DENVER (KDVR) — A Denver restaurant owner is getting the attention of people around the country, but for all the wrong reasons.
Christina Parisi owns Parisi Pizzeria, Trattoria e Vino and she said she’s receiving phone calls from around the country — complaints of charges by her business. Some threaten a lawsuit, with most folks concerned about what they suspect could be fraudulent charges on their credit card bills.
“Several calls in, we started to realize that these were just innocent people that were really scared and really concerned that their credit was really being used fraudulently in my place,” Parisi said.
Charges labeled for the restaurant, but unclear why
The concern was a mystery for a while. Parisi speculated what the problem could be.
“Someone was actually coming with their stolen credit card credentials and buying things in-house,” Parisi said.
As it turns out, people from around the country were finding charges linked back to her restaurant, same name, address and phone number.
“I just got a charge for someone taking an Uber ride to your restaurant,” Parisi said. “So that’s when Uber started to be named in all of it.”
The picture was still obscure but starting to get clearer. Charges were labeled as coming from her restaurant but no explanation why.
“They vary from like $8 to, there was one, specifically, that was like $111,” Parisi said.
Parisi took to social media to clarify the error and tell folks she isn’t getting their money.
“None of these transactions were proving to show up on our end,” Parisi said.
Parisi affected by bad reviews over the issue
They serve up Italian dinners, but the folks finding charges on their account do not even get to enjoy it.
“A lot of these people even state that I’ve never been to your restaurant, let alone Colorado,” Parisi said.
The issue has affected her business online, Parisi said. Reviewers have left her business one-star reviews for something she can’t control.
FOX31 made contact with a representative from Uber about what customers should do if they experience this and why it’s happening. That representative said they are working with the restaurant’s owner to resolve it.