One would think that having a large online presence would earn some perks. And it might. Since I’m not a big time online presence (I’m not sure if anyone even reads this blog, other than maybe Tesla’s legal team), I wouldn’t know. But I know a couple people in that space and it seems like things sometimes do work out for them. That’s what makes this so interesting.

Marques Brownlee, for whom Al Gore may have invented the Internet, apparently put down a $50,000 deposit on a Tesla Roadster. I would include the link to how you can put down the same deposit, but I am not sure I would be doing the general public a service by doing so. At the time in 2017, I think that the Roadster was more of a fever dream than FSD. At least Tesla cars could mostly steer themselves in 2017. Even now, I think that the Roadster has a less than 50% chance of being produced before my two year-old granddaughter can drive. For all the people who gave Tesla an interest-free $50,000 loan, I hope I’m wrong.

But I digress. I guess Marques finally realized that there is no Roadster for him in the foreseeable future. In this video he describes the process, which was not online, for getting his refund. And guess what? He didn’t get back his full $50,000! They gave him back $45,000. If he had simply put that 50 large in a 3% savings account, he would have $62,000. Enough to get a Model Y (which I still wouldn’t buy). One redditor calculated the value of $50,000 if it had been invested in Tesla stock for the last five years. The result the redditor came up with? $700,000. But I think they’re wrong.

I asked my new friend, ChatGPT, for the value of a $50,000 investment in Tesla on November 1, 2017 until today. Here’s what I was shown. I have not checked the math.

On Nov 1, 2017, Tesla closed around $310/share (pre-split).

50,000 ÷ $310 ≈ 161 shares.

After the 5-for-1 split → 161 × 5 = 805 shares.
After the 3-for-1 split → 805 × 3 = 2,415 shares.

At today’s price ~$440.40 → 2,415 × 440.40 ≈ $1,064,000.

So, instead of making over $1,000,000 on Tesla stock, and NOT GETTING A ROADSTER, Marques got the finger and lost $5,000. I say this in fun, but “this is why you should not get investment advice from a YouTuber.” I genuinely feel bad for Marques. Not because of the opportunity cost of a hypothetical investment in Tesla, but because he presents as a sincere and thoughtful guy. I’ve watched some of his videos over the years, particularly when I was first getting into Teslas. I don’t think he, or anyone, deserves to be treated with this level of disrespect.

Think about it. He loaned Tesla $50,000 and they charged him 10% for the privilege. If he had bought the stock, and if the car comes out at $300,000 per unit, he could sell his stock, buy two Roadsters and still have money left over for a model Y, even after paying taxes.

$50,000 in Tesla stock = $1.06 million today. $50,000 to Tesla = $45,000 back and no Roadster.

The other interesting part of this is that if you make a reservation right now, this is what you see.

Note the phrase “fully refundable” for the $5,000. But it is silent about the $45,000. Does that mean the $45,000 is non-refundable? In order to find that out, you need to read the “Roadster Reservation Agreement”, which I have done. (There’s an arbitration clause there, too.) Here’s what it says:

Notice that it says you will receive “a full refund of your Reservation Payment.” It also says “The refund will be returned to the original for of payment.” Yes, it says “for” instead of “form.” A company that is on the forefront of technology and robotics did not adequately proofread its own contract. Maybe Grok would have caught it.

So now my question is why didn’t Marques get back his full $50,000? Was his agreement different? Or did he talk to someone who didn’t know what they were doing. Either way, as of this writing, he’s out $5,000. And of course, likely buried in his Reservation Agreement is Tesla’s favorite weapon—mandatory arbitration—meaning even his refund fight gets pulled out of court.

Ultimately, this is a lesson for anyone, particularly a Tesla fan, who might be reading this. Tesla will not do the “right thing” unless they are forced. Ask anyone who has written to resolutions@tesla.com since I publicized the email address. Raise your hand if Tesla said anything other than “nope.” At least you got a “nope.” Because when I wrote to them, I got an acknowledgment and nothing else, not even a “nope”.

Tesla has vastly upgraded the responses from the Resolutions email address. I think I had an impact. Now the email gives back all kinds of information on who to write to for what kind of problem. But I honestly think that Tesla forgot about that email address until I publicized it. I’m happy to help. Now, if Tesla would only do the right thing and give people restitution for buying something that they did not, and cannot, deliver.

If you found this site and read this far, then you know the result of the arbitration. Stand up for yourselves, people. Make Tesla do the right thing.