Quadrillion Gift Card Receipt Turns Nottingham Shopper into ‘Richest’ on Paper

A Nottingham business owner was stunned to be handed a receipt showing more than £63 quadrillion after buying a matcha latte with what she thought was a £10 quadrillion gift card, an error that staff later said stemmed from a till entry mistake.

Receipt showed more than £63 quadrillion

Sophie Downing, 29, went into a 200 Degrees branch in Nottingham to spend a gift card she had been given and bought a matcha latte that she had received as a Christmas pressie. When staff handed her the receipt it appeared to show a remaining balance of more than £63 quadrillion. She said she thought it was "hilarious" and sent a picture to her partner, who also found it funny.

What staff and the shop said about the error

Staff at the branch appeared "confused", one remarking, "I've never seen that before", as they gave her the receipt. A spokesperson for 200 Degrees said the gift card number, rather than the gift card value, was entered into the wrong part of the till because of a "technical administrative error". The spokesperson said the customer was charged the correct amount, that after the purchase the gift card held the right balance, and that the barista initially gave the erroneous receipt to the customer as a souvenir before issuing a correct receipt showing the true value.

Quadrillion Gift Card: how Sophie reacted

Downing, who runs Secret Sugar Club, a hair removal service, said she was "just enjoying being the richest woman in the world on paper while it lasts. " She used the card to buy one more drink but said she was "never going to take advantage". She later said she would not use the card again after seeing the astronomical figure a second time.

Large comparisons and a contrasting account

One account framed the figure as making her far wealthier on paper than billionaires and entire economies, noting Elon Musk's worth at $843. 4 billion (£624b) and listing comparisons that place the £63 quadrillion figure many times larger than national GDPs and the world economy. That account also said the coffee shop had not acknowledged the mistake. The 200 Degrees spokesperson's statement that the error was an administrative till entry offers a more direct explanation; the two accounts present different emphases on whether the shop had formally acknowledged the issue.

What Sophie said about how it happened

Downing suggested another possible explanation, saying, "Maybe they have scanned the wrong thing. It looks as though they have scanned the barcode which has turned into the balance. " She added she could clear the shop's shelves but did not want to "take the mick", and would have preferred a genuine £63 quadrillion gift card to spend at the supermarket.

The gift card's practical limits were noted: the balance could only be spent on coffee and croissants, so the apparent windfall could not be used to buy a car or a house or to tackle global problems.

Unclear in the provided context what, if any, further action the shop or the customer plans to take next; the immediate confirmed outcome is that the customer was charged the correct amount and was issued a correct receipt showing the true value of the gift card.