Liquor purchases from stores within the Endeavour Drinks Group are part of the processing error by Cuscal Limited, which is affecting many customers of the Woolworths Group.
The processing error occurred on Sunday 6 August and saw some Woolworths Group customers, who used VISA cards between 11-13 March 2017, being charged with transactions for a second time.
In a statement about the error Woolworths said that the charges occurred as a result of the processing error by Cuscal, a payments processor for financial institutions and card issuers. Woolworths said it was not involved in this error, and was completely unaware of it until being contacted by our customers.
Brad Banducci, Woolworths Group CEO 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 that this can never happen again.”
The Endeavour Drinks Group has been telling its customers: “We apologise for the inconvenience caused, we have been working with the provider responsible for the error and in payment processing activities and confirm that neither Dan Murphy’s/BWS/ETC nor our bank are responsible for the issues.
“We have been advised that all refunds will be processed in the next 24 hours and the provider will also ensure no-one is out of pocket (including re any fees or penalties charged by the customer’s bank).”
Banducci added: “We apologise for the inconvenience this has caused to our customers. We encourage customers who still have concerns about the payments returning to their accounts to contact our team on phone: 1300 767 969 for support in dealing with their financial institutions.”
In a statement, Cuscal apologised for the error and took full responsibility.
“Due to a Cuscal processing error on the night of Sunday, 6 August, some incorrect transactions were posted to our clients’ customers’ accounts on the morning of Monday, 7 August,” the company said.
“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. All incorrect transactions are now being corrected and should be completed by 2pm today.
“We will work with our financial institution clients to make sure that 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.”