According to recent reports, Tesla owners are unintentionally purchasing software upgrades for their vehicles which range from $4,000 to almost $10,000. Despite the fact that the purchases were unintentional and compared by one Tesla owner to a “butt dial,” Elon Musk’s company initially refused to refund the purchases.
Electrek reports that some Tesla owners are facing a new issue with their vehicles, accidentally purchasing software upgrades for their cars which Tesla refuses to refund. The issue was noted by one Tesla owner, Jon McLaughlin, who was surprised when his wife informed him that their car was now able to use some of the company’s “Full Self-Driving” features even though they didn’t purchase those options for their Tesla Model 3.
McLaughlin told Electrek: “This prompted me to look at the ‘upgrades’ section of the mobile app. Interestingly, the app said I had purchased all the eligible upgrades. Odd, I haven’t purchased anything. So I proceed to click on ‘purchases’ within the mobile app only to see two invoices. One for the new performance boost and the other for FSD.”
McLaughlin claims that his credit card was charged $9,700 on January 5 “without his knowledge or authorization.” Tesla introduced software upgrades for sale via one-click on its app last month, but now many users are reporting being charged for upgrades they don’t remember ordering. McLaughlin contacted Tesla’s customer service and was informed that the purchase was non-refundable
Philosphist and Tesla owner Nassim Nicholas Taleb also reported a similar issue with his vehicle:
Elon @elonmusk, your Customer Support at Tesla is even worse than I claimed last time.
It is an insult to your customers. pic.twitter.com/3HZ2YSjigS— Nassim Nicholas Taleb (@nntaleb) January 15, 2020
Taleb points out the absurdity of Tesla allowing its customers to make multi-thousand dollar purchases without confirm, entry of a password, or other features to prevent inadvertent purchases. He also included Tesla’s response denying a refund, which compares refunding the software upgrade to asking for a refund after having an addition built onto a house.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk replied to Taleb’s tweet stating: “Just saw this today. Tesla refunds, in general, should be easy to get electronically and certainly through customer service. Will be addressed.” So far, no reports have been made that Tesla has made major changes to its refund policy.
Taleb responded to Musk pointing out that all owners deserve the same treatment. Tesla and Musk have been criticized for catering to customers with large social media followings or celebrity status while ignoring its lower profile customers.
Thanks, but It would be a good idea to give equal response to people who do not have as many followers on Twitter. I am not interested in such a refund if other people equally affected don’t get fair treatment.
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb (@nntaleb) January 15, 2020
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com
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