Canberra driver charged $200K for single tank of petrol
A Canberra driver was shocked to discover she had been charged more than $200,000 to fill her car with petrol at Costco in the lead up to Christmas.
Tina Tian visited the Costco service station in Majura Park on December 19 to fill up before driving to visit family in Queensland.
She believed she was paying $126 for the full tank of fuel using her credit card.
But three days later when she checked her bank details she was gobsmacked to see she had been charged six-figures for the tank of petrol.
Now almost two weeks after being overcharged, Ms Tian says she still hasn’t received an explanation from Costco as to how the $200,000 bill occurred – or been reimbursed for the money.
"They should have tried to solve the problem as soon as possible, but a [Costco] manager told me they would need another couple of weeks to solve it," she said.
Ms Tian says she has been forced to freeze her credit card due to the bill.
"I'm in big trouble now, because I use my credit card for most things I pay for, but now I can't," she said.
"I just feel awful and feel no hope. It's brought me a lot of stress, especially on a holiday."
After calling Costco, she was told to visit a store in Brisbane to help sort out the situation while she was on holidays in the Gold Coast, but upon arriving following an hour-long drive, she was told Canberra transaction details were not able to be accessed from Brisbane stores.
Ms Tian also wants to know how the $200,000 charge was allowed on her credit card when it has a limit of just $25,000.
"Normally when the amount of money is too big, the bank would stop the transaction from going through," she said.
"If you can let this amount of money pass through, what's the meaning of a limit for a credit card?"
In a statement, a spokeswoman for Costco said the company was looking into the large transaction.
"We have been in contact with the member about the incident and are working to rectify it for them," she said.
"We have been able to verify this was an isolated incident and are investigating the cause."