Jan. 15th 2020 1:19 pm

Some Tesla owners are unintentionally buying expensive software upgrades through the automaker’s app, and they are having trouble getting refunds.

CEO Elon Musk says he will address the situation.

Jon McLaughlin was surprised when his wife called to tell him that she was now able to use some Full Self-Driving features on their Model 3, even though they didn’t buy those options.

He 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.

He said that his credit card was charged $9,700 on January 5 “without his knowledge or authorization.”

Last month, Tesla introduced software upgrades available for sale through its app in just one click. The first feature available was the Acceleration Boost.

McLaughlin doesn’t remember ordering any upgrades.

He contacted Tesla’s customer service and was surprised when they told him that the purchase was final and non-refundable:

They make it sound as though the features, which are enabled through software updates, cannot be disabled after purchased.

McLaughlin is not the only Tesla owner in this situation. Several more Tesla owners have been complaining about similar situations on social media.

Famous scholar and Tesla owner Nassim Nicholas Taleb reported a similar story on Twitter:

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

CEO Elon Musk responded to Taleb’s tweet saying that the situation will be addressed:

Just saw this today. Tesla refunds, in general, should be easy to get electronically and certainly through customer service. Will be addressed.

He didn’t elaborate on the process, but it sounds like he is authorizing Tesla’s customer service to issue refunds for people who unintentionally purchased software upgrades.

Electrek’s Take

It’s not the first time that Tesla had customer service issues, and it certainly won’t be the last.

I agree with Taleb, though. It’s not just a customer service issue, but also a flaw in the app that you can make such large purchases without confirmation.

When you get a surprise $9,700 charge on your credit card, it’s not a fun day.

Hopefully, everyone affected can quickly get a refund now that Elon has commented on it on Twitter, which seems to be the main customer service arm at Tesla these days.

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