A couple had to cancel their holiday after a very expensive iced americano and a caramel frappuccino at Starbucks.
Most coffee lovers recoil in horror when they tot up how much they spend on coffee each week.
And while Jesse O’Dell and his wife Deedee, from Oklahoma, usually spend around $10 (£7.60) per day on beverages, they were left in shock and panic when they saw how much Starbucks had charged them for their latest order.
The pair were at their local Starbucks drive-thru one day, ordering their usual drinks, when they received a shocking bill.
“I ordered the Iced Americano and my wife, she always gets the Venti Caramel frappuccino with the extra shot, and it’s usually around nine to 10 bucks. An extra shot might raise it up to like $10.75,” Jesse told Fox23.
All was fine, until Deedee was shopping a few hours later and noticed something concerning about her bank account.
Her card was declined and after investigating to find out why, she discovered that she had been charged a $4,444 gratuity fee at the coffee chain.
Jesse quickly contacted Starbucks, and the couple received two cheques, which equalled the amount taken from Deedee’s account.
But the ordeal was far from over, as the cheques bounced, leaving Jesse and Deedee thousands of dollars out of pocket.
“We contacted their customer service helpline probably 30 to 40 times that day and just blasted every new case that we could just until we could hear from somebody, and we did,” said Jesse.
“We got a call from one of the representatives in Seattle. They assured us that they are sending new cheques, but as of today, we still have not received the cheques.”
The situation placed such financial strain on the family, that they even had to cancel a trip to Thailand.
“We had planned to take a trip but had to cancel, and the tickets are non-refundable,” Jesse continued.
Jesse says that despite being loyal customers for many years, the pair may never go back to Starbucks, after the stress and inconvenience they’ve experienced.
New cheque have since been sent out to the couple and successfully cashed.
A Starbucks spokesperson previously told LADbible Group: “This was an unfortunate situation that has since been resolved.
“The tip was entered by the customer in error. While the original refund cheques had a typo and therefore did not go through, we issued new ones on January 31, which were received and cashed by the customer on Monday, February 6.”
