 "Photo: www.sxc.hu")
If you paid with plastic at UMKC Dining Services, you may have less money in your account than you think.
A new system for handling transactions was implemented Aug. 29. However, the system provider, CBORD, did not fully install the new system, according to Jesse Pisors, general manager of Dining Services.
As a result, some bank and credit card charges initially failed to post to customer accounts.
"Only when a customer contacted us on October 3, 2007 expressing concern that charges made weeks ago had not shown up on her bank statement did we learn that many credit and debit card transactions were only 'pending' but had not charged individual bank or credit accounts," Pisors said. "We immediately contacted CBORD to find a solution to this problem. By Thursday [Oct. 4], CBORD had discovered the problem, recognized that it had been caused by their error and had begun the process of transmitting all these transactions."
This process alerted more patrons of the issue.
"By Friday morning, October 5, several customers contacted us to let us know that charges they had made in earlier weeks were now appearing on their online statements," Pisors said. "It is my understanding that charges are now being fully processed within 24 hours of the time of purchase and that this problem has been resolved."
Pisors said he believed the amounts charged to customers were accurate.
"As far as I am aware, no customer has been charged any more than the amount that they authorized at the point of purchase as a result of this problem," Pisors said. "The charges simply hit their accounts days or weeks after the purchases were made, instead of right away as they should have."
As to the number of patrons affected and the amount of money involved, Pisors said he did not have the information available.
"I expect that this affected all credit card purchases made after the full implementation of the new CBORD system on August 29, 2007 and before the problem was corrected on October 4, 2007," Pisors said.
Dining Services, managed by Sodexho, includes the University Center Cafeteria, Frëshens Smoothies Frozen Treats, Café à la Cart-Hospital Hill, Café à la Cart-Miller Nichols Library, Einstein Bros. Bagels, the UMKC Café and the UMKC-Store.
Though customers are now being assessed charges for purchases made in August, Pisors said he does not foresee banking problems.
"Since only the amount authorized by the customer is being charged to that person's account, there should not be insufficient fund charges from banking institutions caused by this problem," Pisors said. "Anyone using their debit account to make a purchase is responsible to be sure that they have funds sufficient to cover that purchase in their account, whether or not those charges appear on an online statement immediately or some time later."
Pisors said UMKC purchased the new system over the summer in an effort to speed up transactions and provide more payment options. During the installation process, CBORD failed to install a program necessary to charge customer accounts, according to Pisors.
"We at UMKC Dining Services had no way to know that these charges were not processing all the way through, because our cash registers told us that the cards used were valid and that the charges had been authorized," he said. "We are working closely with CBORD on an ongoing basis to ensure that all credit and debit card transactions are completely processed on a daily basis."
Customers of the UMKC-Store in the University Center may have experienced another charge card-related issue at the beginning of fall semester.
While fully integrating a new transaction processing system, customer credit and bank card numbers were recorded with pen and paper. Pisors said this was necessary and the banking information was carefully handled.
"This information was used to process authorized charges through our old system. All of these charges did go through on a timely basis," Pisors said. "Only those responsible for processing the transaction [had access to the account numbers]. It was destroyed immediately after the transaction had been completed."
Pisors said Dining Services is working with patrons who have encountered charge card issues.
"I sincerely apologize to our customers who were affected by this delay in credit card transaction processing," Pisors said. "We are explaining and apologizing for the delay in charges to anyone who visits our offices, calls us or e-mails us. I would invite anyone who was affected by this and who has questions, to call us at (816) 235-1417."
jseiden@unews.com
