Tesla (TSLA) pays $6 million to settle Solar Roof class action lawsuit

[97prizm]

Looks like Tesla solar roof customers are getting a refund. I still can't believe that Tesla thought it was ok to come back with additional charges after an agreed price was signed. According to the court filings, one customer signed a contract to pay $72,000 for a Solar Roof installation, only to have the price jacked up to $146,000 afterwards. The court approximates that 8,636 Tesla customers were impacted by the Solar Roof price hike. Of those, roughly 6,300 customers canceled their orders after the price hike.
It seems like more and more what a terrible company to do business with. " CEO Elon Musk first promoted the system in 2016 as an architecturally appealing roofing product that would generate energy and look just as good as the shingles on a home without solar panels. The glassy, solar roof tile he held up at a presentation for shareholders, while touting Tesla's then-planned acquisition of SolarCity, was later revealed to be a prop and not a working prototype.

 

[demarpaint]

Looks like Tesla solar roof customers are getting a refund. I still can't believe that Tesla thought it was ok to come back with additional charges after an agreed price was signed. According to the court filings, one customer signed a contract to pay $72,000 for a Solar Roof installation, only to have the price jacked up to $146,000 afterwards. The court approximates that 8,636 Tesla customers were impacted by the Solar Roof price hike. Of those, roughly 6,300 customers canceled their orders after the price hike.
It seems like more and more what a terrible company to do business with. " CEO Elon Musk first promoted the system in 2016 as an architecturally appealing roofing product that would generate energy and look just as good as the shingles on a home without solar panels. The glassy, solar roof tile he held up at a presentation for shareholders, while touting Tesla's then-planned acquisition of SolarCity, was later revealed to be a prop and not a working prototype.

IBTL.

 

[Trav]

Waiting for the brand ambassadors spin, it should be good. LOL

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Looks like Tesla solar roof customers are getting a refund. I still can't believe that Tesla thought it was ok to come back with additional charges after an agreed price was signed. According to the court filings, one customer signed a contract to pay $72,000 for a Solar Roof installation, only to have the price jacked up to $146,000 afterwards. The court approximates that 8,636 Tesla customers were impacted by the Solar Roof price hike. Of those, roughly 6,300 customers canceled their orders after the price hike.
It seems like more and more what a terrible company to do business with. " CEO Elon Musk first promoted the system in 2016 as an architecturally appealing roofing product that would generate energy and look just as good as the shingles on a home without solar panels. The glassy, solar roof tile he held up at a presentation for shareholders, while touting Tesla's then-planned acquisition of SolarCity, was later revealed to be a prop and not a working prototype.

The devil is in the details which your post sadly does not provide. My WAG is that there was a clause in the contract which ran afoul of some obscure consumer protection law.

 

[alarmguy]

Tesla Settles Class Action Solar Roof Lawsuit for $6 Million

Tesla Inc. agreed Tuesday to pay $6 million to settle a lawsuit over its energy division's solar roof.

www.investopedia.com

It’s good for the affected people but have to be honest in fairness this stuff happens in business. Musk admitted in 2021 board meeting the company made a mistake using a general formula to calculate installation costs and did not take into account more complicated roof structures.
They did give full refunds to people who canceled installations.

Of course now the question to be asked would be why for such an “upstanding” well regarded company did people who paid the inflated cost have to file a lawsuit and wait years for restitution.
I mean 6 million dollars is nothing to the company and everything to the people who purchased the product at an inflated price.
Tesla could have stepped up to the plate and made things right much sooner to these people

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Tesla Settles Class Action Solar Roof Lawsuit for $6 Million

Tesla Inc. agreed Tuesday to pay $6 million to settle a lawsuit over its energy division's solar roof.

www.investopedia.com

It’s good for the affected people but have to be honest in fairness this stuff happens in business. Musk admitted in 2021 board meeting the company made a mistake using a general formula to calculate installation costs and did not take into account more complicated roof structures.
They did give full refunds to people who canceled installations.

Of course now the question to be asked would be why for such an “upstanding” well regarded company did people who paid the inflated cost have to file a lawsuit and wait years for restitution.
I mean 6 million dollars is nothing to the company and everything to the people who purchased the product at an inflated price.
Tesla could have stepped up to the plate and made things right much sooner to these people

$6M / 1,656 customers who had the roof installed. = $3,623 per customer OR $2,200 after attorney fees. The case was filed in San Francisco. Cheaper to settle and pay off another "starving attorney" rather than go to trial. The news story is a big nothing burger especially within the realm of residential construction SNAFU.

 

[MrHorspwer]

A company that pulls in revenues of $81,000,000,000 has to pay $6,000,000 to settle?

That'll surely dissuade them from doing this again!

