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Pizzeria fielding calls from people who never ate there after billing issue

The issue seems to be connected to people paying for Uber rides and food. Uber said it's happening because of "financial institutions mislabeling charges."

DENVER — Parisi Pizzeria is a busy spot on Tennyson Street in Denver fully of locals who love the food. 

But recently, some folks from out of town have left less than positive reviews. 

Owner Christine Parisi is overwhelmed as she tries to respond to the one-star reviews calling her restaurant "thieves." 

Since last Tuesday hundreds of people have called, messaged online or left reviews that stated they have a charges on their bank statement that said Parisi Pizza, but they never ate at the Denver restaurant. 

Parisi said they aren't getting any money, but the people with the charges think her restaurant is benefitting. 

"But they are so mad that they just can’t think past that frustration with me," said Parisi. "So a lot of callers I’m not getting a lot of feedback from just because they’re bound and determined that we’re running a fraud scheme here." 

But through the anger, Parisi started to piece together a story. The people reaching out had taken an Uber ride or ordered food from Uber Eats, and those charges matched the charge they saw from Parisi. 

In an emailed statement from Uber, they said “this issue is likely occurring because of financial institutions mislabeling charges, which is not in Uber's control.”

Credit: KUSA

Parisi has struggled to make contact with anyone who can help. 

"This is about the breakdown in communication, and the way that we as consumers are able to reach out to companies," she said. "And how they just kind of sweep it aside over to another country that doesn’t even live the life we live, so they can’t understand even the issue that we’re speaking to." 

Parisi also learned many of the people reaching out had Netspend debit cards. 

The marketing company that reprsents Netspend wrote in an email "we’re aware of reports of potential payment processing glitches impacting Netspend customers. We’re investigating the root causes with our partners at Mastercard, who provide a merchant naming service, and hope to bring a resolution to the issue shortly.”

But as they look, Parisi is left doing damage control while trying to deliver food to her actual customers. 

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