West Lebanon
Customers in recent weeks noticed that multiple transactions for the same purchase made at the Upper Valley Plaza burrito restaurant were appearing on their credit and debit cards.
Wally Vucich, the owner of the West Lebanon Moe’s franchise, said in an interview that lightning from storms last month led to a “computer glitch” with the payment vendor, which resulted in meals purchased with debit and credit cards to be charged multiple times.
“It was a computer glitch and the problem will be corrected and everybody will be refunded. We take this very seriously,” said Vucich, who owns two Moe’s franchises in New Hampshire and two in Massachusetts.
“No credit card information has been breached,” Vucich said. He blamed the electrical storms, which were hitting the area on July 28, for knocking out the store’s computer system that resulted in a payment processing problem.
He declined to say how many customers were affected or the number of transactions involved.
Neither the state’s Consumer Protections and Antitrust Bureau nor the New Hampshire branch of the Better Business Bureau reported they received any complaints from people about multiple charges from the restaurant appearing on their cards.
Moe’s Southwest Grill, explained via email that “the security of our guests’ information is of the utmost importance to us,” said that between Saturday, July 28, and Thursday, Aug. 2, the store “experienced an isolated error in the store’s point-of-sale system,” which “caused duplicate charges to be posted to a limited number of debit and credit card accounts.”
The company added that “the franchisee is currently working with the credit card processor to reverse the transactions immediately.”
Moe’s, which has more than 700 locations, is owned by Atlanta-based Focus Brands Inc., which also owns the franchise food businesses Carvel, Cinnabon, Schlotzsky’s, Auntie Anne’s, McAlister’s Deli and Seattle’s Best Coffee.
John Lippman can be reached at jlippman@vnews.com.
