until about 9:00 PM and left. He then wrote a post calling Elon Musk to task for starting a customer-centric event so late: ”Dear @ElonMusk: You should be ashamed of yourself.”
It’s not clear what events happened next in the timeline. Elon Musk reached out to Alsop by phone. Alsop wrote in a follow-up post, Banned by Tesla, that Musk believed the attack was personal. Apparently, Tesla cancelled Alsop’s order.
Alsop wrote:
In this case, I was actually just a customer who felt he had been ignored at an event designed for customers and ripped off the odd post about that event. You are the CEO of the company and were the lead presenter at and MC of that event. So I addressed the post to you, based on feeling that I had been invited as a customer to see the car I had ordered (sight unseen, I might mention) and left two hours after arriving (and 3.5 hours after leaving) without having actually seen the car!
You mentioned that you believed that the event only started 30 minutes late at 8:45pm (even though the invitation insisted that everybody be at the venue by 7:30pm sharp). I hear that you feel the event was a success and that you were able to hang out with people admiring and discussing the Model X until midnight. I suppose you think that I left too early at 9:00pm and should have stuck around longer if I really wanted to see the car.
So, there you have it. Alsop will not be getting the Tesla he ordered from the company. And, it’s not clear he will eventually be allowed to be a passenger on the SpaceX Dragon when such tours are open to the public.
I’ll be interested in seeing what car Alsop eventually does purchase.
- 6Shares
6
I would hope that Mr. Alsop will think twice before “ripping off the odd post” again. Too bad we can’t just put this out for everyone to see. It’s a very good reminder that (gee!) sometimes there are actually consequences to our actions, no matter how wealthy or self-important we may be.
That post was a blessing for Alsop – it may have saved his life. The Lithium ion battery in the Tesla X is roughly 1000 times the size of those temperamental ones in the Hoverboards.
In what specific manner should this tesla example show physicians to use the same kind of approach towards false negative online reviews??
Ms. Mandal, when healthcare professionals are involved, “opportunities” for “comeuppance” do not exist. Healthcare professionals are not allowed to be “human.” The system is set-up to require absolute perfection. No deviation from that standard is permitted. However, the example above does tend to remind us that not everyone is held to that standard, and that applies to both the sender of the email and the person who refused sale of the car after receiving the “offensive” email. You might classify both as “jousting alpha males.” This is a case when both parties could derive benefit by listening to Judith Martin,… Read more »
My clinic is a referral center to fit Scleral lenses for patients that have vision that cannot be corrected in glasses or standard contact lenses. We had a very rude patent call our office and we decided it was best not to see her as a patient because of her behavior towards my receptionist and even myself when I fielded her call. She kept saying to me, “Do YOU have keratoconus! Do YOU have keratoconus?!” I told her I did not, but do help patients with this condition on a daily basis. A doctor-patient relationship is built on trust, without… Read more »
Unfortunately, the internet isn’t a place to believe ratings of people, places or things. The opposition has realized that they can get their employees, friends and family to “rate” everything from appliances to physicians without ever experiencing an actual event. I treat those ratings like a figure skating event…. throw out the top ratings (could be friends gushing) and the lowest ratings (disgruntled employees, competition etc) and just read the constructive ratings. In the case of Mr Musk and Mr Alsop, it is a case of chest puffing. Neither won although both THINKS they won. I don’t respect either for… Read more »
Jay Nichols, I couldn’t agree with you more. When I look at “one” star ratings, I mostly find that they are bereft of data or information about their complaint. Most often their complaint is a “one issue” rant. Now that issue might be important, so I look to see if any attempt was made to resolve it by the vendor. Sometimes the vendor does make a statement about it, combined with a kind of “apology.” I usually find that this “one issue” was dealt with by other posters and that there is only a misunderstanding of the uses of the… Read more »
If the facts are as presented, I don’t see what Alsop did wrong. He called Musk to task for making his audience wait. He didn’t slam the car, he spoke no untruth. He voiced his annoyance. As a venture capitalist, he’s the kind of guy Musk doubtless dealt with on the way up. It’s rude to be stood up. It’s happened to me, and (barring unforeseen circumstances) it shouldn’t happen. If Musk was unavoidably delayed he might have called ahead–perhaps he did, and that would cast this in a different light. But it’s altogether likely Musk is just an arrogant… Read more »
It is all about excellent patient service or in this case customer service. I am glad this customer left an online post and I wish others did as well regarding the poorly executed event. If I left a patient in the reception room for 1.5 hours I would be out of business. I can guarantee Maserati runs on time. Where was Musk spaced out?