Tesla Screws Small Business by Canceling Order for 2,000 Pies

Not this.

No Pie Zone

The electric carmaker Tesla is facing community backlash after the company suddenly canceled an order for 2,000 pies — allegedly leaving a charitable small business out of a few thousand dollars, local San Francisco outlet ABC7 reports.

Per ABC7, Tesla sought the pies in question from a small San Jose pie shop called The Giving Pies, which donates a portion of its proceeds to local charities. According to shop owner Voahangy Rasetarinera — who took to Facebook yesterday to share her negative experience — Tesla had contacted her shop on February 14 to place its 2,000-pie order. As she and her staff started work, Rasetarinera said, she noticed that Tesla's vendor hadn't yet paid — even though a Tesla representative had approved The Giving Pies' quote.

"I'm like, 'Okay, I'm gonna wait, you know," Rasetarinera told ABC7, "'they are professional, they are a big company.'"

Per the report, Tesla finally got in touch with The Giving Pies late in the evening on February 15. The representative reportedly apologized, explaining that the vendor was new — and then, incredibly, asked to double the order. The shop owner organized her staff at the last minute and in the morning sent a revised invoice to the carmaker's rep, explaining that she would need payment to secure extra supplies. (All the while, Rasetarinera told ABC7, she was turning down other orders to ensure that she and her small team could complete Tesla's.)

That's where things took a turn. The next day, after reassuring Rasetarinera that morning that she'd requested approval for the pie purchase, the Tesla rep — hours later, around 2 pm — canceled the order outright, telling the piemaker that "it unfortunately sounds like we will be changing plans and will not be needing this order."

"Thank you so much for your support," the rep added in the unhinged message, "I appreciate it."

Old Patterns, New Lows

All in all, per the report, Rasetarinera calculated that her experience with Tesla put her out of $2,000 —  a consequential amount of cash for a small business. It also wasn't until the next day that Tesla gave her a reason for the cancellation, which it chalked up to a "miscommunication" between the rep and upper management.

ABC7 does note that Tesla eventually volunteered to find another way to buy Rasetarinera's pies, but the baker was reportedly hesitant to trust the offer. Understandable!

If there's any silver lining, community members reportedly flocked to The Giving Pies to clear out its shelves upon hearing the news. Still, Tesla is a multibillion-dollar company, and this isn't the first time that a venture helmed by Elon Musk — who, of course, also happens to be the world's richest person — has stiffed its vendors. Backtracking on pie payments is just a new low.

More on Muskian companies not paying for things: Broke Boy Elon Musk Struggling to Pay Bills