Tesla electric vehicles offer advanced features most auto owners used to dream about, but these vehicles do not come cheap. The most affordable Tesla Model 3 retails at $40,000, and owners who want to upgrade will have to shell out more cash. Some Tesla owners are now complaining of being erroneously billed for software upgrades they did not purchase and Elon Musk immediately assured them that the issue would be addressed.
Tesla Owners Charged For Software Upgrades They Didn't Purchase
Several Tesla owners are complaining about getting charged for 'unintentionally' purchasing software updates using the US electric vehicle maker's app. Charges ranges between $4,000 and nearly $10,000. So far, a couple of Tesla owners came forward and shared their experiences.
Tesla Model 3 owner Jon McLaughlin shared his experience of getting his credit card charged $9,700 for software he did not purchase. McLaughlin learned that his Tesla sedan had a Full Self-Driving feature when his wife informed him about it. The incident was disappointing, considering that he has not authorized the purchase.
On his personal Twitter account, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a popular scholar and Tesla owner, shared a similar story. His is a case of unintentional purchase due to what most of us call 'butt dial.' Taleb explained that his smartphone was in his pocket when the purchase took place.
He sounded disappointed that the app made him purchase $4,333 worth of software upgrade. Taleb also aired his frustrations of the app, considering that the purchase pushed through without any password or confirmation.
Tesla Customer Service Refused To Issue Refunds
Both cases got an almost similar response from Tesla customer service. McLaughlin was surprised to learn that the purchase he did not even make was final. In other words, he could no longer get a refund.
The screenshots shared by Electrek show the conversation between McLaughlin and Tesla's customer support. In one of the images, Tesla says, "Tesla feature updates are final, we can't even remove it from your car anymore." The response sounds like once features are enabled by the software update, it could no longer be disabled.
The same happened to Taleb, who shared that Tesla compared his "situation to paying for an addition to a house." He criticized the level of reasoning of customer service. Additionally, Taleb asked for complete reversal.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk eventually stepped and assured to address Taleb's case. Musk did not share the details, but it appears like he is allowing the customer support to issue refunds for situations like these.
