CNBC is reporting that three people who just bought a new Tesla were actually charged twice, siphoning tens of thousands more dollars out of their bank accounts than was authorized. And if that weren't bad enough, the publication goes on to say that some of these new Tesla owners found it difficult to recover the money that had been wrongfully taken from them.

One of the people who suffered this major inconvenience is Cristopher T. Lee, or as you may know him from his YouTube channel, Everyday Chris. He uploaded a video a few days ago called Did I just get SCAMMED by TESLA???! and while you would think it’s just another blatant example of a clickbait headline, Chris defends it and says that is exactly what it felt like.

What happened to Chris? He bought a brand new Model Y for $56,578, but instead of paying that exact amount for it, he was double-charged and ended up paying a grand total of $113,156. So he bought a Model Y and ended up paying Model X money for it.

Chris goes on to explain that he at first did not panic, because he was sure they would realize the mistake and give him his money back. The way he explains it, though, that wasn’t at all what happened, and after ringing Tesla repeatedly with no answer, someone eventually picked up the phone and told Chris they would look into it.

They eventually got back to him but told him that he had, in fact, not been double-charged for his purchase. This started a whole series of awkward interactions with Tesla, and you can check out Chris’ video to see how it all unfolded for him.

Back to the CNBC source article, the publication asked Dave Excell, founder of a financial crime prevention tech firm called Featurespace, and he said that instances of double-charging are actually more common than you might think. 

The best thing is to go back to the merchant and let them know an error occurred. Ask them to reverse or refund the money. That should be the easiest way.

Everyday Chris did just that and Tesla still had him jumping through hoops to get the money that was taken from his account without his authorization. Apparently, even though we just know of a few confirmed instances, CNBC points to a Tesla employee from the Burbank store who reportedly claims this has actually happened hundreds of times.

In most of these cases, Tesla can see its system charged people twice for their purchase, but there are also instances when the double charge doesn’t actually show up. This is what happened to Chris and is why it may have taken Tesla longer to confirm he was telling the truth.

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