Georgia woman accidentally tipped $7,000 for a Subway sandwich
A Georgia woman stopped in at Subway for a cheap bite — and walked away spending about 1,000 times what she intended.
On Oct. 23, Vera Conner made her weekly trip to a Subway shop in College Park, Georgia, to order her usual: a #4 Supreme Meats from the Subway Series lineup. She was expecting her Footlong to cost $7.54 but was shocked to find out later she was actually charged $7,112.98.
“When I looked at my receipt, I was like ‘oh my God!’” Conner told NBC News, adding that she had somehow left a tip for $7,105.44 on her Bank of America credit card. “I thought this number looks familiar — it was the last six numbers of my phone number. Who would leave a tip like that?”
Connor says she must’ve made the mistake while inputting her phone number into the Subway’s card machine as part of the chain’s loyalty program. She posits that at some point the machine must have changed to the tip screen, causing the error.
Connor didn’t realize the costly flub until days later, when she was checking her receipts at the end of the week.
“I thought it would be an easy fix ... then I got the denial from the bank,” Conner said. She added that the letter didn’t specify why her charge dispute was rejected. “That’s when I started worrying.”
Conner said she called the Subway location and her bank, and even showed up at the sandwich shop in person to try to fix the problem. However, a Subway manager said her bank would have to handle it.
Bank of America later said the refund was denied because the claim had to be resubmitted. Since Conner still had to pay $7.54 for her now-long-eaten sandwich, she would have to dispute the tip and the tip only.
Subway declined to comment to TODAY.com, but did respond to WSB-TV on Nov. 20, saying they were aware that Conner disputed the charge and that Bank of America had requested a chargeback.
When reached for comment, a Bank of America representative said Conner’s month-long nightmare is set to be over soon.
“We asked Subway to refund the money to the client, and we’re pleased they have agreed to do so,” the spokesperson tells TODAY.com.
Although Conner said she was finally issued a “temporary credit” for the charge on Nov. 20, she thinks using her card in the future may give her pause.
“You hear all the time that you should use your credit card instead of your debit card so that these things don’t happen,” said Conner. “I’m even getting mad at the bank because I’m like how did they not think $7,000 was suspicious at Subway?”
