Some Wegmans customers still waiting for refund one week later

MONROE COUNTY, N.Y. — Double charged and still waiting for a refund. That’s what some customers say happened to them at their local Wegmans.

So what’s the holdup? And what can you do to protect yourself from being charged twice?

Shoppers who used a credit card at any Wegmans store on Wednesday, Aug. 16, may have been charged for the same purchase. Some debit card transactions also were affected.

Some customers have received their money back, but still want to know how this could have happened. They are living on a fixed income and can’t afford to wait for a refund any longer.

“I paid with my credit card; I tapped it on the machine and got my receipt– and two days later I got a notification I was double charged,” said Eric Cruz. He is a frequent shopper at the Eastridge Wegmans in Irondequoit and was alerted he was charged twice for a $100 purchase he made on Aug. 16.

“I contacted the creditor instead of Wegmans and I disputed the charge, and about a day and a half later my funds were returned to me,” Cruz said.

A week later other customers like Dave Marciano are still waiting to get their money back. When he reached out to Wegmans, they weren’t able to give him any answers other than that they are working on it

“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. Even though that isn’t the question I asked; I asked ‘when?'”

Marciano says his purchase at the Brockport Wegmans was $47.81 and he was charged twice.
Although that may be viewed as a small amount, every penny counts these days.

“Living like I am on fixed income, week to week, day to day,” Marciano said. “I pay 24.99% interest rate, and you don’t want to get that charge for the interest rate too.”

Katie Sherwin is the director of consumer services with the New York State Division of Consumer Protection. News10NBC asked her what we all should be doing to avoid being double charged.

“We always recommend consumers are diligent about checking their banking statements every month or even perhaps every week,” Sherwin said. “Not only to catch situations like this, but it can be the first indicator or identity theft.”

Although he got his money back, Cruz says he still has concerns.

“Now I’m concerned about going over there and using my card — I’d rather just use cash,” he said.

When News10NBC first reported on this issue last week, Wegmans officials said customers would see their refunds within a few days. When we checked back in today, we got a similar response.

A spokesperson said the duplicate charges will be reversed in the upcoming days, depending on the customer’s bank or issuer. News10NBC tried to follow up asking exactly how long it will be, but did not receive a response.