I-TEAM: ‘Technical issue’ blamed for Meijer transaction problems; customers report duplicate charges

Meijer customers in the Miami Valley and in other parts of the country reported issues in the checkout lines over the weekend including double and multiple charges on credit and debit cards.

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Customers contacted News Center 7 over the last few days reporting issues at some area locations where accounts were charged multiple times. The issues were reported in other parts of the country that have Meijer locations including Michigan, where the company is headquartered.

One Meijer customer reported to I-Team Lead Investigative Reporter John Bedell they were charged 12 times for one transaction at the Meijer in Troy Saturday with over $1,700 charged to their account. Others have reported double and triple charges at other area locations including Meijer gas station locations.

It was a normal weekend grocery run for Rhonda Prater, until she went to checkout with her debit card at the Springfield Meijer.

“My computer like froze and came back and said it didn’t recognize my card. There was like six self-checkouts and we all were having the same issue,” Prater said.

Prater said her total was $13.17 but she was charged three times. “It was really frustrating,” she said.

“We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience some customers experienced processing transactions at checkout over the weekend. Rest assured, we are working with financial institutions to resolve,” a Meijer spokesperson said in a social media post, posted late Monday night.

After being contacted by News Center 7, a Meijer spokesperson further citied the issues on the company’s transaction processing partner Chase Bank.

“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,” the Meijer spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

“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.”

It was not known or indicated by the Meijer spokesperson if customer data was impacted by the technical issues.

News Center 7 has reached out to Chase Bank representatives for additional details and comment and recieved the following response from a spokesperson for the bank:

“We are very sorry for the inconvenience this caused our merchant clients and their customers.  As of 4 pm ET on May 21, card processing was restored.”

Meijer customers were advised to check their bank accounts and alert their bank or financial institution to cancel the extra charges, according to a report from CBS Affiliate WWJ-TV in Detroit.

This is a developing story and we’ll update this page as new details become available.