One of the more innovative and unusual customer-service policies in the auto industry might be coming to an abrupt end. Next-generation transportation and energy website Electrek reported on Friday that Tesla (TSLA +7.57%) has decided to cancel its seven-calendar-day, no-questions-asked, full-refund return policy.
Citing "sources familiar with the matter," the article stated that Tesla pulled the plug on the policy Thursday night. The company web page that formerly spelled it out is now a redirect to a general support page (although a Google search for "Tesla return policy" yields a blurb of the old promise as its first result).
The Electrek article's sources said that customers having issues with new cars and who desire a refund will instead be directed to Tesla's service department.
Image source: Tesla.
Under the old policy, owners of new cars could return their vehicles as long as the cars showed no damage and had fewer than 1,000 miles on the odometer. Tesla has not yet made any formal announcement about the status of the policy, nor has it responded to the article.
The company has featured prominently in headlines over the past week. On Monday, it cut the price of its premium Model S sedan by $3,000. This was not the first reduction it made in 2020 (an earlier one was enacted in May), and it wasn't the last. A mere two days later, CEO Elon Musk announced in a tweet that the price would be lowered by another $2,570.
Although abrupt changes in Tesla's business are the rule rather than the exception, investors might not be too happy with the elimination of that very confident return policy. In midafternoon trading on Friday, Tesla's shares were down by 1.2%, in contrast to the gains of the broader stock market.
