US couple charged Rs 24 Lakh for one taxi ride by Uber, left with negative balance in between trip

Have you ever been overcharged on a vacation? The answer is probably going to be yes. Almost everyone on a vacation is overcharged by a few Dollars but not this couple. This couple was overcharged by almost $29,940 after their Uber ride turned into the most expensive Uber ride ever.

This couple who was on a vacation in Costa Rica booked an Uber which was showing the price of the ride as 29,994 Costa Rica colon, equivalent to almost $55. However, to the surprise of the couple $29,994 was deducted from their bank account instead of the $55 and this mistake left them with a negative balance on their fifth anniversary celebration.

Apparently, Uber showed the price of the ride in Costa Rica Colon but did not convert the Colon into USD while deducting the money. This led to $29,994 being deducted from the couple’s bank. Their bank, Altura Credit Union allowed this transaction despite her lower daily limit because she had placed a travel notice on their account for the trip.

“Uber charged me $29,994 USD for an Uber ride in Costa Rica. They did not convert that into the Costa Rican currency $54 USD. Altura credit union allowed this charge to process and Uber is not complying. Now I’m in Guatemala with a negative balance on my five-year anniversary,” Ordonez said in a tweet.

Uber responded to this incident acknowledging their mistake and saying, “At Uber, we take every report seriously. 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,” reported Business Insider

After four days of back and forth between Altura Credit Union and Uber support, the couple got back their balance of almost $29,940, finally resolving the issue.

“AlturaCU and Uber_Support are blaming each other. AlturaCU stated that the 29k amount bypassed security & daily charge limit because we put a travel notice. ABSOLUTELY NO REASON why this amount should have cleared. After 4 full days, the 29k was finally adjusted,” Ordonez updated in a subsequent tweet.