 

[demarpaint]

Tesla Settles Class Action Solar Roof Lawsuit for $6 Million

Tesla Inc. agreed Tuesday to pay $6 million to settle a lawsuit over its energy division's solar roof.

www.investopedia.com

It’s good for the affected people but have to be honest in fairness this stuff happens in business. Musk admitted in 2021 board meeting the company made a mistake using a general formula to calculate installation costs and did not take into account more complicated roof structures.
They did give full refunds to people who canceled installations.

Of course now the question to be asked would be why for such an “upstanding” well regarded company did people who paid the inflated cost have to file a lawsuit and wait years for restitution.
I mean 6 million dollars is nothing to the company and everything to the people who purchased the product at an inflated price.
Tesla could have stepped up to the plate and made things right much sooner to these people

Businesses do that from time to time. They wont' make good until forced to make good. That could be what we're seeing here. A nice hefty fine would have been nice too, but............

 

[Trav]

Hit Musk right in the wallet and hard. I wonder how people feel about their USA made solar panels supposedly made in Buffalo, NY are really made by some company in China.

Does Tesla make solar glass roof tile in its Buffalo, New York factory? Or in China?

Elon Musk has spoken of the "exponential" ramp-up of its solar glass tile at the Buffalo factory. But pv magazine has found indications that the solar tile product is coming from a Chinese source.

pv-magazine-usa.com

Tesla Giga Austin reportedly using solar panels from China's Longi

Longi is the world's largest photovoltaic company by market capitalization, and it actually has some competition with Tesla in its field.

cnevpost.com

 

[alarmguy]

$6M / 1,656 customers who had the roof installed. = $3,623 per customer OR $2,200 after attorney fees. The case was filed in San Francisco. Cheaper to settle and pay off another "starving attorney" rather than go to trial. The news story is a big nothing burger especially within the realm of residential construction SNAFU.

It's big to the people who felt cheated so it is not a nothing burger. The consumers got the satisfaction of a settlement.

 

[demarpaint]

Its big to the people who felt cheated so it is not a nothing burger

Big for the attorneys too. That's why I like a nice hefty fine on top of the settlement, the attorneys don't get a piece of that pie, and it drives the message home a bit more.

 

[alarmguy]

A company that pulls in revenues of $81,000,000,000 has to pay $6,000,000 to settle?

That'll surely dissuade them from doing this again!

Yeah as I posted 6 million is nothing to them but it is to the people who were cheated.
But let's take it one step further. Companies do not like negative media of wrong doing, many times why they settle before a trial, they do not want the publicity.
So looked at another way, it was almost like a 6 million dollar ad campaign that put Tesla in a negative light and companies spend 10s of millions trying to do the opposite

 

[alarmguy]

Big for the attorneys too. That's why I like a nice hefty fine on top of the settlement, the attorneys don't get a piece of that pie, and it drives the message home a bit more.

I get it but at the same time read what I just wrote above ^^

 

[demarpaint]

I get it but at the same time read what I just wrote above ^^

We were probably posting at the same time. I agree, but I still like to see a good fine in this case.

 

[4WD]

Big for the attorneys too. That's why I like a nice hefty fine on top of the settlement, the attorneys don't get a piece of that pie, and it drives the message home a bit more.

We had a family member stationed at Camp LJ …
what if one of us gets sick … ?
Not verbatim - but the context of a law firm ad on the radio …

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

It's big to the people who felt cheated so it is not a nothing burger. The consumers got the satisfaction of a settlement.

Feeling cheated is not the same as being cheated. Like I said, the attorney probably got Tesla on a technicality in California law and Tesla figured the juice wasn't worth the squeeze to fight it.

Remember the issue isn't over defective product but higher than expected installation costs. Like Tesla is to blame because the homeowner has rotting roof decking hidden underneath two layers of shingles.

 

[alarmguy]

All I can say is thank god for attorneys. Corporations would walk all over you without them. Its the one vehicle a simple person has to go up against a well funded unjust circumstance. (shallow to think otherwise)

 

[demarpaint]

We had a family member stationed at Camp LJ … what if one of us gets sick … ?
Not verbatim - but the context of a law firm ad on the radio …

A bit OT but: Lawyers are in business to make money, Asbestos, 9-11, you name it. My bet is they stay up late at night looking for the next lawsuit. Having said that these companies/entities need to be punished, especially when they know, or suspect their products or locations in your example can cause harm.

 

[alarmguy]

Feeling cheated is not the same as being cheated. Like I said, the attorney probably got Tesla on a technicality in California law and Tesla figured the juice wasn't worth the squeeze to fight it.

Speculation void of any fact or substance
(are you the one that hates real estate agents too?)

 

[4WD]

A bit OT but: Lawyers are in business to make money, Asbestos, 9-11, you name it. My bet is they stay up late at night looking for the next lawsuit. Having said that these companies/entities need to be punished, especially when they know, or suspect their products or locations in your example can cause harm.

Yeah … but second hand cancer passed on from folks in their 80’s is an all time low …