Couple claim they were charged $30,000 for single Uber ride in Costa Rica
An American tourist was charged nearly $30,000 for a June Uber ride to the airport in Costa Rica, thanks to a currency mix-up.
@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
Dominique Adams said her “heart sank” when she saw a $29,994 charge at her bank for the Uber ride, part of a trip to celebrate her five year wedding anniversary with her husband.
"I was definitely worried that I was not going to get my money back because Uber and my bank were not helpful or providing me with any type of solution," she told Newsweek. "It was a constant battle."
The mix-up occurred when she was charged $29,994.33 for a ride that should’ve cost 29,994 Costa Rican colones, the equivalent of just over $55.
"My bank and Uber were basically blaming each other," she said in a TikTok about the experience, which went viral, adding, her bank "basically told me that it was my fault because I put a travel notice on my card, and because of that the charge was able to bypass all of the security measures, all of the policies that were in place."
Uber said once it was alerted to the issue it quickly worked to resolve the problem.
"At Uber, we take every report seriously,” the company toldInsider. “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."
"However, the time it takes for the refund to be processed depends on each bank’s policies,” Uber added.
Ms Adams’s husband, Douglas Ordonez, said on Twitter the issue had been resolved.
“ABSOLUTELY NO REASON why this amount should have cleared. After 4 full days 29k was finally adjusted,” he wrote.
