Costco shopper buys items worth $308 — she ended up paying $5,200 because of duplicate charges

Walking into a grocery store, swiping the credit card to make payments, and walking out sounds simple and convenient. But consecutive notifications showing that you've been charged for the same amount 17 times is the stuff nightmares are made of. That is exactly what happened to a woman from Phoenix, Arizona, who was charged 17 times over for a $300 purchase at Costco. The shopper, Ashton Weinberger visited a store in Arcadia in April and used her Citi credit card to pay for her purchase. Once she walked out, she found out that she owed $5,200 on her card for the payment made. Her problems were further compounded as she received very little to no help from Costco, according to AZFamily.

From Convenience to Chaos

Weinberger reached out to AZFamily's "On Your Side" after failing to get her issue resolved. She shared that she received a text alert of the $308 charge as expected but the same charge kept hitting her account again and again. “Now at first, I was thinking, ‘Oh, that’s weird. It’s delayed.’ But then it hit again and again and again," she recalled. 

Costco warehouse officially says that in case customers are overcharged, they can return to the store with their receipt and a worker will be "happy to assist." However, when Weinberger complained about the 17 duplicate charges, she did not get any relief. “I showed them all the charges. And they said, well, we’ll look into it and then days went by. It’s calling the credit card, calling Costco, going back to Costco or calling the credit card, no one has any information,” she told "On Your Side."

Adding to Woes

Weinberger further shared that the timing of the blunder couldn't be worse, as she and her husband were in the middle of an extensive renovation of their Phoenix home, with their living and kitchen areas torn up. The overcharging fiasco added to their financial strain, and they were left struggling to get the word done. 

Once "On Your Side" reached out to Costco to help Weinberger, the warehouse chain promptly refunded the entire amount. However, it had been two months already and the credit card bill had accrued an interest of $293, over the two billing cycles. The outlet also helped her out by contacting Citi Bank which agreed to remove the interest charges.

The incident wasn't the only one where a Costco member was repeatedly overcharged. Earlier in May, another Costco member shared his complaints on Facebook after he was charged 10 times for a single purchase, resulting in a charge of $2,325.70 on his card.

"Costco, I just found out today (5/7) that my $232.57 purchase at my local warehouse on 5/2 was charged to me 10 times. That's a huge deal," he wrote.

However, in his case, a Costco employee reached out to him, accepted the mistake, and reversed the repeat charges. The customer still wasn't happy as he wanted the company to do more for compensation. "I do not know if they are going to do any 'make good' but I'm hoping there is a pretty substantial effort," he wrote in the post. In the end, the customer urged all Costco members in his area to always check their receipts and card statements after making a purchase. Several users in the comments also confirmed that it was rather common for the warehouse chain to make such mistakes.