Good Question: Where’s my car wash refund?

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — We’ve received a Good Question about refunds.

Here’s one email from a viewer: On May 1, you reported that Royal Car Wash would refund subscribers for the time it was closed. I have been charged every month, but have seen no refund yet. What’s the status?

News10NBC’s Brennan Somers has heard similar stories from other people looking for their money.

Here’s the deal. When we first told you about car washes and refunds when they started to reopen across NY in the spring, Royal had this notice posted on its website:

"Unlimited Royal Club members: all active members will receive refunds to their account for any lost time the car wash was unavailable (this may take 30 days to show up on your account)."

The issue? Months later, some customers say they never got the credit.

Somers followed up with the owners. President & Owner of Daniele Family Companies Danny J. Daniele sent News10NBC this response:

"Yes, the refunds were issued. Unfortunately, about 2-3% of our club customers’ accounts (about 400 +/-) were unable to be refunded due to PCI compliance and technical issues stemming from any credit card accounts that had been either placed on hold, canceled, or expired which blocks our ability to issue refunds back to the account. At any given point, we have about 3% of our members’ credit cards that are unable to recharge or be issued a credit due to those circumstances. Typically, those members have a 15 day grace period of free washes while the system gives them time to update their cards. We have processed refunds to a couple hundred of those accounts as we have received contact information from them.

If any customer believes they are still owed a refund, they can either call us at 271-1111 or submit their information on our website using the ‘Contact Us’ link and it will be processed within 24 business hours. We have also given double refunds to any customer that tried to contact us during the pandemic that may have fell through the chaos of COVID."

The link to the refund form can be accessed from the Royal Car Wash website here.

If you have a question you’d like answered, email us at GoodQuestion@whec.com.