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Special education teacher tips $5,000 instead of $5 by accident. Then she gets told charge can’t be reversed

It took her nearly a year to get her money back.

Photo of Eilish O'Sullivan

Eilish O'Sullivan

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Special education teacher Linda Mathiesen spent nearly a year fighting to get her money back after accidentally tipping $5,000 at a vape shop in California. She was at the vape shop, San Bruno Exotic, to get CBD gel to ease her shoulder pain.

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Mathiesen sat down with ABC7 News Bay Area for an exclusive on-camera interview about what transpired.

The gel was $129.28. Mathiesen says she wanted to leave a $5 tip for the worker there and was under the impression the amount on the pad included a decimal point. So she says she went to hit two zeroes. She submitted what she thought was a $5 tip but then realized there was no decimal point. To make matters worse, she found out she accidentally hit three zeroes instead, bringing her tip to a whopping $5,000. Mathiesen notes she had a hard time seeing the screen, as she’s short and it was placed on a tall checkout stand (she notes she was standing on her tiptoes).

She spoke up, she says, telling the worker, “‘Wait, I want to delete this.’”

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At first, she says the worker told her he “couldn’t” reverse the charge. “He said he didn’t know how,” Mathiesen recalls. Then, he allegedly claimed the tip didn’t go through.

When she checked her bank account, however, Mathiesen saw that it did. She was out $5,000.

How Wells Fargo responded

So she says she called Wells Fargo, her bank, only 5 minutes after leaving the shop, but it did not reverse the charge. Many months and 22 lengthy phone calls with Wells Fargo later, Mathiesen says the bank is finally refunding the money and then some. Wells Fargo is also reportedly giving Mathiesen interest on the amount.

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ABC7 News reported that the bank only came to this conclusion after it reached out to them for its report. “We are committed to working with our customers to find solutions when they encounter issues,” a Wells Fargo representative told People in a statement.

Who’s to blame?

A YouTube video featuring ABC7 News’ interview with Mathiesen was shared in the r/EndTipping subreddit, which intends to advocate “for a system where workers aren’t reliant on tips.” There, users questioned why Mathiesen was even allowed to tip that much and expressed their disgust with the other parties involved.

“Why there is a tip option at a vape shop is beyond me,” the Redditor who posted Mathiesen’s story wrote.

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“The banks that allow this are just as much to blame,” another said.

A third user, speaking from personal experience, shared how they believe it should have been handled. They said they meant to tip $1 and accidentally tipped $10.

“The cashier immediately brought it to my attention and said did you mean to do this. I said no. She refunded me the money immediately. I cash tipped her an additional $. That’s service above and beyond. Or just being a good human being,” they wrote.

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H/T ABC7 News Bay Area

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