Woman’s Costa Rica holiday ruined after she was charged £23,000 for Uber ride
A woman has issued a warning to holidaymakers after she was charged £23,000 for a single Uber trip.
Dominique was on holiday in Costa Rica last week and needed to take a trip by herself, opting for an Uber instead of a local taxi due to the convenience. The journey ended up coming out at £43.
However, the following day the seasoned traveller was horrified to discover that a charge of ($29,994) £23,000 was pending and due to shortly come out of her account.
Dominique realised she had been charged in US dollars instead of Costa Rican Colón, with tens of thousands of dollars then disappearing from her bank account.
Hugely overdraft, she struggled to convince her bank and Uber that the amount was wrong and that she had been overcharged.
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Dominque was enjoying a holiday in beautiful Costa Rica (Getty Images/Moment Open)In a video of the ordeal posted to TikTok Dominique can be seen heading through lush green scenery in Costa Rica while sitting in the back of an Uber.
"Take an UBER in Costa Rica they said. It will be fine they said," she wrote over the clip.
The video then switches to a shot of the money leaving her account and then screenshots of her attempts to get in touch with Uber. At one point the company tells her there is "nothing to worry about".
She captioned the post: "Trying not to let this ruin the remainder of my trip, but... yes! Uber charged me $29,994 for a single ride!"
Dominique says she was forced to put her holiday on hold after the charge left her debit card with a massive negative balance.
"I've travelled all over the world and have never had an issue until now. Lesson learned for sure," she wrote beneath the video.
In a second clip she explained how she usually uses her credit card, which has a capped limit, for international charges, but was rushing and forgot her debit was attached to her Uber account.
She explained the massive fee happened by "accident" all because the trip was supposed to cost 29,994 Costa Rican Colón, but she was charged in US dollars instead.
"I ended up taking an Uber. Everything was fine but the next morning I had a charge to my bank account and I realised I was charged in US dollars instead of being charged in the Costa Rican currency which is why it was posted that I was charged $29,000," Dominique said.
Dominique said the holiday proved difficult after the money was taken (Getty Images/WaterFrame RM)She quickly contacted her bank in an attempt to resolve the problem, but claims they told her it was her own fault.
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"I was going back and forth with the bank they basically told me it was my fault because I had put a travel notice on my card and because of that the charge was able to bypass all the security measures, all the policies that were in place with the bank, what the f***?" she said.
Dominique also contacted out to Uber, but they blamed her bank for the blunder, she claims.
"All that I was able to get from them is that it was my bank's fault and that I needed to check with my bank on why they did not convert it or charge me in the correct currency. My bank and Uber were basically blaming each other," the disgruntled traveller said.
She was left furious when the pending charge meant she was stranded abroad without being able to withdraw any money from her debit card.
"Keep in mind I'm out of the country, this is my primary bank so I was not able to withdraw any money, my vacation was essentially put on hold," the globe trotter said.
In an update posted to Twitter, her partner, Douglas Ordonez, said after four days of holding the money her bank finally converted the fee correctly to $55.43.
He wrote: "ABSOLUTELY NO REASON why this amount should have cleared. After 4 full days, the 29k was finally adjusted."
An Uber spokesperson confirmed the issue has now been resolved.
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