Tower says Web site credit card glitch fixed By Loretta Kalb Bee Staff Writer (Published June 3, 2000)

For Kevin Wilson and Scot Kirkland, it started with the purchase of a CD by pop vocal group Bananarama. The two are fans of the group's 1980s sound, so Wilson went to the Tower Records Web site and used his credit union debit card to buy some recordings.

Weeks later, however, the pair learned that their credit union checking account had been charged three times for the $23.93 purchase.

And the Panama City, Fla., men apparently were not alone.

Kirkland said that when he called Tower to complain, "I was told that they apparently had some kind of computer problem and they had overcharged about 11,000 accounts the same way."

A Tower spokeswoman said Friday she didn't know how many accounts were actually affected by duplicate charges, but she said the problem was caught and, with the exception of the Florida case, fixed before customers were charged.

The temporary electronic glitches were caused by an automated credit card-bank processing error outside the company, and Tower reversed the overcharges almost immediately, spokeswoman Louise Solomon said. As a result, the duplicate charges should not appear on any end-of-month statements.

Still, while the problem was minor this time, such glitches cause retailers to shudder. They know each online shopping experience is critical to winning over novice Internet shoppers worried about online security.

In response, many are emphasizing an old-economy virtue -- customer service -- in an effort to build loyalty.

One customer who may not be returning to the Tower site is Kirkland, the Florida Bananarama fan.

He said he's gotten a reversal on only one of the overcharges so far -- a delay Tower attributes to a mistake by a third-party bill processor doing business with Kirkland's credit union.

Kirkland said he likes the convenience of using his debit card for online purchases, but "I probably won't be doing it any more."

http://www.sacbee.com/ib/news/ib_news04_20000603.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), June 03, 2000