WOOLWORTHS boss Brad Banducci says he is “outraged” that an error by payments firm Cuscal caused customers to be charged again for purchases made in March.

Customers flooded to the supermarket’s Facebook page on Monday to complain, with some reporting hundreds of dollars missing from their bank accounts.

The issue affected customers who used Visa cards issued by certain smaller banks and credit unions, duplicating online and in-store purchases made across the entire Woolworths Group between 11-13 March this year. Woolworths could not confirm how many customers had been affected, but it is believed to be in the thousands.

Cuscal is the payment processor for more than 80 banks, credit unions and card issuers.

“Today I have been double billed by Woolworths for transactions from the 11th of March, Woolworths have stolen almost $300 and I want my money back,” wrote Leanne Stewart. Donna Carthey added: “Any idea when the money you took out of my account incorrectly will be repaid?”

Kylie Willey said she noticed $245 missing from her account this morning for transactions on the 11th, 12th and 13th of March. “Pretty poor service, Woolworths. You stuffed up! How many times has this happened and I’ve missed it?” she wrote. “How safe are our cards with you that you can re-access them months later?”

Thomas Miller said his bank account had been debited for a transaction on the 3rd of March. “The only reason I noticed this was the account is inactive with a zero balance which suddenly was a negative,” he wrote. “The bank says it is Woolworths fault/problem. Please explain how and why this has happened? How many times has this happened in the past?”

Cat Steele wrote: “Can someone please tell me why Woolworths took money out of my account today with a date of 13th of March? Why do you still have my card details four months later after this supposed transaction? What the hell is going on? This is not okay.”

Emma Bell added: “I love paying for my groceries twice, Woolworths — especially six months later! Good work.”

In a statement on Tuesday, Mr Banducci said the company was “outraged on behalf of our customers that this has happened and it raises a series of important questions about the effectiveness of certain processes in the financial system”.

“We don’t know which of our customers have been affected because the relevant encrypted data is held only by the financial services companies,” he said.

“However we are responding to those customers who contact us via our customer service centres and social media. We have raised these concerns directly with Cuscal and Visa, and propose to pursue the matter with the relevant financial services regulators.

“It is not acceptable that our customers have been charged twice, causing them stress, inconvenience and, in some cases, financial hardship. We want to know how this happened, and we are seeking firm commitments from the financial services providers responsible to ensure that this can never happen again.”

Woolworths said it was working to ensure any customers who were out of pocket could “buy essentials until the financial services companies have resolved these issues”.

“We apologise for the inconvenience this has caused to our customers,” Mr Banducci said. “We encourage customers who still have concerns about the payments returning to their accounts to contact our team on phone: 1300 767 969 for support in dealing with their financial institutions.”

In an updated statement on Tuesday, a Cuscal spokesman said: “Due to a Cuscal processing error on the night of Sunday, 6 August some incorrect transactions were posted to our clients’ customers’ accounts on the morning of Monday, 7 August.

“We’re sorry for the ongoing stress and difficulties this is causing people and would like to be clear that this is a Cuscal error — there is no fault with Woolworths. All incorrect transactions are now being corrected and should be completed by 2pm today.

“We will work with our financial institution clients to make sure that nobody is out of pocket due to incorrect charges or transactions arising directly from this incident. People should wait for the charges to be reversed or talk to their financial institution with any immediate financial problems.”

frank.chung@news.com.au