Couple who bought two Starbucks coffees forced to cancel holiday after discovering how much they were charged

A couple who bought two coffees from Starbucks have revealed how they had to cancel their holiday over the amount they were charged.

Now, the price of buying a coffee might have gone up in recent years, but Jesse O'Dell and wife DeeDee, from Oklahoma, were left thousands of pounds out of pocket after visiting their local branch for just two drinks.

The issue occurred when Jesse headed to Starbucks Drive-Thru to pick up a venti Iced Americano for himself and a venti Caramel Frappuccino with a single shot of espresso for DeeDee.

It should have cost just $11.83 (£8.92) but instead, he ended up paying thousands of pounds for two drinks.

Jesse explained that he had selected the 'no tip' option and paid for the drinks with his credit card, but a few days later when DeeDee was using the card in another store, it unexpectedly declined.

After investigating what was happening, they found that Jesse had been charged a huge $4,444.44 gratuity fee for the two drinks.

"I entered no tip," the 39-year-old previously told NBC News. "But somehow there’s a massive tip on it."

The couple bought two coffees at Starbucks (Stephen Chernin/Getty Images)

The couple contacted Starbucks, and were informed that they would receive a refund in the form of two cheques. However, they say that the cheques bounced once they had arrived.

Due to the delay in getting their money back, the family had to cancel their holiday to Thailand to see DeeDee's sister, which meant they had lost even more money.

"I didn’t want to be traveling across the planet while we had thousands of dollars hung up somewhere," Jesse said.

The couple ended up involving the police in Tulsa but luckily, new cheques were issued and the money was eventually refunded.

Jesse had accidentally been charged for a huge tip (WSLS 10)

Police in Tulsa told NBC in a statement in 2023: "Detectives did not find any intent of fraud from the employees working at the time. We are no longer investigating the case because it is our understanding that Starbucks is making a good faith effort to refund the customers and we did not find any evidence of fraud."

A spokesperson for Starbucks previously told LADbible Group: "This was an unfortunate situation that took place and has long been resolved.

"There was an error made regarding a customer tip at a Starbucks drive thru, and we worked to address the situation as quickly as possible.

"Checks were issued and cashed by the customer on Monday 6 February 2023."