Woman Charged Nearly $30,000 for Uber Ride on Vacation

A woman vacationing in Costa Rica was left "absolutely shocked" after being charged nearly $30,000 for an Uber ride.

Dominique Adams told Newsweek how her "heart sank" when she realized she had been charged $29,994 for a journey from the resort where she was staying in Costa Rica to the airport.

Adams, an American, was on her way to meet her husband to celebrate their five-year wedding anniversary in Guatemala but, after checking her recent transactions, realized she had been mistakenly charged in U.S. dollars rather than the Costa Rican Colón.

A charge of 29,994 Colóns equates to around 55 U.S. dollars.

Vacations may be a time for relaxing with loved ones and enjoying the local scenery but problems can, and often do, happen. A 2022 survey by financial comparison website Bankrate found that eight out of 10 travelers experience at least one problem while away.

Money issues are among the most common, with the study finding that 57 percent of respondents cited "higher prices than you're accustomed to" as the main travel-related issue faced last year.

Adams' experience takes that to a whole other level though. "I was absolutely shocked," she said. "My heart sank." However, she said what made it worse was that both Uber and her bank, Altura Credit Union, allegedly offered little in the way of help.

"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 said. "It was a constant battle."

Newsweek has contacted Uber for comment.

Adams said that when she spoke to a representative from Altura Credit Union they "blamed" her for putting a travel notice on her account, letting them know that she would be traveling through Central America.

"My bank said that because I placed the travel notice, it allowed the charge to bypass security, whereas usually a charge like that would have been detected as fraud," she said.

Newsweek has contacted California-based Altura Credit Union for comment. The company acknowledged the issue in a tweet responding to Adams' husband who took to Twitter to complain.

Adams said her bank told her she needed to contact Uber to get the charge reversed, but she said that proved difficult. "There was barely any customer service and I was only getting pre-generated messages back."

As a result, the couple was left with very little money to get by during what was supposed to be their memorable anniversary trip together. "We weren't able to access any of our money for 4 days," she said. "We pulled out a little bit of cash to barely get us by for boat rides and transportation, but besides that our vacation was essentially put on hold."

Adams said her bank initially estimated it would take seven days for her to get the money back but thankfully the charges were reversed after just four. She puts that down to the fact both she and her husband began to publicize the issue on social media.

"I believe Uber reversed the charge because they reached out to us on Twitter and said that they had a team working on it and if I could provide them with my phone number," she said.

Despite providing one, Adams has yet to hear from anyone at Uber.

She also claimed that while Altura Credit Union has issued an apology, "the bank still could not provide a valid reason why the charge bypassed all security measures and policy."

Adams said the experience has taught her to only use credit cards when traveling abroad and she would encourage others to do the same. " I would definitely tell people to only use credit cards when traveling internationally," she said. "Credit card charges are easier and quicker to dispute. Also, if something does happen with your credit card it does not put all of your money on hold."

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