A $4,500 Starbucks run shocked Oklahoma family. Coffee chain says it’s not to blame
An Oklahoma man says he stopped by Starbucks for a couple of cups of coffee and it wound up costing his family nearly $4,500.
Jesse O’Dell went through the drive-thru at a Starbucks in Tulsa on Jan. 7, but it wasn’t until later he discovered a costly mistake had been made, he told McClatchy News in a phone interview.
His wife was on a shopping trip with their kids, buying them new shoes and gear for an upcoming family trip. But when she tried to check out, the card was declined, O’Dell said.
O’Dell looked at the account and saw an unexpected charge, $4,456.27 spent at Starbucks, a financial statement shared with McClatchy shows.
“I felt disbelief,” he said. “I don’t have that kind of money sitting around to just play with.”
Still, he was confident it was just a mistake, nothing he couldn’t sort out by going back to the store and explaining the situation.
He was told it was a legitimate charge, that he had entered a tip of $4,444.44 while getting his coffee.
A Starbucks spokesperson said that after looking into the incident, it was determined O’Dell entered the tip in error.
O’Dell says he did no such thing.
“I know how to press buttons. I didn’t press that button,” he said. “If it wasn’t the barista then it’s definitely your network, which is a really big issue.”
After repeatedly reaching out to a Starbucks district manager, the company sent O’Dell checks refunding the charge, he said. But when they arrived and O’Dell deposited them, the checks bounced.
“At that point is when I started getting serious,” O’Dell said, adding that he filed a report with the Tulsa Police Department.
“We’ve had to ask for help, we’ve had to cancel trips,” he said, as the sudden disappearance of nearly $4,500 has been a burden.
The first reimbursement checks bounced because of a typo, a Starbucks spokesperson told McClatchy.
The coffee chain sent another round that arrived recently.
“We got checks the other day and they’re still pending in our bank account,” O’Dell said.
It will be a relief if they go through this time, he said, as he and his family are ready to put the stress and financial strain behind them.
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