Q COSTA RICA (Insider) An American couple claim they were charged nearly US$30,000 for a single Uber ride during a vacation in Costa Rica, after an apparent currency conversion mix-up.
In a video shared on TikTok, user @dominique.xo.xo said that she was charged US$29,994.33 for an Uber ride in late June.
A caption on the video said that the journey should have cost ¢29,994 colones, which is equivalent to US$55.32.
In a follow-up video, Dominique said that after contacting her bank they “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.”
She added that she also reached out to Uber, which passed the blame back onto the bank.
She said Uber told her that she needed to check with the bank as to why there was a charge in the wrong currency.
“My bank and Uber were basically blaming each other,” she said.
Screenshots in the video appeared to show that the bank in question was Altura Credit Union.
Uber and Altura Credit Union did not respond to Insider’s requests for comment.
Screenshots on the video also correspond to complaints made by Douglas Ordonez.
@Uber charged me $29,994 USD for a ride in Costa Rica. Proper conversion= $54 USD. @AlturaCU allowed this charge to process and @Uber_Support is not complying. Currently in Guatemala on my 5 yr anniversary with no access to funds @pressenterprise @RepMarkTakano @MyDesert pic.twitter.com/pSkEaxlsXC
— Douglas Ordonez (@DOJ_111) June 30, 2023
On Twitter, Ordonez said he is currently in Guatemala celebrating her and his partner’s five-year anniversary with “no access to funds.”
Both companies responded to Ordonez’s Twitter message, but @dominique.xo.xo said in her TikTok video that they had not reached out directly as of Tuesday.
The screenshots in the video show that the charge was a temporary hold, with the pending transaction due to come out on July 2. It’s unclear if the money was removed from the bank account on that date.
In the video, Dominique said that the charge stopped her from being able to withdraw any money, essentially putting her vacation “on hold.”
Both Uber and their bank are blaming each other for the mix-up.
Read the original Insider.com article here.