If you live in the South, you're familiar with Winn-Dixie. If you shop at any of the grocery chain's 1,179 locations, you may have received an Easter present: paying for your groceries again and again.
Thousands of Winn-Dixie's customers who use a debit card were charged up to seven times for their purchases. The store blames the problems on computers that just couldn't keep up with the pre-Easter rush. Winn-Dixie does not have a precise number of how many customers were overcharged but some banks are estimating 13,000.
NationsBank has reported that about 3,000 NationsBank/ Barnett Bank Winn-Dixie transactions resulted in duplicate charges. Additionally, First Union National Bank said it has adjusted 18,000 Winn-Dixie transactions. Both banks are covering any NSF fees incurred due to the error.
This is not the first time such errors have occurred; Wal-Mart had a similar problem last year. And, we all know it's probably not the last. However, as banks and financial entities work to move consumers to electronic payments, errors such as these make an already wary public even more skittish about letting go of their checkbooks. With a paper trail, they have recourse when such errors occur. But, with a debit card, they simply have to watch their statements, hope they catch errors, and hope that the stores and banks will correct the error.
