Starbucks Patrons Double Charged

ATLANTA -- The Starbucks Coffee Company admits that for a day and a half it inadvertently charged some customers double for their coffee, latte and other purchases.

In a released statement, Starbucks spokesperson Trina Smith said it was a computer processing glitch affecting anyone who used a debit or credit card on May 22-23.

"We have resolved the problem and customers should have seen resolution on their [bank] statements by the end of that week (May 29). We apologize for the inconvenience to our impacted customers," Smith wrote.

11Alive has learned the mistake affected over 1 million transactions at more than 7,000 stores across the U.S. and Canada.

Financial experts say this sort of thing happens more than most people realize. The reality is that most of us don't realize we've been overcharged until the bank statement later shows a reinbursement into the account.

Conrad Ciccotello is the Director of Personal Financial Planning at Georgia State University and says what happened at Starbucks should be a wake up call for all consumers who use debit and credit cards.

"Here's the big difference between using a card versus cash. If it was a cash transaction for my coffee and somebody said 8 bucks and I had to reach in and think about pulling out 8 bucks I'd say '8 bucks? That can't be right'. That makes it real when I have to pull it out of my wallet. When we use a card, we don't even look at the receipt. We just throw it in the trash," said Ciccotello.

Starbucks says anyone who has further questions can call its customer relations hotline at: 1-800-23-LATTE. It suggests customers also consult directlywith their bank.