Cut-price supermarket Lidl has apologised to hundreds of angry shoppers after charging them twice for their Christmas spending sprees.
The alarm was raised by a customer who had paid by debit card at a store in Wetzikon, Switzerland, on 23rd December and discovered they had been charged twice for the same bill.
It was then revealed that hundreds of others at stores across the country had also been similarly affected.
Many were already struggling to meet the costs of the seasonal celebrations when they realised they had been charged twice.
Yet when they complained they were reportedly told they could not have a refund and were fobbed off to a customer support phone line.
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One distraught shopper told Swiss media: “We find this very stressful, especially since it involves a lot of money for us as a family.”
Now Lidl has admitted the glitch, which they have blamed on a card payment service breakdown.
Lidl media spokesperson Vanessa Meireles said: “Due to a disruption at the payment service provider, some customers in some branches were charged twice for card payments on 23rd December 2023.”
She added that it was not all customers that were hit. And only those who used one of the eight different card payment options ended up paying double.
Lidl promised that refunds would be made “automatically in the next two to three days”.
Meireles added: “We regret the inconvenience this has caused to the affected customers.”
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Story By: Joseph Golder, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Newsflash
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