Polestar Forum banner

Update from Polestar re updates

12K views 76 replies 22 participants last post by  Jfd4000 
#1 ·
Received the following from Polestar this morning. Clarifying here is no phone key, OTA updates, pre-conditioning or App functions until next year:

Dear​
Thank you for supporting Polestar in this exciting start-up phase of our brand.

Some customers have asked for more information on feature updates. We’re sorry for our lack of clear communication on this topic. New technology presents new opportunities, and should enhance the user experience. If it doesn’t, it isn’t ready yet.

A few of our promised features are delayed: Digital Key, Over-The-Air update compatibility, in-car scheduling of preconditioning and the vehicle remote functions in the Polestar app. These need further development before they are entirely ready for you. Right now, we expect feature updates to be made available from the end of this year. As soon as these features are available, we will contact you with the details you need for your Polestar 2 to receive the relevant upgrade, which will happen at a Polestar authorised service point.

Many of you have shared your joy of driving the first Polestar 2 models in the world and we’re so happy you’re enjoying your driving experience. We recognise that some of the very first cars we’ve delivered are experiencing teething problems and it’s our top priority to address these matters and provide solutions as quickly as possible. Should you experience any difficulties or simply have questions, please reach out to Polestar support for guidance.

We want you to know that you count. We hear you and we want to improve through your experiences and feedback. Your satisfaction is our top priority.​
 
See less See more
#2 ·
If it releases bug free and it's easy to get the update, then OK.

If it's released and a complete buggy mess, takes ages to do the update at the service centre, and a pain in the a*** .... then it's a PR Nightmare for them.

IMHO they should have released now with bugs, as most people would be understanding. The one feature I don't get why it's missing is the OTA updates ... seems very strange to leave this out. I wounder if it's the google interface that the problem.
 
#10 ·
IMHO they should have released now with bugs, as most people would be understanding. The one feature I don't get why it's missing is the OTA updates ... seems very strange to leave this out. I wounder if it's the google interface that the problem.
With due respect to our difference of opinion on this (definitely hear you here!), I really prefer that what goes out the door is fully baked. It’s one of the reasons I’m not super keen on Tesla and chose this alternative. While it sucks to not have all the initially promised software ready at the same time as the rest of the vehicle, I think the right compromises are being made. The hardest decision a company can make is not to ship something that isn’t ready, especially if it can be patched later. It’s very tempting to check that box. But you pay for it in reputation. If these cars aren’t solid, Polestar has little chance in the marketplace. I appreciate the solution that allows customers to enjoy the (apparently excellently manufactured) car now without delaying the hardware, and improving the experience over time as features are truly ready for us. This is a design-led company, and that means they care about delivering something wonderful for us as opposed to just delivering something.
 
#5 ·
Feel like there's another call to Mike/Alane coming.....

If I were in your shoes, I'd plainly get them to say in writing that they would cover the costs of the services needed for anything that would fall within the warranty provisions and to enable OTA updates at the least, given how that's been advertised from the start.
 
  • Like
Reactions: toscal353
#12 · (Edited)
Yeah , i am so happy i sent a cancellation request.... it will take two weeks to confirm but all this seems to me like a pretty mess i do not want in my life right now. I just want a car that runs and i dont have to visit the service centre once a month. I am done with them. For me all this shows that Polestar, exactly like Tesla, is a 100% kick-starter company.
Good luck to you all.
 
#14 ·
Yeah, give more excuses to them. Next time you buy a fridge and it is not cooling down your food and you get salmonella or something from warm chicken just say, hey i bet they will fix this at a future update... EV fans will excuse pretty much anything these days. Sorry, i did not find the 60k i will pay for the car on the street, not i got it from a bank, or my dad. I had to work my ass of and i do not accept that any stunt-company will take it, promise me a product and deliver something completely else. At this moment i am considering contacting the state customer authorities to report Polestar for false advertising. They are still advertising OTA, keyless access from phone, phone app like it is activated and working just fine on their website and then spread mails like that laughing at your face cause now you paid already.... what a scam. Please, give me more excuses like bricked cars and crap.... please. Cause i havent upgraded 100.000 devices in my life and i do not know that the chance of bricking a hardware is 0,2% about the same that current cars are sitting on the streets bricked without the OTA upgrade.

