Wegmans is working to reverse charges to customers who shopped at the grocery store chain earlier this month and were accidentally charged twice, officials have said.
In a statement to multiple media outlets, the company said some customers who shopped with the store on Aug. 16 using their credit cards were accidentally charged twice because of an unidentified issue.
The double charges covered both in-store and online orders, officials said.
However, the extra charges did not apply to debit card users who entered their PIN when shopping, or those making electronic benefit transfer (EBT) purchases, according to the company.
There are more than 100 Wegmans stores across eight states in the United States, according to its official website.
The glitch impacted all stores, the company said.
“We recently identified an issue with credit card transactions processed on Aug. 16 for both in-store and online orders,” a company spokesperson said. “Some credit card transactions were inadvertently charged twice for their order; however, EBT and debit card transactions were not affected. We are working with our processor to reverse the charges.”
The spokesperson added that customers should expect to see refunds on their credit card statements in the upcoming days, depending on their bank.
The Epoch Times has contacted Wegmans for further comment.
Americans Struggling With Credit Card Bills
Despite the grocery store chain stating that many customers could expect to receive a refund shortly, some shoppers told NBC affiliate WHEC-TV on Wednesday that they were still waiting to get their money back.One such customer, Dave Marciano, who was allegedly charged twice told the publication he had reached out to the store to inquire about his refund, but claimed officials told him they were still working to resolve the issue.
Mr. Marciano said his purchase at the Wegmans store in Brockport, New York, amounted to $47.81, but that he was charged twice.
He said the double payment is difficult for someone like him who is “living like I am on a fixed income, week to week, day to day.”
“I pay 24.99 percent interest rate, and you don’t want to get that charge for the interest rate too,” Mr. Marciano told the publication. “And even today I went into the store where I bought my items and asked ‘when am I going to get my money’—and that’s the same thing, they were working on it,” he said.
The credit card glitch comes as an increasing number of Americans are still struggling to pay their credit card each month, according to a new survey from data analytics firm J.D. Power.
The firm surveyed 31,418 credit card customers in the United States from August 2022 through June 2023.
Credit Card Debt Soars
Credit card interest rates are currently near 40-year highs as the Federal Reserve has quickly hiked interest rates in a bid to bring down inflation.Meanwhile, total U.S. credit card debt increased by $45 billion between April and June of this year and has now topped the $1 trillion mark, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
“The pandemic-era savings cushions are gone, the economy is shaky, and consumers are leaning more heavily than ever on their credit cards to cover day-to-day expenses,” said John Cabell, managing director of payments intelligence at J.D. Power.
“This is a make-or-break moment for card issuers. While high levels of revolving debt and declining financial health typically have a negative effect on cardholder satisfaction and loyalty, issuers do have an opportunity to help customers by encouraging the use of payment plans and taking other steps to build goodwill and trust,” Mr. Cabell.
Earlier this week, Macy’s also warned of a sharp rise in customers who are failing to make credit card payments and suggested more financial stress is still to come.
“While we had expected delinquencies to rise as part of our normalizing credit environment, the speed at which the increase occurred for us and the broader credit card industry since our first-quarter earnings call was faster than planned,” Adrian Mitchell, Macy’s chief operating officer and chief financial officer, told analysts during an earnings call on Tuesday.
Mr. Mitchell noted the financial situation had a negative impact on Macy’s second-quarter results and drove down credit card revenue by 36 percent year over year.
Macy’s said it is bracing for a further increase in bad debt in the near future.
“I think the credit card revenues is an indication of some of the pressures that we’re actually seeing on the consumer,” Mr. Mitchell said. “So, we just believe that the customer is coming under pressure because these are new realities that they have to continue to deal with as we get through the back half of this year and move into next year,” he added.
