A processing error by Cuscal has caused some customers who shopped at Woolworths from March 11 to 13, 2017, and used Visa to pay, to be charged again on Sunday August 6.
In a statement by Woolworths, CEO Brad Banducci said: “We are outraged on behalf of our customers that this has happened and it raises a series of important questions about the effectiveness of certain processes in the financial system.
“We don’t know which of our customers have been affected because the relevant encrypted data is held only by the financial-services companies.
“However, we are responding to those customers who contact us via our customer service centres and social media.
“We have raised these concerns directly with Cuscal and Visa, and propose to pursue the matter with the relevant financial-services regulators.
“It is not acceptable that our customers have been charged twice, causing them stress, inconvenience and, in some cases, financial hardship.
“We want to know how this happened, and we are seeking firm commitments from the financial-services providers responsible to ensure this can never happen again.”
Cuscal responded with a statement taking full responsibility for the error.
“We’re sorry for the ongoing stress and difficulties this is causing people and would like to be clear that this is a Cuscal error – there is no fault with Woolworths,” Cuscal said. “All incorrect transactions are now being corrected and should be completed by 2pm today (August 8).
“We will work with our financial-institution clients to make sure nobody is out of pocket due to incorrect charges or transactions arising directly from this incident. People should wait for the charges to be reversed or talk to their financial institution with any immediate financial problems.”