Stop with the excuses please. It is enough. I heard them all at Tesla. I did not order a Polestar for the same mumbo jumbo. At this point i am thinking that everyone that finds excuses with this absurd situation is probably employed by Polestar to calm down people in forums like this so they do not make a lot of noise.

Please. Stop. It is ridiculous at this point.
 
#16 ·
Yeah, give more excuses to them. Next time you buy a fridge and it is not cooling down your food and you get salmonella or something from warm chicken just say, hey i bet they will fix this at a future update... EV fans will excuse pretty much anything these days. Sorry, i did not find the 60k i will pay for the car on the street, not i got it from a bank, or my dad. I had to work my ass of and i do not accept that any stunt-company will take it, promise me a product and deliver something completely else. At this moment i am considering contacting the state customer authorities to report Polestar for false advertising. They are still advertising OTA, keyless access from phone, phone app like it is activated and working just fine on their website and then spread mails like that laughing at your face cause now you paid already.... what a scam. Please, give me more excuses like bricked cars and crap.... please. Cause i havent upgraded 100.000 devices in my life and i do not know that the chance of bricking a hardware is 0,2% about the same that current cars are sitting on the streets bricked without the OTA upgrade.

Stop with the excuses please. It is enough. I heard them all at Tesla. I did not order a Polestar for the same mumbo jumbo. At this point i am thinking that everyone that finds excuses with this absurd situation is probably employed by Polestar to calm down people in forums like this so they do not make a lot of noise.

Please. Stop. It is ridiculous at this point.
OK, you’ve canceled your order and clearly feel entitled so some features that won’t be ready on Day 1. I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you and hope you find transportation that fits your needs. As someone who doesn’t plan to purchase and isn’t a brand enthusiast, is your intention to now hang around this forum and troll Polestar owners? Because it’s going to get tiresome, friend-o.
 
#19 ·
If I might reorient us a bit....

What are the biggest bugs or missing features at the moment?
As far as I can tell looking at the forums (ordered by my own priority) :
  • OTA updates
  • Charging % limits not consistently (maybe issue of specific chargers?)
  • App to help with preconditioning and coordinating charging
  • Phone as key
  • 12 V battery (solved?)
  • Headlight alignment (solved?)

Anything else?
For me phone-as-key is a somewhat minor thing, a nice-to-have not need-to-have.
And the app is definitely helpful and promised, but also a matter of convenience.
OTA I see as critical, especially for the folks >150 mi from service centers in the US. Polestar should guarantee covering service calls until reliable OTA updates are made available.

It does look like Polestar is responding more regularly on twitter at least. So hopefully the 'bug' of poor communication is also getting solved!
 
#23 ·
If I might reorient us a bit....

What are the biggest bugs or missing features at the moment?
As far as I can tell looking at the forums (ordered by my own priority) :
  • OTA updates
  • Charging % limits not consistently (maybe issue of specific chargers?)
  • App to help with preconditioning and coordinating charging
  • Phone as key
  • 12 V battery (solved?)
  • Headlight alignment (solved?)
Anything else?
4G connection keeps going offline at weird times. Signal strength seems ok, but offline when it should not be. Happens from time to time, unclear if it's a bug as of yet.

I tested the high beams in the dark with a meeting car. Seems like this fancy matrix thing doesn't work either, because the meeting car was not impressed.

Other than that your list seems fine
 
#21 ·
Hey wallaby, sign of the times. If people are gonna accept the crap coming from polestar support. And not hold back with their orders then polestar will keep pushing it out. I bought a non smart charger and switched to night electric, to save some dosh. Now I,ll be digging the missus every night at 24.00 to go out in the hailstorm to switch on the charger. Not good. I hate carrying keys, now I have to carry a extra phone sized item everywhere with that excuse for a key. I,m driving a piece of crap Peugeot 207, bought in July as a temp to keep me going and it's making me physically sick, as I was expecting my car in August as explained in website. Now it's at November. Even though I ordered 1st week of June. Polestar are bumping lots of folk ahead of me????.
People have to justify their 60k euros, and will not have a bad word said about them. How dare you. It's the Apple and Tesla syndrome.
 
