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- A woman was charged $1,010 for a Subway sandwich in Columbus, Ohio.
- The woman was unable to get a refund from Subway or her bank for several weeks.
- The Better Business Bureau suggested she could file a police report for theft.
A woman was charged over $1,000 for a Subway sandwich in early January, leaving her strapped for cash and struggling to feed her family, a report said.
Letitia Bishop went to the Subway Thornton Oil store in Columbus, Ohio, on January 5 to order subs for her family, only to find herself with a bewilderingly high charge. A receipt obtained by WSYX ABC 6's "On Your Side" shows that Bishop's debit card was charged $1,021.50, with one of the sandwiches costing $1,010.
This far exceeds the typical price of a footlong sandwich at Subway, which tends to cost between $6.50 and $12.
Bishop told ABC 6 that the charge left her feeling "stressed, overwhelmed." At one point, she couldn't even afford groceries because her "account was negative," she added.
Despite her efforts to address the situation directly with store staff, Bishop was told to contact Subway's corporate office. She told ABC 6 she tried this multiple times, to no avail.
Bishop also told the Ohio broadcaster that she later returned to the Subway store, inside a gas station, only to find it had closed.
According to the store's website, it's "temporarily closed" for the foreseeable future.
"I'm just trying to make ends meet at this point in time," Bishop told ABC 6.
Even flagging the issue to her bank was fruitless, leaving Bishop feeling hopeless, ABC 6 reported.
On Monday, she told Business Insider she had received a cash refund from a Thorntons regional manager. Thorntons didn't respond to a request for comment.
Subway did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.
Lee Anne Lanigan, the director of consumer relations and investigations from the Better Business Bureau, told ABC 6 that Bishop had options to resolve the situation.
She could use the BBB's dispute-resolution process or even escalate the matter by filing a police report for theft.
Lanigan said that had Bishop used a credit card instead of a debit card at the counter, she would have been better protected.
February 26, 2024 — This story has been updated to include a response from Letitia Bishop.
Correction: February 26, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misspelled the name of the ABC affiliate that spoke with Letitia Bishop. It's WSYX, not WSYC. It also misstated the price on the receipt for a single sandwich. It cost $1,010, not $1,021.50.