Attendees of Sacred Rose Festival at SeatGeek Stadium find surprise four-figure charges on credit cards
BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. (CBS) -- If you were part of the crowd at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview over the weekend, you are advised to check your bank account.
As CBS 2's Jermont Terry reported Monday night, concertgoers who attended the Sacred Rose Festival are discovering some shocking charges on their credit cards. The stadium is blaming it on a glitch.
Anyone and just everyone who attended the weekend festival at the stadium is encouraged to check their credit card or bank statements. There were huge billing errors at the festival – not even a matter of a few hundred dollars, but nearly $5,000 for many – all overcharged for drinks and food.
Brian Morrison and his girlfriend were all smiles in photos taken of them at the Sacred Rose music festival. For three days, they rocked out.
But on Monday morning, their memories were tainted when a charge of $1,190 popped up.
"I don't know you can spend 1,200 bucks at one time at festival," Morrison said.
Hundreds of festivalgoers also checked their balances after it was determined SeatGeek Stadium overcharged for drinks.
"I was shocked," said Alissa Meagher. "I was like, is this right?"
"I don't know what it is," added Morrison. "I'm fluent in technology. I look at this and I just go, it doesn't make any sense to me."
Morrison used a credit card. But he knows those who were overcharged using debit could have a harder time disputing the transactions.
"They can take a while to put your money back," Morrison said. "Your rent check could bounce; utility checks could bounce."
Meagher got a surprising text from her bank, saying a charge had been declined.
"It was for $4,361 from SeatGeek Stadium," she said.
Meagher flew in from Southern California to the festival in Bridgeview. Only after landing Monday morning did the questionable charges appear.
"It was very odd, because I only bought drinks three times – three different times - and those went through with the tips," she said.
SeatGeek believes the glitch came in tipping. It is believed the decimal points were removed, turning $3.00 into $300.
Now, every transaction will be reviewed. Bridgeview village and SeatGeek Stadium spokesman Ray Hanania released the following statement:
"There was a technical glitch with the point of sales system regarding the tips inaccurately processed. SeatGeek and Bridgeview have identified the problem and all the overcharges are being corrected and refunded as we speak. They will see a corrected amount on their credit card statements. The Village and SeatGeek don't know the precise number of customers impacted, but they will make sure every overcharge is corrected and refunded to the proper amount.
"The system is managed by SeatGeek, not the Sacred Rose Fest event hosts.
"This involved the Sacred Rose Fest Friday, Saturday, Sunday. We started getting calls on Monday from people saying they were overcharged.
"Anyone who has a problem can contact SeatGeek through their website at seatgeekstadium.com.
"There is a contact form on the website people can use if the charges are not corrected within the next few days."
"In an interview, Hanania added the glitch will be investigated, "but we're pretty sure it's just a technical glitch at this point. There's no reason for us to believe it's anything else."
Yet Morrison doesn't buy the decimal tipping glitch, considering he also has multiple unrecognizable $2 charges as well.
"That seems unlikely to me," he said. "I was making $15, $20 purchases, so I was making tips - $3, $4. Even if the decimal place is wrong, my tip is $300, $400 – it's not $1,200.
The stadium said it believes the glitch happened Friday night only of the three-day festival.
As it stands, they estimate 10,000 credit and debit transactions were made – and right now, 132 are questionable.
There is no clear idea of what caused the glitch.
On Monday, Sacred Rose issued a statement emphasizing that SeatGeek Stadium, and not the festival, ran all points of sale on beverages this past weekend.
The festival organizers shared a stadium saying in part: "Our payment processing is secure but had a configuration error. There was no exposure and/or fraud; we are PCI compliant. We are reversing all of these charges and you should see the amount credited to your card in 3-5 business days."