#22 ·
Like Wallaby we bought our P2 out of our hard earned money, and like him I expect something to do what it says it will do, provide value for money, and make me feel i made the right decision.
Also like Wallaby i bought a Tesla M3 a year ago, and was so disappointed with the whole experience sold it after 5 months.
I am saddened that the reality of Polestar thus far mirrors exactly the fault and shortcomings I experienced with Tesla. For example on the S they had autopilot but it was months after the launch of the 3 for them to get something vaguely describable as Autopilot; the P1 has OTA and phone key (I believe) but it will be months until it arrives for the P2
Tesla had an in car manual and a downloadable manual. Both were actual helpful. The in car manual for the P2 is completely and utterly useless. It says nothing. and there is no downloadable version or paper copy.
Tesla wifi, satnav and spotify just worked with minimal setup. In the P2 wifi will not connect (what does it even do? nobody knows) apps will not load, and Spotify will not work at all. For both companies - need help? Not as chance.

So, i sympathise with Wallaby, and thus far the post sales experience with Polestar is extremely disappointing.
 
#24 ·
Personally this forum is useful to get info, both good and bad. Especially as I am having a real struggle getting any feedback on my car order from the manufacturer or leasing agent.
We've all heard of ----- fanboys. I love the look of the Polestar 2, got sold on the quality & design. I ordered one. But I want to hear realities of the vehicle & service. Whether it makes me glow with pride at my wise purchase or not.
 
#25 ·
I also was told “from the end of this year” for the software update and twitter dude confirmed that I would have to go to a “space” to get it. But did not confirm that I would not be charged for them to bring my car in. I now have a voicemail into Mike . . . I also wrote back to clarify what the heck “from the end of this year” means since it is a nonsense phrase. Perhaps selling my car in advance of getting the Polestar was a mistake . . . My options are few at the moment. I have zero issue with a slower roll out of features. I reserved the car the same day reservations opened and was pretty sure the first batch would have some teething (I also bought a XC90 T8 in the first model year and wowser did I have issues, but after forcing them to swap me a 2017 (which Volvo did, at a higher trim), it was, and is, a great car). But I need communication on these basics. I am rather surprised they seem so unprepared for the release - what’s the point of having all of the experience of Volvo if you are going to act like you’ve never sold a car before.

Anyway, whatever, it is giving me something to do during COVID.
 
#26 ·
Yep very chaotic. I really dont understand why they bother with email and web chat support. The folk r only allowed to read from the hymn sheet. What a waste of money. They could use those folk to assist Graham with deliveries. :) nobody's fault but our own as techie early adopters
If I treated my clients like this, before I retired , I would n,t have any the next year.
 
#27 ·
I see the biggest issue as OTA updates. Small nuisances I can live with so long as there is OTA to ultimately fix them. I also live outside the 150 mile radius and so visits to Spaces is not part of the plan for things they already know don't work. Fortunately with COVID I don't need to drive everyday, but I also don't want a brick sitting in my garage. I'm waiting patiently to see how things play out, but will need to have a long conversation with Polestar before I sign on the dotted line. And my contract may ultimately need some tweaks.
 
#35 ·
I know i said i would not post more but i forgot to deactivate update warnings and saw a couple of people reffering to my post so i will close my visits to the forum with my experience now that i have actually cancelled. I think it is fair that people are properly warned what they are getting themselves into, rather than watching the shiny and polish Polestar website that promisses thousands of features that most are not true.
So here it is.

June 2020.
We own two cars. A BMW 330e 2017 and a Ford Focus 2013 SW. We decided that the Focus had to go and be replaced by a Peugeot e-208. My plan was to keep the BMW until 2022 and get the Skoda Enyaq Hatchback because we have kids and the 208 is not good enough for long drives. So i place a pre-order on the Skoda. (bear with me - it is relevant)

July 2020
And so we did. Ford went on sale, 208 was ordered, we went on vacation and during that time i get a mail from Polestar ( i had them on newsletter ) that the deliveries are starting and I should look into it. So i did. They promised all the things that the Enyaq had and some more as i am an avid supporter of the Android platform and the geek in me finds joy with those gadgets. Also according to them i could get the car in 2020 so i was stoked. Fancy presentation, Volvo-volvo-volvo as a flag and features that were only attractive, also a kick as exterior design. Far better than any EV in the market right now. I bite my finger hard and order the Polestar. Delivery time : September.

