Woman charged $5700 for a cup of coffee waited months for refund

‘It was a cinnamon dulce latte’

A woman in Colorado who was charged $5700 for a coffee from a hotel chain has waited three months for the refund of the huge amount.

Lisa Angello told ABC7 that she hasn’t been able to stop thinking about the coffee run that cost her thousands of dollars in Aurora, Colorado, on Christmas eve.

"Every single day, I think about it," Ms Angello told the broadcaster. “It was a cinnamon dulce latte."

She explained that she had visited the Gaylord Rockies in the area ahead of the holidays with a visitor from out of town so they could “go and take her children ice skating.”

Ms Angello did not stay at the hotel, but ordered the warm drink from the marketplace convenience store inside.

Read more:

• Everything we know so far about the Colorado supermarket attack
• Boulder gunman, Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, described as ‘anti-social’ by brother
• Mugshot of Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa released as high school classmates reveal paranoid, violent outbursts
• Ted Cruz and other GOP senators mount fiery defence of gun ownership
• Vaccine passports: Everything Americans need to know

The next Monday, she received an alert from her bank, USAA, alerting her to an insufficient funds fee after nearly $6000 had been drained from her account.

Ms Angello initially assumed her account had been the victim of fraud but then realised that “$5,705.70 was the dollar amount put in twice. $5.70 and $5.70.”

“That’s a trip to Paris cinnamon dulce latte,” she said.

Despite realising the error of the hotel, Ms Angello said that more than two months passed full of stressful phone calls and emails with USAA and the Gaylord Rockies in a fight to reclaim her money.

According to reports, emails showed that a Gaylord supervisor said they were "sorry about this situation and hope to rectify it soon with your bank.”

And while the bank initially credited her account for the $5,705.70, they took the money back out of her account last week saying they had not received the transfer.

"No one has my back. I’m caught between USAA and Gaylord, and no one’s listening," Ms Angello told the broadcaster. "I want my money returned to me. This has been so stressful."

A spokesperson for USAA told the ABC7: "USAA has been in contact with our member and we are working with the merchant to resolve the issue."

In a statement to the broadcaster, a spokesperson for the Gaylord Rockies wrote: "We take customer concerns very seriously and work directly with guests to address issues.

“If necessary, we also provide appropriate documentation to third-party financial services or institutions to facilitate customer resolutions,” adding they “do not comment on specific guest issues” as a matter of privacy.

Ms Angello said that once journalists began to show interest in the story, she “received money back into my account as a provisional credit” within the space of “hours”.

“So I’m actually back into the black where I can pay my bills," she said, hoping that Gaylord would come good on the refund this time around.

"It doesn’t even matter whose fault it is anymore. I just want it rectified. I want it made right.”