Dream 11 CEO Slams Elon Musk's Tesla For Returning His $1,000 Booking Amount

Harsh Jain, the CEO and co-founder of Dream11, recently took to social media to call out Elon Musk's company Tesla for not caring about customers' feelings, especially in India. In his post, Mr Jain said that in 2017, when Tesla was supposed to debut in India, he had paid $1,000 to reserve a Model 3. However, after nearly a decade, Mr Jain's reservation has been returned to him as Tesla's long-awaited debut in India has still not materialised, and Model 3 has also been discontinued. Unhappy with this decision, the Indian CEO tagged Elon Musk in his post and claimed that such actions would turn all Indian Tesla fans into haters. 

"Wow @elonmusk do you know how @Tesla is turning ALL its fans and early believers in India into haters? 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," Mr Jain wrote while sharing a screenshot of the message he received from the company. 

Wow @elonmusk do you know how @Tesla is turning ALL its fans and early believers in India into haters?

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… pic.twitter.com/K53TmJ6Lai

— Harsh Jain (@harshjain85) June 10, 2025

In its message, Tesla told Mr Jain that it is in the process of finalising its product offerings in India. The company also informed the CEO that it would return the $1,000 fee he paid to reserve a Model 3 back in 2017. 

"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," Tesla wrote in the email. 

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"Model 3 in your reservation was one of the products that have been replaced. As such, we would like to return your reservation fee for the time being. When we finalize 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," it added. 

Notably, Mr Jain's post comes at a time when Tesla has already begun operations in India. In February, the company posted a number of mid-level jobs in India. In June, PTI reported that Tesla has taken on lease a warehousing space in Mumbai.  

It is yet to be known whether the company will manufacture cars in the country.