Tesco apologises to shoppers for late charges on cards

TESCO has apologised after a com- puter glitch meant hundreds of shoppers were charged months late for groceries.

About 300 Tesco Express stores were affected by the problem with its payments system, which saw it take up to three months to process hundreds of credit and debit card payments.

The problem affected payments since the end of November.

A Tesco spokesman said: “As soon as we identified this issue, we contacted as many affected customers as possible and have now processed all incomplete transactions. The issue has now been resolved and we are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.”

Letters sent to those affected said: “We are writing to let you know that a number of credit and debit card payments did not process correctly for some customers, in a small number of our Express stores. You may have noticed this as an unexpected transaction at Tesco in your bank statement.”

Tesco will refund any bank charges incurred as a result of unexpected overdraft usage, subject to proof.

Steve Nowottny, of Moneysavingexpert.com, said: “It’s good to see Tesco has apologised to shoppers, but this is a real blunder.

“For a major supermarket to take payments up to three months late simply isn’t acceptable.”