We’re are willing to pay a few quid in return for a decent cup of coffee, but this couple didn’t realise their ‘moment of weakness’ at a Starbucks drive-thru would cost them their dream holiday.
The coffee giant have since spoken out about the ‘unfortunate situation’ which left Jesse O’Dell and his wife Deedee thousands of dollars out of pocket while also sending their travel plans down the drain.
The O’Dells, from the US state of Oklahoma, explained last year that they had headed to their local Starbucks to grab a venti iced americano and a venti caramel frappuccino with a single shot espresso in January 2023.
Pretty standard stuff – and as they’re regular visitors, they had an idea of how much it would cost them.
Jesse explained they usually spend around $10 (£7.60) per day on beverages, so he didn’t bat an eyelid when he was informed their drinks would cost $11.83 (£9.01).
“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,” he told Fox23.
The couple paid, got their coffee and hit the road – only to come to a horror realisation two days later when Deedee was out shopping and her credit card declined.
Jesse and Deedee O’Dell were left stunned when they realised how much they had been charged (KOKi/CNN)
Unbeknownst to them, a hefty gratuity charge was added onto their bill, to the tune of a whopping $4,444.44 (£3,386.63).
“I entered no tip,” Jesse said. “But somehow, there’s a massive tip on it.”
The 36-year-old immediately got in touch with Starbucks to resolve the situation and said he was initially informed it was a ‘legitimate charge’, NBC News reported, before the coffee firm agreed to reimburse him.
Jesse said that he was told he would receive cheques in the post to cover the costs of the erroneous tip – but when they arrived, the cheques bounced.
He explained that he’d told an area manager he was ‘going to go insane’ due to the financial predicament the mix-up had left him in.
The couple had a hefty gratuity fee added onto their coffee bill (WSLS 10)
“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,” he said.
“We got a call from one of the representatives in Seattle. They assured us that they are sending new cheques.”
Jesse had planned to take his wife and their four daughters to the province of Chonburi, Thailand where Deedee is from.
But the parents decided to cancel their travel plans as they ‘didn’t want to be traveling across the planet while they had thousands of dollars hung up somewhere’.
“We had planned to take a trip but had to cancel, and the tickets are non-refundable,” Jesse added.
Starbucks said the incident had been resolved after the cheques bounced (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
The couple said that their days of heading to the Starbucks drive-thru near their home might be over due to all the chaos – thankfully though, new cheques were eventually sent out to the pair which they were able to cash.
After LADbible had previously approached Starbucks about the situation, a spokesperson said: “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.”
The O’Dell’s also urged Starbucks customers to double check what they have been charged for on their receipts so that others don’t end up in the same situation, as Jesse added: “This is something that has caused huge duress in our own family, and hopefully other people don’t have to go through something like this.”
Featured Image Credit: WSLS 10
Topics: Starbucks, Travel, Money, US News
