Model 3

Make
Tesla
Segment
Sedan

It was supposed to be nothing more than your typical online order, a process done by millions of satisfied Tesla customers. And then something kind of went wrong for one Tesla Model 3 buyer in Germany. A guy known as 'Ballon-Man' on Reddit has just written about how he and his dad accidentally placed an order for 27 Model 3s instead of just one. Oops barely begins to describe this.

It all started when the family's Ford Kuga (known as the Escape in the US) was on its last legs and needed to be replaced. Conveniently enough, the German government recently doubled the EV tax credit and this made the decision to buy a Tesla even easier.

That evening they placed an order for a new Model 3 equipped with Autopilot, but something didn't go right with the Tesla website. After clicking 'submit,' the website responded the order couldn't be placed because of a payment issue even though they filled in payment details correctly.

They soon realized the problem was the website because other users were experiencing the same issue. But instead of waiting for the website bug to be fixed or contacting customer support, they placed their order again. Still didn't work. And they kept trying. Again. And again.

Finally, just before midnight, they managed to successfully place their order and the website confirmed this. But, as you've probably guessed by now, they attempted to place that order 27 times in the span of two hours. It turns out every single one of those 27 unwanted extra submissions were received by Tesla; the problem was not receiving the correct notification.

All told, their order amounted to 1.4 million euros, or nearly $1.57 million according to the latest exchange rates.

On top of that, there's a nonrefundable fee of 100 euro per car. Great. That'll be 2,700 euros ($3,017). Instead of getting a good night's rest with the satisfaction and excitement of buying a new and cool car online, father and son frantically reached out to Tesla support. They explained the situation. As expected, Tesla did the right thing and gave them zero problems. All 28 orders were immediately canceled without charge and were instructed to simply place a new order.

A little anticlimactic, we know, but the Tesla support representative did stress to place their order before the end of this month for some reason. The lesson here is to be careful when buying a new car online. If the system is making a mistake don't, whatever you do, keep resending the order. Be patient. Contact customer service first and resolve the issue there.