Family forced to cancel vacation after venti-sized tipping error at Starbucks
Company sent reimbursement checks that allegedly bounced
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An Oklahoma man said he was forced to cancel a family vacation after a couple of cups of coffee at Starbucks cost him almost $5,000 because of a venti-sized tipping error.
Jesse O’Dell reportedly thought he had spent around $12 for the coffee but found a $4,456.27 charge from Starbucks on his bank statement after his wife's credit card was declined while shopping for shoes and clothes ahead of the planned trip.
"I felt disbelief," O’Dell told told the Kansas City Star. "I don’t have that kind of money sitting around to just play with."
O'Dell said he contested the charge but was initially told by Starbucks that the purchase was legitimate and that he had entered a $4,444.44 tip
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An employee hands a drink to a customer at the drive-thru of a Starbucks coffee shop. (David Paul Morris / Bloomberg via Getty Images / File / Getty Images)
"I know how to press buttons. I didn’t press that button," O’Dell told the Star. "If it wasn’t the barista then it’s definitely your network, which is a really big issue."
O’Dell claimed Starbucks eventually sent him reimbursement checks that bounced when he tried to deposit them – which frustrated him enough to involve the Tulsa Police Department.
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Customers in the drive-thru of a Starbucks coffee shop. (David Paul Morris / Bloomberg via Getty Images / File / Getty Images)
"At that point is when I started getting serious," O’Dell said.
O’Dell said the company told him the checks bounced due to a typo and then sent him another round.
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A Starbucks Coffee shop (AP Photo / Charles Krupa / File / AP Newsroom)
The new checks are pending in his bank account, O'Dell said, adding it will be a relief when they clear and he can move on from the stressful situation.
A spokesperson for Starbucks Corp. told FOX Business that the company worked to address an error made on a customer's tip as quickly as possible and that the customer cashed the reimbursement check on Feb. 6.