Woman Accidentally Tipped $7,000 on Subway Sandwich — And Had to Fight the Bank to Get Her Money Back Vera Conner thought she was being prompted to enter her phone number on the Subway pay screen — but she quickly realized she made a grave mistake.
By Emily Rella Edited by Jessica Thomas
Key Takeaways
- A woman in Georgia accidentally tipped $7,000 for her foot-long sub.
- Conner thought the screen was asking her to enter her phone number to access her loyalty account with the chain, but it was really prompting her to enter a tip amount.
- It took more than a month for her bank to reverse the charge, and she says it's a temporary credit.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Automatic tipping prompts have been wildly unpopular with customers at popular chain restaurants, but sometimes, human error can mean leaving an even bigger tip than the machine prompts.
This was precisely the case for Subway customer Vera Conner, who accidentally left a $7,105.44 tip on a $7.54 sandwich at a Georgia location of the chain.
Conner, who paid using a Bank of America credit card, accidentally input the last six digits of her cell phone number, thinking she was earning Subway loyalty points. But the screen had in fact asked her to enter the amount she wanted to leave for a tip.
Related: Starbucks Customers Are Furious Over New Digital Tipping System
"When I looked at my receipt, I was like, 'Oh, my God!'" Conner told NBC News. "Who would leave a tip like that?"
The charge, which Conner made on October 23, took nearly a month to reverse, which only happened after she made trips to the Subway store and bank and disputed the charge with Bank of America, which was initially denied.
"You hear all the time that you should use your credit card instead of your debit card so that these things don't happen," she told the outlet. "I'm even getting mad at the bank, because I'm like, 'How did they not think $7,000 was suspicious at Subway?'"
On Monday, the bank issued a temporary credit for the charge, but Conner noted that she will no longer be using the loyalty rewards app.
A spokesperson for Bank of America told the New York Post that the company "asked Subway to refund the money to the client and we're please[d] they have agreed to do so."
Subway did not immediately respond to Entrepreneur's request for comment.
Related: Oklahoma Man Charged $4,500 at Starbucks After Tipping Error
