By Antonio Planas —
NBC News
Jesse O'Dell got a bitter surprise when he bought two coffees at a Starbucks window on January 7.
The Tulsa, Oklahoma, resident ordered an
Iced Americano
and a
Caramel Frappuccino
with a shot of espresso for his wife.
He paid with a credit card and selected the “no tip” option on the card reader machine.
The two coffees were to cost
$11.83
.
Jesse and Deedee O'Dell. Courtesy Jesse and Deedee O'Dell
But unknown to O'Dell, he was actually charged
a $4,444.44 tip
, something he wouldn't find out until two days later, when the credit card he used at Starbucks was declined while his wife was out shopping.
“I didn't put in any tips,” O'Dell, 36, said Friday, “but somehow a huge tip got entered.”
That's when O'Dell began a month-long battle to get his money back.
The ordeal even caused the couple to have to cancel a family trip to Thailand.
Jesse and Deedee O'Dell's account at Starbucks.Courtesy Jesse and Deedee O'Dell
After learning of the exorbitant price they paid for the coffees, O'Dell said his wife, Deedee, called the credit card bank.
So they went to Starbucks to claim the involuntary tip.
There they were told it was a
"legitimate charge
," according to O'Dell.
After speaking with several managers, they assured him that checks would be sent to pay him back for the $4,444.
Two checks arrived at the end of January, according to O'Dell.
But
they were rejected when he deposited them into his account.
"I'm going to go crazy
," O'Dell complained to a Starbucks employee after explaining that the checks could not be cashed.
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O'Dell, who runs a nonprofit organization, and his wife, who is the CEO of a restaurant, had to cancel a family trip to Chonburi, Thailand, where she is from.
The couple have four minor daughters, including a baby.
“I didn't want to go around the world while we had thousands of dollars hanging on us,” he said.
Fearing that he would not be able to get his money back, O'Dell then went to the authorities.
A Tulsa police spokesman said in an emailed statement Friday that no one was charged in the incident.
A fraud investigation was opened on January 26, the spokesman said.
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“Detectives from our Financial Crimes Unit investigated the case and found that the tip was added either by accident or by machine error.
Detectives
found no fraudulent intent
on the part of the employees working at the time," the statement said.
The spokesperson added: "We are no longer investigating the case because we understand that Starbucks is making a good faith effort to reimburse customers and we did not find any evidence of fraud."
A Starbucks spokesman said in a phone call Friday that the matter had been "resolved."
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“It was an unfortunate situation that is now resolved,” the spokesperson said.
“A mistake was made regarding a customer's tip at a Starbucks drive-thru and we are working to address the situation as quickly as possible.
The checks were issued and cashed by the customer on Monday, February 6.
O'Dell confirmed that the checks had cleared and said, laughing, that his and his wife's habit of stopping by Starbucks a couple of times a week was over.
“My coffee tastes better than Starbucks coffee,” he
said.
"I have a French press."