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Apri.17 (NBD) -- Another group of Chinese customers expressed complaints on Tesla China after the Autopilot hardware dispute in early March.

After the release of long-range Model 3 in China on April 10, a group of standard range Model 3 buyers felt they had been misled by salespersons who rushed them to pick up their cars ten days earlier.

A customer surnamed Mi in Hangzhou was one of around 600 people across China who missed the chance to opt for the new version. Mi said he was expecting his standard range Model 3 to be delivered by the end of April, but was told that he must pick up the car on March 31. Mi did not think too much at the time until the new version was released ten days later.

The salesperson didn't tell me anything about the new version, said Mi.

Another consumer surnamed Xu in Tianjin had similar experience. She posted a chat history with a Tesla salesperson who said no new version will be released in April, and there will be no cars left if her order was not delivered immediately.

It is noticed that the new version, which has an extra range of 224 km and better specifications, is 40,000 yuan pricier than the standard range one. However, considering the zero-interest installment policies Tesla announced for the new version on the day of release, the two versions cost pretty much the same.

According to Tesla China's policy, customers can return their cars within 7 calendar days with no conditions attached. What options do customers like Mi and Xu have when their dates had expired? 

If salespersons intentionally hid release information about the new version, which led customers to wrong decisions, buyers are entitled to ask for three times of the price as compensation from Tesla, a lawyer told Red Star News.

"I didn't know the release date of the long-range version beforehand, either," explained salesperson Gao Haixiang who is working in the 4S shop where Mi bought his car, adding Tesla is updating too fast and even a salesperson cannot predict when it will release a new version.

Tesla's PR team in its China headquarter Shanghai cannot be reached for response as of press time. General manager of a Tesla 4S shop in Shanghai said he has never received order from the headqurter to clear inventory in March when reached by Red Star News. 

According to Mi, many customers are negotiating or have negotiated with Tesla salespersons. Currently, some customers are determined to file a lawsuit against Tesla. They plan to initiate right-protecting activities in Shanghai around May 1.

Email: limenglin@nbd.com.cn