Yahoo Finance Thousands of Tesco shoppers charged twice due to 'technical error'
A glitch in Tesco’s (TSCO.L) system has meant thousands of its customers may have been charged twice when using their card to pay for their groceries and shoppers are being advised to check their bank statements.
“Due to a technical error some customer card payments have been authorised more than once,” a Tesco spokesperson told Yahoo Finance on Wednesday.
“We’re sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused, and we want to reassure affected customers that they will only pay for their purchases once and any duplicate transactions will be reversed.”
The company did not say how many customers were impacted but noted that “multiple payments” were made where customers used their cards again after seeing an error message when making their purchases.
It said if affected customers have questions, they should contact its customer services team and if they have further concerns about their payments being processed they should contact their bank.
Customers reportedly said they tried to make a payment, were faced with an error, and so made the payment again. It turns out in some cases they were then charged twice.
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Mirror reported one customer, Joseph Adams, saying he was forced into his overdraft as a result of the glitch at a Tesco Express store in Blackpool.
He was charged twice and £118 ($164) taken out of his account leaving him £29 overdrawn, for which his bank charged him a fee.
He told Mirror “it took me three days to get hold of Tesco to rectify it."
However, even though the supermarket said it was their fault and reversed the charge, it did nothing to refund the overdraft penalties, the Mirror reported.
One Twitter user wrote: "Tesco: You’ve double charged my Monzo. Again. Transaction yesterday of £20.33 charged yesterday and today again!"
Reportedly, the problem is UK-wide and across Express, Extra, Metro, fuel stations and superstores. Tesco is trying to refund all customers within 24-hours, although the amount could take up to five working days to reappear in customers’ account.
Tesco said it's contacting all customers directly, but said this could take weeks and customers who think they may be affected should check copies of their bank statements themselves.
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