'I was panicked': Woman charged almost $3,000 for groceries still waiting for answers
Some local customers who went grocery shopping on Saturday were shocked to find out a glitch caused them to be charged thousands of dollars for their items.
Taylor Graham, of Milford, said she ordered groceries Saturday morning for pickup from the Meijer located at state Route 28. She spent $139.48.
Moments later, she got a notification on her banking app that her card was charged $139.48 again and again. It quickly totaled $1,000.
"I was kind of panicked and overwhelmed. We just had a baby, so we already had our bank account drained from medical expenses. You know, money's tight right now," Graham said.
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She called the Meijer in Milford and eventually spoke to a manager who explained there was a glitch with their processing partner, and some customers who paid with a card were being charged multiple times for a single purchase.
Graham said the manager assured her the multiple charges should drop off by Sunday morning.
On Sunday, Graham set her alarm for 7 a.m., and as soon as she woke up, she checked her banking app. Not only did the multiple charges to her card not drop off, but there were additional charges from Meijer.
By Tuesday, Graham had been charged for the single grocery purchase 20 times for a total of $2,789.
"It is scary. We have bills coming in, and our account is getting very low," Graham said.
When she tried to call Meijer again, there was a message telling customers to contact their bank if they were repeatedly charged for a purchase.
Confused and worried, Graham went on Facebook and posted about her experience. She received comments from other customers saying they have also been overcharged.
"Many people said they had been charged three or four times. And another girl messaged me saying that her account got drained to zero and now she's screwed because of it," Graham said. "I told her I understand because, you know, I got the end of the month bills coming up, and we're trying to pinch it until payday on Friday."
In a statement, Meijer said it faced challenges processing some transactions at checkout.
"This past weekend, we experienced issues with our credit/debit card processing due to a technical issue with our processing partner, Chase Bank. While the issue has been resolved, we realize it caused tremendous inconvenience for some of our customers, and we sincerely apologize for that. Chase has assured us that many of the customer accounts have already been credited, and any remaining affected customers should receive their funds in the coming days," the statement read.
As of Wednesday, Graham still hasn't received a refund. After spending hours on the phone trying to get answers, she was finally told she would be issued a credit to her account, which could take up to 10 days.
"It's just really stressful. I don't know what to do at this point. We just have to wait and hope," Graham said.
On Monday, Meijer advised customers to check their bank accounts for repeated charges if they shopped at Meijer over the weekend. The company has since asked customers to remain patient while the issue is resolved.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Customers charged repeatedly days later after single grocery purchase
