OpenAI's Sam Altman Fails To Get $50,000 Refund On Tesla Roadster Booked 7.5 Years Ago: 'Felt Like...'

OpenAI's Sam Altman has expressed disappointment at being unable to receive a $50,000 refund for pre-booking a Tesla Roadster in 2018. Taking to social media, the OpenAI CEO detailed an email exchange of his booking of the electric vehicle (EV) and the subsequent attempt to cancel it 7.5 years later in October 2025.

In a post titled, 'A tale in three acts', Altman shared screenshots of pre-booking the Tesla Roadster and the subsequent error message when seeking a refund. Replying to the automated reservation message, Altman wrote: "Hi, I'd like to cancel my reservation. Could you please refund me the $50k?"

Altman added that he was excited for the car, but having waited nearly eight years for it, it was time to cut losses. "I really was excited for the car! And I understand delays. But 7.5 years has felt like a long time to wait," he added.

However, the refund mail by Altman did not reach Tesla as the email address, reservations@tesla.com, could not be found, as per the error message.

Check The Viral Post Here:

A tale in three acts: pic.twitter.com/ClRZBgT24g

— Sam Altman (@sama) October 30, 2025

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MKBHD Cancels Roadster Booking

Altman is not the first high-profile celebrity to attempt to cancel his Roadster reservation. In September, YouTuber Marques Brownlee, also known as MKBHD, revealed he had reserved two Tesla Roadsters in 2017.

"Tesla has been sitting with my 50 grand for eight years and hasn't done anything with it, obviously," Brownlee said on his Waveform Podcast, adding that he cancelled one of the two Roadster reservations.

Akin to Altman, Brownlee made an immediate $5,000 payment for the car before splurging an additional $45,000 within the next 10 days.

"Tesla's just had that money the whole time. I could have done so much with that. I'll do something else with it now," added Brownlee.

Brownlee said that cancelling his reservation was more difficult than expected. Unlike the order status page of many other Tesla models, there was no cancellation button online, and he was forced to spend a few days attending voicemails. Eventually, he received a $45,000 check from Tesla, meaning the EV company kept the $5,000 initial deposit.

Roadster's Tumultuous History

Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled the Roadster in 2017 amid much fanfare as a performance-oriented EV. The company claimed that Roadster could accelerate from 0 to 96 kmph in 1.9 seconds with a top speed of 402 kmph whilst offering a 620-mile range (997 km).

However, the sports car never went into production. In 2024, Musk said the new Roadster had not come out yet because "it's the cherry on the icing on the cake" and there are "other projects taking precedence before its launch". In Tesla's earnings release in July, the Roadster was listed as being in "design development".