Tesla customers say they've been double-charged for their cars

Finding an extra $10 charge on your groceries is enough to make most people angry, but what if you paid twice for a a $56,000 car? Tesla buyers have been reporting that they've been double-charged on cars for recent purchases and have had trouble contacting the company and getting their money back, according to a report from CNBC and posts on Twitter and the Tesla Motors Club forum.

One of the first buyers to post on the forum was Christopher Lee, who detailed what happened in a YouTube video (below). After placing an order, he was shocked to find that Tesla had taken two $56,579 transfers from his account for a Tesla Model Y, rather than just one, without any authorization or warning. He then had trouble finding someone from Tesla to deal with the problem and had to go to his local service center, which eventually gave him a contact email.

The same thing happened to buyer Tom Slattery, who was charged an extra $53,000 and reported his experience on Twitter. He immediately contacted Tesla and eventually drove to the Burbank, California store. "They told me to call my bank and have my bank reverse the charge. That was not acceptable. When you debit more than $50,000 and tell a customer to solve it on their own? I kept pushing," he told CNBC. Another customer, Clark Peterson, reported the same problem with a $71,000 Model Y.

As of yesterday, the customers mentioned in the CNBC report have yet to receive their refunds and all have refused to take delivery until the problem is resolved. “This was not some operator error,” Peterson said. “And for a company that has so much technology skill, to have this happening to multiple people really raises questions.” Engadget has reached out for comment.