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1 Apr, 2019 03:01

Refund time? Jeweler who gave Musk $40,000 diamond ring trapped in his ‘f**king’ Tesla

Refund time? Jeweler who gave Musk $40,000 diamond ring trapped in his ‘f**king’ Tesla

A celebrity jeweler who has heaped praise on Elon Musk, calling him his inspiration and giving the Tesla CEO a custom-made diamond and ruby ring, struck a very different tone when he got locked inside his model X.

Ben Baller, a US musician, actor and jeweler, best known for his extravagant custom-made bling-bling, posted a video from inside his Tesla vehicle on Instagram. In the short carousel video, Baller says that he has been unable get out of his car for more than half an hour because an electronic door would not open.

"I wish this was a f**king joke," he says, before going on an expletive-filled rant. Baller says that he called for road assistance to free him.

"I'm locked inside my f**king Tesla. I know I've been a Tesla fan, I've said so many good things about Tesla. But I've been locked in the car now for 37 minutes f**king waiting for roadside assistance," a visibly distressed Baller says.

It is far from the first reported case of malfunctioning door locks on a Tesla vehicle, and other drivers have reportedly suffered far worse consequences – like a man in Florida who burned to death in a Model S in February after the door allegedly wouldn't open.

READ MORE: Tesla U-turn: Electric carmaker to raise prices on all models & scale back on store closures

Baller escaped the trap unscathed, laughing off the incident on Twitter the next day and blaming Lebron James, with whom he has a long-running feud, for setting him up.

He might be regretting that lavish gift he gave Musk back in December, though – a custom-made ruby and diamond ring with the 'Tesla' engraved on the back.

Baller said at the time that it was the first custom piece of jewelry he has ever given anyone, calling Musk an inspiration and praising him for creating "almost 50,000 jobs to Americans and putting USA back on the map as a serious contender in the auto industry."

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Dear Elon Musk Please accept this 1 of 1 custom Diamond and Ruby #Tesla ring for being an inspiration to me and my best friend Paul aka @va_p100d FYI both of us own @teslamotors Model X P100D’s and both of us appreciate what you’ve done for Americans and the 🌎 FYI I have never gifted anyone a custom piece of jewelry in my career. In fact I have a long list of clients who are waiting to pay for a piece by me, but they’ll have to wait so that we could gift you this ring for Christmas. Why are we giving you this ring? Because you have motivated me and Paul to level up and push limits. 🙌🏼 This ring is made of solid Platinum and I custom cut diamond baguettes to spell out T-E-S-L-A. on the back of the ring... On the front of the ring I set a rare Trillion cut diamond to emphasize the “T” logo surrounded by round brilliant white diamonds(all diamonds used on this ring are VVS1 clarity). The rest of the ring is made of the highest quality rubies all pave set by hand. This ring was designed and created here in America, just like your cars. We salute you for giving almost 50,000 jobs to Americans and putting USA back on the map as a serious contender in the auto industry. The last successful US car company startup before Tesla was Chrysler and that was 90 years ago. You could have easily retired after you sold PayPal but you bet it all on Tesla and that takes BIG balls. Much respect. Please tell me where you would like us to deliver this ring. And thank you for being awesome.

Публикация от 𝖇𝖊𝖓 𝖇𝖆𝖑𝖑𝖊𝖗 (@benballer)

Baller said it was just a Christmas present, with no strings attached. Responding to Baller on Twitter, Musk tweeted a simple "Thanks."

While Musk's Tesla has arguably become the most recognizable brand on the electric car market, the company has yet to catch up with its competitors in terms of sales. In a new report issued by BMW, Tesla is tied for fifth with Volvo in terms of market share.

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