The Round-Up Saloon posted the above on Facebook this afternoon, unleashing a torrent of angry comments including some from customers who say their debit accounts are now overdrawn — and one who says he may have to sell his belongings to pay his bills (no, we’re not kidding).
We also received an email from a Round-Up customer who reminded us that “high dollar amounts over the past month were likely easily accumulated with St. Patrick’s Day weekend and Bear Weekend.”
“I have no doubt that several people were waking up to overdraft charges today; which undoubtedly the Round Up will not reimburse. I’ve heard stories of people who were charged $6-700 today,” the customer wrote. “I am incredibly disappointed in the Round Up — which if I remember correctly, is supposed to be one of the friendliest bars in Dallas. I will likely not frequent there any time soon.”
Alan Pierce, co-owner of the Round-Up, told Instant Tea the problem apparently started due to a glitch with a single transaction last month. However, he said the Round-Up didn’t become aware of the problem until earlier this month. Pierce said he’s had dozens of phone calls from customers already today — prompting him to post the item on Facebook and place signs at all of the cash registers.
“Obviously this has never happened before, and this is not something we ever expected to happen,” Pierce said. “We had no idea this was going on.”
Pierce said he thinks both the bank and the credit card processing company should have caught the problem sooner. However, they’ve told him they’re not legally liable. He doesn’t believe the Round-Up is liable, either, but he said the bar is the one that will ultimately suffer.
“We’ll be the ones left holding the bag here,” he said. “We feel badly that it’s affecting customers this way.”
Pierce said he didn’t want to make any promises, but said people with questions should contact the office.
“We’ll deal with them individually on that,” he said.
“Sadly, it’s a glitch of technology,” he added. “We’ll be monitoring it much more closely.”