Skip to main content

Elon Musk cancels customer’s Tesla order because he was ‘super rude’

If you’re “super rude” to Elon Musk, there will be consequences.

Take venture capitalist and former auto journalist Stewart Alsop. After tearing into Musk’s Tesla company in a blog post, the CEO personally canceled Alsop’s order for one of the firm’s Model X SUVs.

Recommended Videos

It all started back in September when Alsop attended the launch event for the luxury electric vehicle. In a Medium post titled, “Elon Musk, you should be ashamed of yourself,” Alsop complained about the event starting nearly two hours late, and was also unhappy that Musk didn’t offer an apology when he finally appeared.

But that wasn’t all. He lambasted the CEO for presenting an “amateur” slideshow that was overly focused on safety, and even griped about the lack of “real food during dinner time,” a complaint that appears to confirm meal provision as a top priority for auto journalists.

“It probably won’t matter that you screwed up this event completely,” Alsop wrote, adding, “It would still be nice if you showed some class and apologized to the people who believe in this product.”

Some time between September and this week, it appears Musk called Alsop to complain about what he apparently considered to have been a “personal attack,” although in a follow-up open letter posted online this week the VC said he never meant for it to come across like that.

The upshot? Musk canceled Alsop’s car order, an act confirmed by the Tesla boss himself in a tweet in which he said the VC had been “denied service” for being a “super rude customer.”

Alsop responded: “You have decided that I can’t own one of your cars, and I am terribly disappointed. I had outlined in the original post how excited I was at the prospect of owning a Tesla, especially the Model X and especially the configuration I ultimately ordered – the P90D in red with black leather seats and the Ludicrous Speed option….I must also admit that I am a little taken aback to be banned by Tesla.”

While it’s fair to say few people are likely to get too upset about a wealthy customer’s personal spat with a billionaire businessman, Musk’s high profile means his curious customer service move is certain to generate some interest. Do you think he was right to cancel Alsop’s order in the face of a personal attack, or has the VC been treated harshly in this case? Sound off in the comments below.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Tesla to begin production on new, more affordable models
Tesla Model 3

With competition increasing from Chinese and other automakers, Tesla boss Elon Musk revealed on Tuesday that his company is planning to begin production of new, more affordable models in “early 2025, if not late this year.” Notably, that's earlier than the previously stated date of late 2025, though whether Musk actually succeeds in meeting the earlier production time frame is another question entirely.

The news came as Tesla released its latest quarterly figures. Revenue for the electric vehicle maker came in at $21.3 billion, down from the $23.3 billion it reported for the same three-month period a year earlier and also down from the $25.2 billion reported in the previous quarter. Profit reached $1.1 billion, marking a 55% fall compared to the same period a year ago.

Read more
Tesla reveals target date for new electric vehicle launch
Tesla logo

Tesla is targeting 2025 to launch a mass-market compact crossover, with speculation growing that it could be the automaker’s best-priced vehicle yet.

Following Wednesday's publication of a Reuters report claiming that Tesla has been informing suppliers of its plan to launch its first new vehicle since the Cybertruck last year, Tesla chief Elon Musk confirmed during a post-earnings call that the company expects to begin production of an all-new electric vehicle at its Texas facility in the second half of 2025.

Read more
Tesla’s Cybertruck could soon transform into a boat, says Musk
Tesla CEO Elon Musk behind the wheel of a Cybertruck.

Picture the scene. You’re out on a lake, rowing a boat, enjoying the sunny weather. And then, from nowhere, a Cybertruck bobs by.

If Elon Musk gets his way, such a scenario could become a reality, after the Tesla CEO suggested on social media on Tuesday that the automaker is “going to offer a mod package that enables Cybertruck to traverse at least 100m of water as a boat,” adding: “Mostly just need to upgrade cabin door seals.”

Read more