August 2020
At the time i had ordered a Polestar 2 without Performance and 19'' on winter and summer and trailer hook, mats, extra cable and a winter sock as we drive over the mountains in November/December.
We went on vacation and during that time it came in my mind the crazy idea to change the summer wheels to 20''. At the website there is a very-very clear disclaimer : Can i do changes on my order? A: Yes up to 15 days before delivery. But it says no-place-at-all that if you do you get bumped at the end of the line my friends. Nowhere. At least not in the Norwegian site. I contact customer support and ask them politely to change my summer wheels from 19 to 20. Pretty straight forward right? ( i did the same for the Peugeot a week before so i though, come on how hard can it be ) and i get the answer : You need to cancel you order and place a new one. I explain that i do not want to do that as i will get bumped at the end of the line, and i get a dry answer: it is what it is, we do not decide this. I suggest delivering the car with winter tyres and she says no again and that even if i got the car in the middle of winter i would still get it with summer tyres if i did not order winter ones so it is up to me to fix it. They deliver only with summer tyres - summer or winter. I find her attitude extremely square and rude and not-customer service at all...
Now at that point i do not initiate the change but i get a mail saying that i have cancelled. I say what the heck.... place a new order with the new spec (and new delivery date December now) and send a public complaint on Twitter to which they respond in seconds that he will look into and please send us a mail instead of posting here... 2 weeks later and a lot of mails from and back with the utterly incompetent manager of customer support at Polestar, the wheels get changed and the order moves back from December to October. I say, ok, its better than December so i shut my mouth and wait.... Now at this point it is worthy to notice that my app still says December 2020 and when i asked they said it is a ''glitch''..... i am not holding my breath though.
The e-208 arrives, the car is amazing, everything is as promised, the app works perfectly fine, all the features are activated and we truly enjoy the car.
A week after i go downtown for a test-drive on the Polestar. They hastily throw me in and tell me to be back in 20 minutes. The only thing i managed to get in those extremely rushed 20 minutes is that the features in this car are somewhat 10-years-ago, if you know what i mean.
  1. No head up display at a time that others are moving to augmented reality for example.
  2. The sound system was weaker than the 208. Yeah i am serious because i had a 2000USD HK in my BMW and whatever it is in the Polestar it is not a HK ..... not the same price class or quality either.
  3. The seats felt ok but the material was all wrinkled at the edges on a brand new car...
  4. The glass-roof while cool looking is very susceptible to cracks on Norwegian roars when in the winter the stones hail over every car on the streets... A bad design decision on the Model 3 and now copied on the P2 just for trying to get into Teslas eye i bet...
I don't know if you get what i mean but at that point i felt that i was buying a cool looking car that sold for a premium for it's trendiness and not for the actual product. (looking also your way Model 3...) But i said i dont give a shit cause i like how bad-ass it looks externally and love the infotainment and app features so i ll go for it.

I agree with my work that i can work from home the days that my wife works in the office so we only need 1 car for the moment and since the Polestar 2 is coming in October i put the BMW on sale. It sells like fresh butter a week after and i am left with 1/2 a car and the promise that the Polestar will come in 6-7 weeks. It is fine. For now.

Then I join the forum and figure out.
  1. OTA does not work. (will not work before 2021)
  2. Phone key access does not work. (will not work before 2021)
  3. Android app does not work. (will not work before 2021)
  4. Headlamps are wrongly adjusted on what it seems more than half of delivered cars (will not work without a shop-visit)
  5. Some cars report that the alarm goes off in random moment and the only way to stop it is to leave the car unlocked.
  6. The fan goes off randomly even when the car is locked.
  7. The charger limits work on some cars and not on others. (will it be fixed with OTA? 2021?)
  8. There is no option to heat the car unless getting physically into it. (will not work before 2021)
  9. The 4G drops in areas where cellphones have 100% coverage. (will it be fixed with OTA? 2021?)
  10. The apps close or won't even start randomly, the selection is limited to 3-4 working apps. (will it be fixed with OTA? 2021?)
  11. The car does not really charge at 150KW even at 250 Ionity chargers. (will it be fixed with OTA? 2021?)
  12. It is not possible to get a warning when the car is at a public charger that charges half a dollar after the charging is done and you are eating a burger. (will not work before 2021)
September 2020
In the course of the past 2 weeks I find that Polestar has a terrible record on informing their customers and it smells like Tesla again. Then i contact them and ask them how about those OTA updates and App in which they respond ''Later this year'' only to read the OPs letter not a week after that says ''Not before next year''.
At this point i am exactly at 1:1, 100% identical history i experienced when i bought my Tesla. And i said no. Not again. So i cancel.

