Tesla will reimburse customers for double costs and offer $ 200 worth of merchandise

Tesla has reimbursed customers charged twice for the purchase of new vehicles at the end of the first quarter, CNBC has learned.

The refunds followed CNBC’s reporting of the duplicate charges and a video review by ‘Everyday Chris’, Christopher T. Lee, on YouTube urging other Tesla buyers to use a cashier if possible, rather than allowing Tesla Debit their bank account directly.

Six customers in California and North Carolina who spoke with CNBC and shared records found it took about a week for their refunds to come through after filing a complaint with Elon Musk’s electric car company.

These customers received their refunds on or before April 1, including payments for overdrafts triggered by Tesla’s duplicate withdrawals from their accounts.

This week, Tesla also offered the affected owners an apology via email and gave them a $ 200 credit to spend in a single visit to the company’s online store, according to an email that multiple customers shared with CNBC. . The credit must be used in one transaction at shop.tesla.com, cannot be used for Tesla Tequila, and will expire on January 30, 2022, the email said.

The Tesla store online today will allow $ 200 to purchase smaller items such as Tesla branded clothing or a new key fob for a Model 3 or Model Y, but not premium items and car accessories such as a roof rack or bundle of adapters that allow Drivers plug a Tesla into a power outlet to charge at home or on the go.

A spokesman for the National Automated Clearing House Association, or NACHA, told CNBC that, anecdotally, unauthorized double charges for expensive items purchased with ACH debit are uncommon. NACHA manages the development and management of the ACH network.

Lee and two other Tesla owners in California, Clark Peterson and Tom Slattery, who spoke to CNBC about the double cost in March, all said Tesla needs to improve its sales and customer service.

Peterson said, “While I’m glad the whole situation has been resolved, I still feel like the response time was inadequate. It took Tesla days to get any kind of response, and they were holding on to our considerable money the whole time. took them five minutes to get that money out of our account. “

Slattery said the gesture is too small, too late. He has already bought all the accessories he needs and is not currently in the mood to wear the Tesla logo as an ad, he told CNBC Tuesday night.

When the double allegations hit his account, he was on his way to another state to look at houses, hoping to bid for it. Instead, he spent his time distracted and stressed trying to get something in writing about a refund.

Tesla paid him back on March 31, about a week after Slattery initially called and visited the company’s service center and showroom in Burbank looking for answers, he said.

After receiving Tesla’s apology email on Tuesday night, Slattery told CNBC, “Anything that could have been done fairly quickly would have been perfectly fine. But I learned that Tesla’s culture is that they care about the stock price and not about customers. “

When he read the news of Tesla’s record numbers of vehicle deliveries in the first quarter, he said he wanted to be happy for the company, but instead had a sinking feeling.

“I thought, ‘You had to get us out of the way, even though you had these ridiculously positive sales? How could you not pause to deal with people in trouble?’ ‘

The problems weren’t limited to California customers.

A former North Carolina bank manager, who asked to remain unnamed for privacy reasons, said it is unreasonable for a full workweek to take place for a refund.

This person had to pay double for a 2021 Model Y, which cost about $ 54,000. He bought the car online and was charged twice on March 25 with money debited from his account.

It was his bank, not Tesla, that notified him of the unusual activity, he said. It took him about six hours to make a series of phone calls to banks and Tesla in North Carolina and California to find out what had happened, and he didn’t receive an email about an upcoming refund until March 31. In the meantime, he withdrew. funds from a securities account to cover expenses, he said.

While he’s generally happy with the car and has already driven it for several hundred miles, he would rate Tesla’s customer service only a 1 out of 5. He said it is clearly Tesla’s fault, not the banks’ fault.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.