Family's $26 meal left them with a massive credit card bill

When the Srivastava family ordered two black bean burgers and a chicken curry wrap after hitting the gym one afternoon, they never expected the meal would send them into debt.

While the meal only cost $26.47 including tax, the Virginia family was charged $5,475 on their credit card. Apparently the waiter felt that he deserves quite the generous tip.

According to Lifetime Fitness in Reston where the family shared the meal at the gym's cafe in April, the waiter accidentally typed in his employee identification number where he was supposed to type in the tip amount. Pallavi Srivastava, the credit card owner, didn't look too closely when signing the bill.

Rather than easily correcting the mistake, the incident has now caused major complications that have the Srivastavas facing late fees and interest. After the gym promised to correct the mistake, they reportedly called the next day to tell the family that they gave them back too much money.

During the call, the Lifetime employee asked if Pallavi would give them back the credit card so that they could recharge the entire amount and refund it again with the proper number. At that point, Pallavi had interest and late fees piling up and the dealing had already passed to dispute the bill with her credit card company.

WJLA reports that the gym eventually told Pallavi that they could not precess the refund because they had closed their financial books. The family was forced to fight the absurd charge with the corporate office. Finally, they turned to their local news station for help and support. Pallavi told WJLA:

The incident occurred in April and now, at the start of August, the refund still has not been processed. The gym's corporate office assured WJLA that the refund will be processed by the end of the week. It seems they're speeding up the process now that the press has caught wind of the situation.

Watch this video to learn more about credit card security:

More from AOL.com:
Woman writes brilliant note after debt collectors threaten her dead father
This couple spent their wedding day feeding 4,000 Syrian refugees
Mother dies of mysterious illness after going to swimming pool