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An Oklahoma man was charged $4,000 in tips for two cups of coffee at a Tulsa Starbucks and had to cancel a “once-in-a-lifetime trip” as he and his wife fought to get their money back.
A photo of the receipt showed the bill for almost $4,500 for two coffees, which should have cost $11.83. That would have been the total if it weren’t for a mysterious tip of $4,444.44.
Jesse O’Dell says he and his wife Deedee quickly contacted Starbucks after realizing the error and told them it was a system error that caused the incident.
Officials at the popular java franchise told the O’Dells they would send checks to cover the costs. The Tulsa couple, however, say they spent a day calling customer service “30 to 40 times” after checks. bounced back
The O’Dells also say they were forced to cancel a vacation while they waited for their money back and filed a report with the Tulsa Police Department about the situation.
Deedee (left) and Jesse O’Dell (right) were charged nearly $4,500 during a routine trip to Starbucks
This is the receipt the couple was given, showing how they were charged $4,444 in tip
At the time, Jesse said he selected the ‘no tip’ option during the drive-thru checkout. ‘I know how to push buttons. I didn’t push that button,’ he said.
“If it wasn’t the barista, it’s definitely their network, which is a big deal,” Jesse told the McClatchy News.
The couple did not realize they had been charged until days after the January 7 pickup.
deedee said KOKI that she only noticed the charge after the card was declined while she was out shopping with her four children.
Immediately, Deedee and Jesse began frantically contacting Starbucks.
Jesse said they called the local store and district manager and assured them it was a mistake and they would write checks right away.
However, the first round of checks bounced.
This is the Tulsa Starbucks that accidentally charged the couple
Without the tip, the bill should have been only $11.83 including tax.
TheO’Dells said they didn’t even notice the charge until several days later.
Jesse said he had pressed “no tip” when prompted at the drive-thru.
“We contacted their consumer service help line probably 30-40 times that day,” Jesse said. “They assured us that they are sending new checks.”
In a statement to DailyMail.com, a Starbucks representative said it was a typo on the checks that caused the funds not to be sent.
After repeated attempts to get their money back, they filed a complaint with the local police department while they waited for the new checks.
The case has since been closed and the couple received new checks that cleared on Monday, February 6, a Starbucks representative said.
Starbucks worked ‘quickly to fix the problem, sending the couple two checks
However, the first two checks Starbucks sent the couple bounced.
In a statement, Starbucks said it was a typo that caused the funds to not be processed.
Despite Starbucks correcting the mistake, the couple was still forced to cancel their family vacation after losing their budget.
“When that budget goes away, we just don’t know what to do,” Jesse said.
The family was planning a trip to Asia, where Deedee is from.
‘My wife is originally from Thailand and grew up in the United States. We had planned to take a trip to the country as a family on January 27, but we had to cancel and these tickets are non-refundable,” said Jesse.
It’s unclear if the Starbucks checks covered just the cost of the tip or if they received something extra related to the incident.
The couple had been planning a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ trip to Deedee’s Thailand.
The trip was unfortunately cancelled, due to insufficient funds in your account.
Jesse and Deedee now urge others to be vigilant when visiting a Starbucks.
A Starbucks representative who spoke to DailyMail.com said the company worked “quickly” to correct the error and attributed the situation to possible human error.
“This is something that has put pressure on our family and I hope others don’t have to go through something like this,” Jesse said.