Dream11 CEO slams Tesla, Elon Musk for refunding his $1,000 after 8-year wait for Model 3: 'Fans turning...'

Harsh Jain, co-founder and CEO of fantasy gaming platform Dream11, publicly criticised Elon Musk's electric vehicle giant Tesla for its handling of early Indian reservations, accusing the company of alienating its most loyal supporters. In a strongly-worded social media post, Jain revealed that Tesla had refunded the $1,000 he paid in 2017 to reserve a Model 3 for the company’s long-promised India launch—without honouring the priority slot he had secured nearly a decade ago.

“Wow @elonmusk do you know how @Tesla is turning ALL its fans and early believers in India into haters?” Jain wrote on X (formerly Twitter), tagging Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk. “I had paid $1k for a priority slot in March 2017 for Tesla's India launch. Now that Tesla is FINALLY launching almost 10 YEARS later they're only going to refund me $1k and take away my priority slot? Even if I had just invested this $1k in Tesla in March 2017, it would be worth $20k now. Way to show fans that @Tesla doesn't care,” he added, sharing a screenshot of Tesla’s official communication.

Tesla, in its message to Jain, acknowledged his early support and explained that the Model 3 variant he had reserved had since been phased out. The company confirmed that it was refunding the reservation amount and would reach out once it finalised its offerings for the Indian market.

The message from Tesla read: “Thank you for your support in Tesla and being an early reservation holder of the Model 3. As Tesla continues to grow, our product lineup continues to evolve. In the past few years, many of our products back at the time have been replaced, and many new products have been introduced. The original Model 3 in your reservation was one of the products that have been replaced.”

It continued, “As such, we would like to return your reservation fee for the time being. When we finalise our product offerings in India, we will reach out in the market again. We hope to see you back with us once we are ready to launch and deliver in the country. Your patience and support are greatly appreciated, and Tesla won't be where we are today without early supporters like you.”