Tired of waiting 7.5 years, Sam Altman tries - and fails - to cancel his Tesla Roadster and get his $50,000 back

midian182

midian182

Posts: 11,734   +177
Staff member
Sounding off: Remember the Tesla Roadster? You'd be forgiven if "the fastest production car ever made" slipped your mind, given that Tesla announced it in 2017 and the EV still isn't here. A lot of people who reserved one are sick of waiting, including OpenAI boss Sam Altman, who wants his $50,000 deposit back but isn't having much success.

In a post labeled "a tale of three acts" on X, Altman posted several screenshots documenting his Roadster saga. The first was a confirmation of his $45,000 reservation for the car in July 2018. The next was an email to Tesla he sent yesterday asking for a $50,000 refund. The final image was of the email message bouncing.

For those wondering about Altman's price discrepancy, reserving a Roadster involved a $5,000 payment at checkout and another $45,000 within 10 days – a $50,000 total. However, some reports say customers have only been refunded $45,000 when canceling their orders.

When Elon Musk unveiled the $200,000 Roadster in 2017, he promised that the car would be able to go from zero to 60 mph in 1.9 seconds and 0 to 100 mph in 4.2 seconds. Tesla's boss also said it would have a top speed above 250 mph.

The hype increased when car enthusiast and comedian Jay Leno gave the world an early look at the Roadster's real-life performance.

The Roadster was supposed to arrive in 2020, but, as we've seen on many previous occasions, Musk's timeline was overly optimistic.

In 2021, with the auto industry still suffering from the effects of the pandemic, Musk said the Roadster might not ship until 2023. That deadline came and went, and there was still no Roadster. In 2024, Musk said a new prototype would be unveiled by the end of the year – it wasn't – ahead of production starting in 2025.

Altman calling attention to the situation isn't surprising. He has had a very public feud with Musk for several years now. It escalated in 2024 when Musk sued OpenAI and Sam Altman, claiming they'd breached the company's original nonprofit charter by prioritizing profits. This led to OpenAI releasing Musk's emails from his time at the company seemingly showing he supported the move. Musk has also sued OpenAI and Apple over alleged antitrust collusion.

OpenAI countersued Musk this year over claims of a "pattern of harassment."

Permalink to story:

Tired of waiting 7.5 years, Sam Altman tries – and fails – to cancel his Tesla Roadster and get his $50,000 back

 
I'm curious what people signed away when putting in their deposit.

Outside of "I am freely and willingly giving away $50000 to Tesla for only the promise of eventually getting a roadster someday in the possible future" I'm not sure what justification Tesla would have to deny refund requests.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheBigT42
Imagine how much that $50K would have made over the last 7.5 years, I would have wanted interest as the car is was supposed to be delivered in 2020, its almost 6 yrs later and no car no updates on schedule. I doubt there has been any engineering development done on that roadster in years.
 
  • Like
Reactions: GodisanAtheist
Money now, product maybe eventually. No refunds.

If it's good enough for McDonald's it's obviously good enough for Tesla because that's really who they are at heart. The McDonald's of cars with a fast food business mentality.
 
seeprime said:
Free money for Tesla. People hate it. But, it's smart, and evil, business.
Click to expand...
Uh, no. If it was so easy to swindle people out of their money then every shady Tesla-like company would be doing it all day. They can't just take your $50k deposit and give you nothing in return. They have these things call LAWS that prevent that sort of thing.
 
It is ironic that GM literally made all the hypercar makers irrelevant in 2025 with the ZR1 and the ZR1x.

Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLarren, Ford, Mercedez, BMW, Porshe, Masserati... name them, the Corvette is putting all their lineup to shame while costing 10-20 times less.
 
DrSuess said:
Imagine how much that $50K would have made over the last 7.5 years, I would have wanted interest as the car is was supposed to be delivered in 2020, its almost 6 yrs later and no car no updates on schedule. I doubt there has been any engineering development done on that roadster in years.
Click to expand...
These people are heavily invested in their real life. 50 000$ is spare change for them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: seeprime
Gives others a little insight into whom these people are, and what's important to them. I'd much rather have a 2017 Dodge Viper with that 650hp engine.
 