I hope all of you will enjoy your cars, i truly do, and i hope through some kind of luck or miracle you all have great experiences. At the end of the day its just a car but for me it is a little more than that as i literally had to go through hell with Tesla and i do not want to do it again.

The aftermath?
Ford sold to buy the 208
Peugeot 208 bought - super happy with it.
Skoda pre-ordered
Polestar ordered with the promise of 2020 delivery with all bells and whistles
BMW sold on that promise and
Skoda cancelled on that promise also.
Now i found all of Polestars shenanigans i have no BMW, i have no Skoda pre-order and Polestar is cancelled.
I am not happy with Polestar one bit at all but i am happy that i joined the forum and dodged a huge bullet.

Thanks all, have a nice winter and maybe i ll see you again in a different forum :)
 
#36 ·
Thanks all, have a nice winter and maybe i ll see you again in a different forum :)
Sorry when anybody has to go through such bureaucratic hassle, Wallaby, and understand why you've bailed. 'Hope, in the end, you're in a good place with cars you and the family love. All best wishes to you.
 
#37 ·
Bummer mate, feel your pain. I think we early adopters are clearing the way for a fault free xc40 roll out.
I think they are in cloud cuckoo land with the price they are looking for that. Just offered my year old order on a mustang on the mustang group, but now seriously considering holding out for that or VW, skoda or something main stream
Surprised you have not been excommunicated already.....
Keep us posted what you go for.
 
#38 ·
I completely understand the frustrations expressed here. I'm concerned as well, but have not sold my current car, so it's a little less pressing. I will also be checking my car carefully before taking delivery. If it's got things wrong with it, I will walk away and still have my current car. Buyer beware applies to everything.
 
#39 ·
It's annoying that people think the only two options for all these delays are:
1) Ship it buggy and early
2) Take the time to do it properly, as late as it may be

There's an obvious 3rd option of delivering the features on time! Now I understand, especially with covid, that delays are very common - but the fact that they're announcing this delay THIS late is just stupid. They should have known the app won't be ready weeks/months ago and they're telling people after they're already shipping cars (and people are locked into their purchases)!

The whole communication story from polestar has been horrible. I confirmed my order in June (still says Sept delivery and I know that's wrong) and they've sent exactly ZERO updates to the delivery timeline, when spaces will open (in Canada), when test drives will start, etc.

I get it, things get delayed but people would be a lot less upset if they were transparent and provided meaningful/regular updates on how things are going rather than their standard "happening soon" and "subscribe for updates" which never provide any info.
 
#43 ·
As much as we might hate to say it, I think this highlights a benefit of Tesla’s (and Apple’s) vertically integrated strategy. For software-hardware interactions it seems most efficient for the software developers to be in house, in close coordination with the hardware developers.

In this case I imagine there’s some amount of Polestar engineers and Google engineers pointing their fingers at each other about whose job it is to do what.
I just hope that Google realizes that if this doesn’t go well there’s little chance of the other OEMs to follow through with including Android Automotive in their platforms. But if they work through the issues well, they’ll have then plenty of business, well ahead of any other 3rd party vendor.
 
  • Like
Reactions: toscal353
#41 ·
I don’t disagree about comms and support, but also understand that when you’re a startup brand with no customers yet these aren’t necessarily the places you put the most investment. As a company, someone else has always done the selling and delivery for them so I’m not surprised that these “new muscle” areas are the ones they’re struggling with. I was also a little shocked at the lack of product knowledge displayed by the Pop-Up retail staff (one insisted that the leather interior was Weavetech), so overall I’d say Polestar has some work to do on the front lines.

