Sam Altman didn't receive $50,000 refund for Tesla Roadster he booked 7.5 years ago. Elon Musk gives a fiery response

Elon Musk and Sam Altman are engaged in a verbal spat and at the center of their latest online beef is the OpenAI CEO's reservation for Tesla's long-delayed Roadster. Recently, Sam Altman expressed disappointment that he is yet to receive $50,000 refund for pre-booking a Tesla Roadster in 2018. Taking to social media, the OpenAI CEO detailed an email exchange of his booking of the electric vehicle (EV) and the subsequent attempt to cancel it 7.5 years later in October 2025.

In a post titled 'A tale in three acts', Sam Altman shared screenshot of an email from July 2018, Sam Altman confirmed $45,000 payment to reserve the next-generation Tesla Roadster. The tech mogul posted additional screenshots showing him requesting a $50,000 refund and receiving a bounce-back mail.

Sam Altman's Tesla order delayed

Sam Altman added that he was excited for the car, but having waited nearly eight years for it, it was time to cut losses. "I really was excited for the car! And I understand delays. But 7.5 years has felt like a long time to wait," Altman posted on Thursday. The refund mail by Altman did not reach Tesla as the email address, reservations@tesla.com, could not be found, as per the error message.

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Reacting to this, Tesla CEO Elon Musk criticized Sam Altman over the OpenAI CEO's online posts about an attempt to cancel a Tesla Roadster reservation. Musk said Altman received his refund within 24 hours.

Elon Musk took to his own social media platform X to hit out at Sam Altman for posting screenshots earlier in the week that showed his attempt to cancel his Roadster order.The Tesla CEO said Altman was only telling part of the story — and that he had already received a refund.

"And you forgot to mention act 4, where this issue was fixed and you received a refund within 24 hours. But that is in your nature," Musk wrote.

MKBHD cancels Tesla booking

According to a report in Business Insider, when Elon Musk first unveiled Tesla's new Roadster in 2017, he said it "will be the fastest production car ever made, period." During a Friday appearance on the "Joe Rogan Experience" podcast, Musk said the coming vehicle would include "crazy technology."

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"If you took all the James Bond cars and combined them, it's crazier than that," Musk said. Musk said his team is "getting close" to unveiling the latest version of the Roadster, saying the product demo would be "unforgettable."

But the Tesla Roadster has experienced delays and is yet to enter production and being listed as "design development" in the company's most recent quarterly earnings report. Popular YouTuber Marques Brownlee, also known as MKBHD, has also said he canceled one of his Tesla Roadster reservations due to the long wait.

In September, MKBHD revealed he had reserved two Tesla Roadsters in 2017. "Tesla has been sitting with my 50 grand for eight years and hasn't done anything with it, obviously," Brownlee said on his Waveform Podcast, adding that he cancelled one of the two Roadster reservations. Similar to Sam Altman, Brownlee made an immediate $5,000 payment for the car before splurging an additional $45,000 within the next 10 days.

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"Tesla's just had that money the whole time. I could have done so much with that. I'll do something else with it now," added Brownlee. Brownlee said he had a hard time canceling his Tesla reservation. Unlike other Tesla models, the order page didn’t have a cancellation button, so he spent several days leaving voicemails. In the end, Tesla sent him a $45,000 check, keeping his $5,000 deposit.

Elon Musk unveiled the Roadster in 2017 amid much fanfare as a performance-oriented EV. The company claimed that Roadster could accelerate from 0 to 96 kmph in 1.9 seconds with a top speed of 402 kmph whilst offering a 620-mile range (997 km).

However, the sports car never went into production. In 2024, Musk said the new Roadster had not come out yet because "it's the cherry on the icing on the cake" and there are "other projects taking precedence before its launch". In Tesla's earnings release in July, the Roadster was listed as being in "design development".