Jesse O’Dell called it a “moment of weakness” when he scooped up two coffees at a Starbucks’ drive-thru last month.
The Tulsa, Oklahoma, resident paid using a credit card and said he selected the “no tip” option on the coffee chains’ computerized system and shelled out $11.83 on Jan. 7 for a venti Iced Americano and a venti Caramel Frappuccino with a single shot espresso for his wife.
Unbeknownst to O’Dell, he was actually charged a whopping $4,444.44 gratuity, which he didn’t learn about until two days later when the credit card used at Starbucks was declined while his wife was shopping, he said.
“I entered no tip,” O’Dell, 36, said Friday. “But somehow there’s a massive tip on it.”
That’s when a monthlong fight began for O’Dell to recoup the money. The ordeal even prompted the O’Dells to cancel a family trip to Thailand.
After learning about the colossal coffee charge, O’Dell said his wife, Deedee O’Dell, called the credit card company and learned about the tip at Starbucks. They then went to the Starbucks to dispute the gratuity and were initially told it was a “legitimate charge,” O’Dell said.
After speaking to multiple managers, O’Dell was told he would be mailed checks to cover the tip.
Two checks arrived in late January, O’Dell said. But they bounced.
“I’m going to go insane,” O’Dell said he told an area manager after explaining the checks were not able to be cashed.
O’Dell, who runs a nonprofit, and his wife, a general manager at a restaurant, canceled a family trip to visit Chonburi, Thailand, where she is from.
The couple has four daughters ranging in ages from 13 to an infant.
“I didn’t want to be traveling across the planet while we had thousands of dollars hung up somewhere,” he said.
O’Dell then went to police because he was unsure if he’d ever get the money back and did not know if the gratuity was added on purpose.
A spokesperson with the Tulsa police said Friday in an emailed statement that no…
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