San Francisco: Taking advantage of Tesla’s seven-day, no-questions-asked return policy at the time, a customer who returned his Tesla Model X in early 2020, is still making payments on a $116,000 vehicle that he does not possess from past two years.
Danny Roman bought a new car and took delivery of the car on February 28, 2020. Three days later, he informed the company he was returning the electric SUV under the seven-day, no-questions-asked policy, which Tesla CEO Elon Musk was touting at that time, CNBC reported on Saturday.
And since Tesla took possession of the car, he still does not have his refund or access to the vehicle, the report said.
Records indicate that Tesla did pick up his Model X, loading it onto a tow truck on March 8, 2020, after which he expected his refund to arrive promptly.
His bank advised him to ask the EV maker to initiate a “stop sale,” he recalls, and then his Tesla sales representative informed him that his refund would be processed soon.
Instead, several weeks later, he received a service alert from Tesla telling him to come to pick up the electric SUV.
The alert explained that it had been repaired and was in a service center in Burbank, California, although he had originally purchased the vehicle in Century City, about a 40-minute drive away.
Roman told CNBC he was astounded by the service alert. He said he never asked for nor authorised any repairs and that Tesla has previously acknowledged he was returning the car.
Roman stopped making payments on the car for a month because he thought everything was moving along properly, the report said.
Then the bank told him that he had missed a payment and that his credit rating had taken a 30-point hit. When he called to ask about it, he was told Tesla had not issued the stop-sale.
Roman said he needed to maintain a strong credit rating. So given Tesla’s stubborn stance on the Model X, he decided he had no choice but to keep making car payments to his bank and to pay to keep the car insured.
As a result, for the last two years, Roman has been making payments on a car that he does not possess.
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment on their customer’s predicament.
Roman said he bought the car because he was a fan of Tesla, read that the Model X had a great safety rating, and believed driving a battery electric vehicle would minimize the environmental footprint of his personal transportation.
As the owner of a sustainable outdoor adventure company, he felt that buying a battery-powered electric car was a good way to underscore that commitment. However, he was not satisfied with the performance.
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