That said, I’m also not losing sight of the fact that we’re getting a better-built vehicle that can actually compete with Tesla on dynamics and range, with what is consistently being reviewed as the best HMI in the industry. I guess I’m not super bothered by the fact that some of the “nice to have” features are a couple months behind. I’m sure the team is working overtime to get it done—especially with the free (to us, but not to Polestar) pickup and drop-off service, trust me the lack of OTA updates is not something Polestar wants either.

I also still feel a lot of entitlement in this thread. The car is going to market without an app (don’t know about you, but my current car doesn’t even have an app worth shit) and TheWallaby Is acting like they’re shipping it without seats. Headlights being aimed high from the factory is hardly unique to Polestar. Hell, I ordered a first model year Mercedes once and found out folks were getting a hodgepodge of different steering wheels in delivered cars because demand was so high they decided to just use whatever was in the parts bin rather than wait and build it to spec. So I think we’re a far cry from that kind of nonsense here.

And then the idea that making changes close to delivery wouldn’t bump you to the back of the line? WTF. If you’re a few weeks out from delivery, your car is in port and being prepped for delivery, mate. But hold up, TheWallaby decided he wants his car in Orange now so what we’re gonna do is stop the entire production line and build one special for him even though the paint shop is set up for Purple cars this week, and then we’re going to bump someone else’s car off the boat and delay that person, who ACTUALLY DECIDED WHAT THEY WANTED BEFORE ORDERING A $60,000 CAR, and THAT person will just have to wait another month or two. I’m sure they won’t mind. Unfuckingbelievable.

Look, I get the frustration, but logistically if you’re going to pull this shit, find a car that has thousands of examples already sitting on lots and service centers full of parts so that the world can actually cater to your wishy-washiness the way you need.

By the way, our friend here is looking for sympathy wherever he can find it, peddling his sad story on Reddit as well. Here’s his similar rant on his Tesla if anyone’s interested.

All to say, there’s a bit of a pattern here and I think the problem is as much to do with personality as anything actually going on with Polestar which, while not perfect, I feel is not reason to scream to the high heavens that nobody should be supporting them at this point.
 
#51 ·
aren’t necessarily the places you put the most investment.
Communication doesn't require dozens/hundreds of people like design, manufacturing, QC, SW, etc. It just requires having a coherent plan and social media/PR people to convey that and update people when it changes. They already have a pretty responsive twitter presence - but they never convey any actual information through it (unless you consider "We'll have more information soon" and "Subscribe for updates" reasonable answers)

“nice to have” features are a couple months behind
As I pointed out, I understand delays - the point you're not addressing is how they're not COMMUNICATING these delays! Like I said, people are already receiving their cars without these features, they've already committed to their financial contracts, and only AFTER that are they informed "Hey you know that stuff on our website and marketing material, you're not gonna see it for a couple of months." Companies don't realize a feature is going to be MONTHS late a few days ago, they knew about delays that long for much longer in advance - but they don't bother telling people until they get enough people asking what's gong on.

but my current car doesn’t even have an app worth shit
Did your current car advertise it as a feature in their marketing?

I also still feel a lot of entitlement in this thread
I don't consider it to be entitlement to expect a feature a manufacturer is actively advertising to be available when you receive their product (or at least a coherent plan for when it would be available)

[
 
#44 ·
It is troubling that Polestar have not learnt from the grumbles of Tesla customers and continue to follow that model, repeating exactly the same errors that upset so many (including me!). They do not have the same luxury of being able to expect their customers to put up with anything just to get hold of their P2, which is how Tesla treated us with the 3. Bad fit and finish, software not working, features missing, well its a Tesla, what do you expect, it does 0-60 in 3 seconds what more do you want???
 
#45 ·
Key difference here is that the hardware seems well done. Correct me if I’m wrong but all the bugs seem related to software - even the 12V battery issue is probably a result of the software’s management of charging that. The headlights just need a different calibration SOP prior to delivery. I’m not hearing of panel gaps, water leaks, seatbelts not attached right, bumpers falling off, suspension fixation nuts coming loose, Home Depot hacks to hold the AC together, etc.

I’ll take a few months delay on fixing non critical software bugs if it means getting something actually screwed together right.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top