Small California business owner Voahangy Rasetarinera claims that mega-company Tesla has left her business “high and dry” after reportedly backing out of a large pie order at the last minute.
Rasetarinera owns The Giving Pies in San Jose, CA, and says she was approached by a Tesla spokesperson on Valentine’s Day. According to NBC affiliate KNTV and CW affiliate KRON-TV, the representative reportedly ordered thousands of mini pies from Rasetarinera’s business.
Rasetarinera posted on the Giving Piece Facebook page, saying, “After providing a quote and receiving approval, I anticipated a smooth transaction.” However, she reportedly grew extremely concerned after payment “failed to materialize.”
The business owner claims she was contacted by the same Tesla representative on February 19 and asked to have the order doubled. According to Rasetarinera, the representative allegedly issued an apology to her “for their vendor not paying on time, claiming they were new.”
Rasetarinera continued in her Facebook post, “Despite the late hour and short notice, I consulted with my staff, who assured me they could manage the expanded order.” According to KMTV, the large order was intended for a Black History Month event and was worth upwards of $16,000.
The day after receiving the request to double the order, Rasetarinera said she “sent a revised invoice” to the company and was “requesting payment by noon to secure additional resources for production.” Unfortunately, she was stuck “in a difficult position” when that deadline came and passed.
As a result of accepting Tesla’s order, Rasetarinera says that her business was forced to turn down other Black History Month catering jobs in addition to purchasing supplies and getting ready “for a demanding production schedule” to meet Tesla’s needs.
Rasetarinera says she tried calling the Tesla representative at 2:00 p.m., “only to get her voicemail.” She stated that shortly after leaving a voicemail, she received a text message from the representative, “CASUALLY informing me that the plan had changed and Tesla would no longer require the order.”
Rasetarinera wrote, “This abrupt reversal left me reeling, realizing the extent of the impact on my small business.” She continued, “I had invested time, resources, and effort based on assurances from Tesla, only to be left high and dry.”
The business owner said she contacted the representative again and “expressed the profound disappointment and damage inflicted on my business.” She added in the Facebook post, “I outlined how their actions had disrupted my operations, strained my staff, and tarnished my trust in doing business with big corporations.”
Rasetarinera stated that despite “temporary setbacks,” the actions exhibited by Tesla “will not deter me from pursuing my passion and serving my community with integrity and pride.”
She concluded, “And though the scars of this experience may linger, they serve as a testament to the strength and resilience of small businesses everywhere.”
Billionaire founder of Tesla, Elon Musk, responded to the story over the weekend on his platform X. Musk stated, “Just hearing about this. Will make things good with the bakery. People should always be able to count on Tesla trying its best.”
The total order was for 4,000 pies. Rasetarinera says that Tesla has since offered “to make it right.” However, according to KRON-TV, she is reportedly still “waiting for confirmation” from the company to provide proposed details or make-up events. When the outlet asked for a comment on the situation, a Tesla spokesperson stated they had been in touch with Rasetarinera.