Last edited:
redgarl said:
It is ironic that GM literally made all the hypercar makers irrelevant in 2025 with the ZR1 and the ZR1x.

Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLarren, Ford, Mercedez, BMW, Porshe, Masserati... name them, the Corvette is putting all their lineup to shame while costing 10-20 times less.
Click to expand...

The ZR1 is $175K, the ZR1x is $207K. Show me the "Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLarren, Ford, Mercedez, BMW, Porshe, Masserati" lineups that cost $1.75M to $4.15M that these are putting to shame.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ddferrari
If Sam Altman had invested that $45k in nvidia back in Jun 2018, instead of giving Tesla a interest-free loan, his nvidia shares would now be worth $1.5million.

A bit silly I know, but it highlights the opportunity cost of pre-orders. Unless it is a limited run that you are confident will sell out, never preorder, you are just giving a company free money that don't need it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Revolution 11
This car would have been awesome if it came out 5 years ago. But now China has the Yang Wang U9 and other EV that literally exceed 300 mph.

Easily beating a Bugatti Super Sport.

If Tesla can't offer that...
 
Never understood why anyone would want a vehicle that could go 0-60 in less than 2 seconds and a top speed over 250. Other than a few places in the United States where the speed limit is maybe 80-85 mph, you'd never be able to "enjoy" that speed. Not to mention 0-60 in less than 2 seconds, most people would wreck the vehicle. I guess it's the "I have a small p*nis" syndrome?
 
  • Like
Reactions: allis0
Most intelligent people figured out Musk makes promises he can't keep constantly... so you should know better. I don't feel bad for them. But Tesla could at least say thank you for investing in us, haha.
 
Lew Zealand said:
The ZR1 is $175K, the ZR1x is $207K. Show me the "Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLarren, Ford, Mercedez, BMW, Porshe, Masserati" lineups that cost $1.75M to $4.15M that these are putting to shame.
Click to expand...

Maybe because it ranked at the 5th place for best lap time ever at the Nürburgring for a production car?

And the worst is that car is not even supposed to be good in drag race, its main point is that it shines on the track!

Not to mention the top times by Mercedes and Porshe are literally unicorn racing cars and the timing for the Corvettes were made by GM engineers and not race drivers.

Rank Time Vehicle Category
1 06:29.090 Mercedes-AMG One Super Sports Car
2 06:43.300 Porsche 911 GT2 RS Manthey Performance Kit Sports Car
3 06:44.749 Porsche 911 GT2 RS MR Modified Vehicles
4 06:48.047 Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series Sports Car
5 06:49.275 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1X Prototypes / Pre-Production Vehicles
6 06:49.328 Porsche 911 GT3 RS Sports Car
7 06:50.763 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 Prototypes / Pre-Production Vehicles
8 06:52.072 Ford Mustang GTD Sports Car
 
Last edited:
redgarl said:
Maybe because it ranked at the 5th place for best lap time ever at the Nürburgring for a production car?

And the worst is that car is not even supposed to be good in drag race, its main point is that it shines on the track!

Not to mention the top times by Mercedes and Porshe are literally unicorn racing cars and the timing for the Corvettes were made by GM engineers and not race drivers.

Rank Time Vehicle Category
1 06:29.090 Mercedes-AMG One Super Sports Car
2 06:43.300 Porsche 911 GT2 RS Manthey Performance Kit Sports Car
3 06:44.749 Porsche 911 GT2 RS MR Modified Vehicles
4 06:48.047 Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series Sports Car
5 06:49.275 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1X Prototypes / Pre-Production Vehicles
6 06:49.328 Porsche 911 GT3 RS Sports Car
7 06:50.763 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 Prototypes / Pre-Production Vehicles
8 06:52.072 Ford Mustang GTD Sports Car
Click to expand...

LOL, deflection. Didn't even try to back up your original claim.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

midian182
Elon Musk accuses Sam Altman of stealing a nonprofit after Tesla Roadster refund dispute
Replies
14
Views
374
captaincranky
captaincranky
midian182
Sam Altman is "delighted" his AI jobs apocalypse prediction was wrong
Replies
14
Views
62
wiyosaya
wiyosaya
S
Florida sues OpenAI and Sam Altman in test of who is liable for AI harms
Replies
4
Views
22
p51d007
p51d007

Latest posts

Back