Couple's holiday horror after they're accidentally charged £23,000 for Uber ride

08 July 2023 , 18:28

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A couple say they were charged £23,362 for a single Uber ride (Image: AFP/Getty Images)

One couple's holiday started on a bum note when they were charged £23,362 ($29,994.33) for a Uber ride to the airport.

Dominique Adams had just finished a solo trip in Costa Rica when she ordered the taxi in order to head to the airport to fly to Guatemala and meet her husband, Douglas Ordonez

The couple, who live in Riverside, California, were set to celebrate their five-year anniversary on the romantic trip.

The couple had to use cash (PA)

But they became aware that things had gone wrong the next morning, when Mr Ordonez's debit card was declined at a coffee shop during his layover in Cancun.

“I checked my phone to see what was going on and I see that $29,994 U.S. dollar charge,” Ordonez told SFGATE - which left their bank account empty.

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"I couldn’t buy anything. I couldn’t use my checking.”

Looking at the charge, they realised it was probably a conversion error - as one U.S. dollar equals 542 Costa Rican colónes, meaning Ms Adams’ $55.43 Uber ride had resulted in a £23,362 ($29,994.33) charge.

The couple still made it to Guatemala, made the best of their trip - but struggled to resolve the charge and had to use cash.

He tried to resolve it through Uber customer support and and even tried support number for Uber drivers, but was just told to contact her bank.

But they told the couple it might take up to seven days - even though the couple were baffled that such a large charge had been approved.

The couple shared their woe on TikTok since August, with screenshots of the absurd charge and her unanswered customer support messages - and it's been viewed more than six million times.

Happily after three days in Guatemala, the charge was reversed. Uber also appears to have refunded the $55.43 for the ride, Mr Ordonez said.

He told SFGate he won't be using Uber again, adding: "I always want to give people a second chance, but if you want to operate in the dark and not reach out to your customers and talk to them and explain to them what was going on, I don’t appreciate it."

"Preferably going forward, I will be using their competitors.”

Rosaleen Fenton