"We reserve the right to refuse service to anybody" is a sign you might often see posted at local businesses, but it's one that might not get used every day. It appears Tesla has exercised its ability to do exactly that, canceling a Model X reservation for one especially outspoken gentleman.
Stewart Alsop, a venture capitalist and former member of the press, attended a preview event for the Model X. After a long wait without seat time (or, as Alsop says, "real food during dinner time"), he left the event unhappy and penned a post on Medium expressing his distaste.
Evidently, that post caught Musk's attention, and after the two shared a phone call (according to Alsop), the future owner found himself with a canceled reservation. Alsop followed that with another Medium post, again calling the company out for a wide variety of things. It's a fair reason to be unhappy.
Musk, never one to shy away from doing things a bit, uh, differently, more or less confirmed pulling the carpet out from underneath Alsop and his desire to own one of Tesla's electric crossovers:
Must be a slow news day if denying service to a super rude customer gets this much attention
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 3, 2016
Typically, when a writer is displeased with the service at an automotive event, it just ends up on Jalopnik. This brouhaha is on another level, and while the company did nothing illegal, it's a unique move for an automaker trying to drum up support for a forthcoming new model.