NEWS A computer glitch at high-street retailer New Look has resulted in customers having duplicate payments taken directly out of their bank accounts without authorisation.
New Look is blaming a "technical issue with credit data" that resulted in transactions in up to 30 stores being processed twice by GE Capital.
silicon.com was contacted by one customer who noticed a mystery Maestro debit card payment of £70 had been taken directly out of her bank account by New Look on 10 May.
The payment was the same amount as a debit card transaction she had made a month earlier in a New Look store on 11 April yet she had not bought anything from the shop since then. On querying the duplicate withdrawal with her bank she was told that the money had been refunded to her account on 16 May by New Look.
The customer subsequently went back to the New Look store the initial payment had been made at where a supervisor admitted other customers had been affected by the double payment because of an "IT glitch".
But the supervisor could not say how the store had managed to withdraw the money again from customers' accounts without authorisation either through chip and PIN or a signature and simply referred the customer to a store helpline number if she had any further queries.
The customer, who wished to remain anonymous, has since received an apology and a £10 voucher as a gesture of goodwill. New Look told her it had been unable to inform affected customers of the glitch because of data protection laws.
Although now reassured, the customer told silicon.com: "It is very frightening that a high-street retailer could take £70 out of my account so easily a month after the original payment."
No one at New Look was available for comment.
Comments
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1. anonymous
Interesting that they have the info to take a second payment long after the original but not the info to tell you about it?!
2. anonymous
Best method is to pay by cash or cheque, you can only give the cash once.. And a cheque can only be cashed once..
But SO MANY now will no longer take cheques. I suppose its because, via the electronic method, the funds are transferred there and then.
But I thought chip and pin information was not stored but a one time only. They certainly are on the tills we are currently programming. We physically do not store such information as pin numbers and security information, just enough to provide an audit trail.
Perhaps New Look should come and look at our tills. But then, £70.00 in the bank for a month is attracting interest, and how many customers will not check their accounts and so New Look will get away with it,
3. Paul Goldstone
Amazing Data Protection ain't it. I can't see how they cannot inform you after all it's your bank account they have taken from.
Is this stealing as it is taken without permission? After all if you nicked the mona lisa, even if you gave it back a month later, I am sure the police would like a word with you about it.
4. anonymous
A fresh look should be taken at New Look. To take money a month after already having taken it, they must have stored enough info to convince the bank they have the authority. Hence, they must be in breach of Data Protection if they deny they have that info.
5. lloyd barclay
An excellent example of the security conscious banking system supporting their nigh on impregnable safeguards that protect the accounts of their non-security minded witless customers.
Blame the customers, had they not effected the transaction in the first place then the problem would never have happened.The gormless end users obviously did not follow security guidelines and should this breach reoccur then the banking fraternity will rightly recover compensation from the guilty parties.
I sleep easy at night knowing that the banks look after all my interests.
6. anonymous
Hiding behind the data protection law is a bit much as contacting customers to inform them would not be in breech of any data protection after all New Look were responsible and it should not of happend. Compensation should also have been offered for the period of several days that they had the customers money which may possibly have resulted in Bank Charges to the customer.
7. Sarah
I agree with what Paul Godstone says. Its stealing, however you look at it.
I for one will not be shopping there again!
8. anonymous
It's alarming that very little info is required to get money from your card. The operation at the till reserves the amount, but the acquiring of the monies is done centrally by sending a file to the acquirer. New Look will have retained the Credit Card file for reconciliation purposes. Safeguards are there to prevent duplication but it is possible to re-send the file.
9. anonymous
Now I know I was not alone in having a number of transactions on a GE card entered twice and then the second reversed.
10. Sue Stockdale
Never mind New Look, www.thetrainline.com has done a similarly crafty unauthorised debit on my husband's business account. Return train travel to London booked, £50 debited and the tickets and authorisation receipt arrive. Perfect. The next day, yes, you guessed it, the authorisation receipt and the tickets arrive. Oh oh. But what makes it really really suspect is that the train seats allocated are exactly the same on both tickets. HOW??? Thetrainline.com want us to return one set of tickets for a refund, with a covering letter!!! ... whats the betting that if we did that, the seats would be cancelled, full stop, and we would still be out of pocket and up the creek? Nice customer relations, and not a sniff of an apology. Anyone out there who can tell me how the same seats can be booked and charged for twice by the same person? Damned if I know, but then again I am only the poor sap of a customer.
11. anonymous
Interesting that this still continues to happen.
Only last Friday, myself, a FirstDirect customer had two debits taken a second time from my account by two different retailers where I had used my debit card. One was in person and the other over the phone.
When I called First Direct they did aplogise and refund both debits, however, you can't help thinking that any security measures built into the system don't work. Of course First Direct blame Barclays with whom all these retailers bank with for requesting a 2nd payment - but how can they without authorisation from the card holder?