Tulsa residents Jesse O'Dell and his wife DeeDee stop by Starbucks every day for their morning pick-me-up.
"Typically we do almost every day for the last 16 years. We get 10 dollars worth of coffee," said Jesse. "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."
Imagine their surprise when they discovered that Starbucks had mugged them by adding a $4,444.44 tip to their order.
Let me show you that number again:
DeeDee discovered Starbucks' trenta withdrawal when her debit card was embarrassingly declined at the mall.
"For this to happen was just a real it was a real shock. I know for a fact I didn't do that but sure enough, it was there in the charge, " said Jesse. "We do give good tips but nothing like that. And from there the real hell started."
Jesse contacted the Starbucks district manager, who said that it was a known issue… something about a sticky button. Starbucks issued the O'Dells two reimbursement checks for the full amount of the excess charge.
However, the O'dells bank called them and told them the checks bounced.
I'll repeat that.
$4,444.44 in checks from Starbucks bounced.
The O'Dells had been talking to representatives in Seattle, so these were corporate checks not the franchise. How does a multi-million dollar corporation bounce $4,444.44 in checks?
Starbucks then reportedly stonewalled the O'Dells for days before they finally got to talk to another representative who assured them new checks were being mailed.
As of this writing, the O'Dells have not received the new checks, and who knows if they'll clear anyway?
Sounds like grounds for a lawsuit if they don't.
