An Oklahoma coffee shop turned out to be much more expensive than a family had planned, according to The Sacramento Bee.
An Oklahoma man was charged nearly $4,500 for a coffee order the vast majority of which was a tip, then he and his wife, according to reports, had to go through a small odyssey of bounced checks and customer service calls to get it back .
In early January, Jesse O’Dell went to a Starbucks drive-thru in Tulsa and ordered coffee. Later, when his wife was shopping with their children, one of her credit cards was declined. Then the family discovered that Starbucks charged $4,456.27. The Bee confirmed receipt.
“I felt disbelief… I don’t have that much money to play with,” he told the outlet.
Related: ‘Tipping culture is going insane’: Starbucks customers outraged by company’s new tipping system
Starbucks added a tipping system to its stores last year, much to the chagrin of some customers who expressed themselves online. It allows customers to add $1, $2, $5, or a custom amount.
“I know how to press buttons. I didn’t press that button,” he told the Bee.
O’Dell first went to the store to try and get a refund, where he was told he had left that tip. He then claimed that he had to contact the local district manager several times. Finally, he said that Starbucks had reimbursed him through paper checks.
They bounced.
“We’ve had to ask for help, we’ve had to cancel trips,” O’Dell told the Bee. O’Dell told local point of sale KOKI that they called the company’s customer service about 30 to 40 times that day in a panic.
A spokesman for Starbucks said Bee that the checks had a typo and that they re-sent the money. It also told the outlet that O’Dell accidentally entered the $4,444.44 tip, which O’Dell disputes.
O’Dell told the Bee that he is currently waiting for the deposits to clear.
Starbucks did not immediately respond businessroundups.org request for comment.
