App overcharged couple R400,000 while on vacation
There are very few things as scary as swiping your card confidently, only to the dreaded message "insufficient funds".
Seeing that message pop up when you are trying to pay is terrifying, even if you know you have enough money in your account and this is clearly a machine or connection error.
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But what do you do when it's not a false alarm and you're stuck in a foreign country while on holiday?
One couple, who didn't end up broke because of bad planning, found themselves without any money while celebrating their fifth anniversary in Costa Rica.
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Douglas Ordonez and Dominique Adams had found themselves with $29,994 (over R500,000) less in their account after an Uber ride.
The ride was initially only supposed to cost them $55 but an issue with currency conversion resulted in them with no money and it took them longer than expected to get their money back.
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After noticing the mistake that was made, they reached out to their bank and to Uber in a desperate attempt to get their money back.
The couple also took to social media to air their grievances:
@dominique.xo.xo Trying not to let this ruin the remainder of my trip, but…. Yes! @Uber charged me $29,994 for a single ride! Correct conversion should have been $54, but was charged 600% more. Contacted Uber: They replied w/ “Do not worry”, but did not provide any further assistance 😩 I cannot find a customer service number anywhere. They have ignored my messages & I have only received pre-generated messages. Yes, I contacted my financial institution @Altura Credit Union immediately. They said there is nothing they can do about it at the moment as I have to wait another 4 days for the amount to possibly convert to the correct amount. Cannot believe they allowed a payment of this amount to process. Failed security measures & negligence. So now I am on a trip out of the county with no way to access my funds 🙃 Pray for me 🙏🏽 Just trying to enjoy my vacation 🌴 ##emotionaldamage##horrorstory##uberscam##uber##fyp##viral##travelhorrorstory##wtf##traveltiktok ♬ Song Oh no oh no oh no no no - Hip Hop
Uber charged me $29,994 USD for a Uber ride in Costa Rica. They did not convert that into the Costa Rican currency $54 USD. Altura credit union allowed this charge to process and Uber is not complying. Now I’m in Guatemala with a negative balance on my 5 year anniversary. #uber pic.twitter.com/UGgZHXYjF8
— Douglas Ordonez (@DOJ_111) June 29, 2023
Luckily they were able to get all their money back although they don't know whether their bank, Altura Credit Union or Uber were responsible for the issue finally being resolved.
An Uber spokesperson also reached out to Insider to address the situation:
At Uber, we take every report seriously. As soon as we received the user's report, our support team promptly addressed the issue and released the authorization hold mistakenly applied due to a bank error in Dollars and not in Colones.
Luckily it seems like the couple were able to enjoy the rest of their time in Costa Rica and even got to renew their vows.
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Main image courtesy of iStock/Kendal Swart