A MAN has been left stunned after accidentally spending £665.50 on a burger and chips – facing a nightmare process lasting weeks to get his cash back.
Toby Wilson, 35, unknowingly spent the whopping sum on the veggie burger and chips meal on his way home from a night out.
Stunned late-night partygoer Toby Wilson has been left out of pocket after mistakenly forking out for one of the priciest burgers in BritainSWNS
The burger should have cost just £6.50 at food truck Efe’s Kebab Kitchen.
But Toby only clocked the huge miscalculation of more than £600 when he checked his account balance days later to find it had dropped “significantly”.
And when the HR manager approached business owner Ahmed Abdullah about his huge card payment, he said the vendor told him to seek a refund through his bank.
Business owner Ahmed Abdullah says he has now agreed to repay the cash – but Toby was left fuming over the month-long nightmare process to get his money back.
Toby said at the time, what started off as a “funny” saga has now caused him unending weeks of “stress”.
He said: “It’s very frustrating. Admittedly, at the start, it was a bit of a funny story. I thought it would be quickly sorted out and the banks would go, “Yep, it’s an error.”
“But the bank is very slow at doing things. They said, “have you got a receipt?” The human aspect of it is I don’t. No one has a receipt for things like that.
“I have a mortgage and bills to pay. It is just very worrying. The point is the money is mine, and it’s a significant amount.”
Business owner Ahmed Abdullah told a local paper at the time that he had wanted Toby to talk to his bank for safety reasons, adding: “This is the legal way”.
Toby, from Manchester, said he’d travelled to York to see friends just before Christmas last year and had purchased the pricey meal at around 11 pm.
He said: “I was out on December 23 for a sort of friends reunion. We all live in different parts of the country but go back to York. We do it every year.”
Toby added alcohol wasn’t to blame for the mistake: “I am a non-drinker. Maybe it would be different if someone was drunk and just stumbled into to get a kebab and got it all wrong. But that’s very much not the case.
“I just ordered a veggie burger and chips, and I looked at my bank balance a couple of days later, and I was like: “What’s going on? It’s significantly lower.”
“It was like: “No way, this can’t be real!”
Toby asked a friend in York to visit the kebab van and ask the owner if they wouldn’t mind refunding him the extra £660 he’d paid.
But after the pair began exchanging texts, Toby claims Mr Abdullah didn’t refuse to send him the money – he instead told him to speak to his bank, leading to the stalemate.
Toby said: “Being a large conglomerate, they have rules to follow and things like that.
“I explained the story to them, and they essentially need him to say “Yes, it’s happened.”
“I’ve worked in hospitality, so I know how these things work. I know he’d be able to see it in his accounts and what that transaction would relate to.
“It wouldn’t relate to anything, because I didn’t pay £666.50 for a veggie burger. He would be able to see that.”
Toby is still stunned he managed to spend hundreds on a meal that should have cost him just a few pounds.
He explained, exasperated: “Sometimes I still look it now and think “Was it definitely that?” I look at the bank transfer, and it’s got the name of his business.
“It’s not like it’s an incorrect number. It’s been paid for by Apple Pay. You can see it goes into his bank account.
He added: “If it was £50, I might be able to go, “You know what, just keep it, I’m not bothered with the stress” But it’s a lot.”
Mr Abdullah said after the event he was speaking to his card machine company to see if they could provide proof £666.50 of Toby’s money had gone into his account.
He said: “I’m talking to them to prove that the money is in my account or not. If they prove it, or if they don’t prove it, I’m going to tell him.”
Owner Mr Abdullah says he has now agreed to repay Toby Wilson back the £660 he mistakenly overspent for his veggie burger and chips meal after confirming that the money had reached his account.”
He added: “They say the customer needs to send me his details, or he can come with his bank card to the business.”
What are my refund rights?
If you want to return a product, there are laws that can protect you.
You should start by contacting the place where you bought it from or the manufacturer.
They may offer to refund you, fix a broken item, or replace it without dispute – it’s important to be clear on what you want them to do.
If this doesn’t work, contact your credit or debit card issuer.
Restaurant overcharges are quite common, so card issuers are often willing to help you deal with the problem.
Explain the situation and make sure to mention the efforts you made to resolve the issue with the restaurant yourself.
If all else fails and you refuse a refund you think you are owed, file a police report.
Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing [email protected]
SWNSEfe’s Kebab Kitchen, who overcharged Toby[/caption]
SWNSThe moment of shock when Toby checked his bank account[/caption] Read More