It boggles my mind that our cards let us continue to make purchases after the limit has been reached. I can understand though if the 150 was not debited for a couple of days and he continued to spend. Another thought though... how can he have a receipt for 15 and it go through as 150.... shouldn't that all be linked together? Fraud??

This should be a no-brainer... if Taco Bell's error caused this to happen they should pay those fees, hands down.

I think Taco Bell is owned by Pepsico, are they not? Maybe a Pepsi EECB is in order.

I wish the article had dates. I mean I know some people will blow off the handle right away and go to the press without first seeing if the company will do the right thing....

... as it says in the article, Taco Bell was going to look into it about paying the overdrafts. That is lets wait to see if the company will do the right thing before calling the "evil" or whatever The Consumerist already labeled the article.

At the very least they should offer him a free roll of toilet paper and a bottle of Fantastik

From a legal standpoint, the OP has no leg to stand on. Taco Bell is responsible for their error, but they can't be held responsible for the additional fees, and I'm not sure they should be. Opt out of overage charges. I learned the hard way after a similar incident happened to me.

Hate to say it, but the tried and true method of filing for a small claims court case and serving Taco Hell would probably clear this up in a hurry.
That and if they don't work with you out of court, the judge usually adds in an amount commiserant to the amount of BS you've had to deal with.

@wchamilton (don't know why I can't get threaded reply to work):

They haven't been owned by Pepsi for awhile. Its Yum! that owns them now.

if you explain what happened to your bank and taco bell admits it was their error the bank will usually not have a problem reversing the fees

@Chumas:
If Taco Bell doesn't do something about it soon, I would have to agree with you. I'm sure any understanding Judge would find in favor of the OP.

Sounds like a problem my friend is having witha local restaurant. Back in december they double charged her for her meal, causing her to have a bunch of fees.

They haven't even paid her the original second charge...

Maybe Taco Hell will give him 35 sauce packets and an empty hot sauce bottle.

I find it interesting that he budgeted a meal at Taco Bell. I'm not saying that from the perspective that he's poor, or just cheap, but that some people literally feel as if they have to budget every single thing, including where they spend "eating out money." But I'm not saying he did that, but I know some people who do.

Also...

*cue "OP should've used a credit card* argument in 3...2...1...

snowmoon: Are you saying he shouldn't have taken his family to TB? Now that I re-read the post, it's clear that the OP "budgeted" TB in because he has very little money, not like I had mentioned before about how some people are simply very meticulous. I'm not sure why I didn't connect $15 and $150 with having less than $150 in one's account. Yikes.

@snowmoon: Why should you judge how people handle their checking account? It could very well be a college student who only uses said account for food or they could put every extra cent in their savings account or it could be an account like my fiance and I share for just joint expenses (mainly food) we never put more than 200 in there at a time. We use it for food and when we go out to eat. This way its easier to buy groceries since I am usually the one buying them.

snowmoon: perhaps they transfer enough into their checking account to cover the everyday purchases, and put the rest of their "bill money" into a moneymarket account. Way to attack the OP.

I thought this article was talking about Vancouver, BC at first. I mean, that's what I think if when people say 'Vancouver' anyway.

@snowmoon: Shush, you. It's not his fault for using debit. I hate using cash, and I always prefer to use my debit. Something similar happened to me once and my CU refunded the fees.

@Segador:

I think he definitely has a leg to stand on. He could try his bank first to see if they would understand and refund it (fat chance), but I think either small claims or EECB (if normal lines fail) would get that money refunded

@snowmoon:

1) Alot of people do...It could be avoided with proper use of a Debit card as well, he could have done an investigation with his bank to get those funds refunded as well...it's worked for me.

2) a) Way to blame the victim

b) it's true that $135 probably shouldn't knock you into the red, but as the guy said, they are strictly budgeted and don't have much room for error. Not everone lives with excess money from week to week. Maybe someone lost their job and they're scrounging...these aren't exactly the best of times. You know what they say about assumptions...

Yo quiero my money back!

@snowmoon: One last thing, it's not like they overcharged him 2 dollars for the wrong item either, they overcharged him 10x the amount AND gave him a reciept with the proper amount. They need to take FULL responsibility for what they did for such a gross act of negligence. That said, once they go through his bank records to find that he didn't actually try to scam them, they probably will refund all or at least most of that money.

I'll blame the OP. Everybody should know how the system works.

When using a debit card, you are:

1. Handing over access to your bank account to a front line employee.
2. Hoping they take out the right amount.
3. Getting your goods or services.

That's how a debit card works. If you are concerned about any of those steps, prolly shouldn't use a debit card.

p.s. I learned the hard way too.

How I would handle this is to contact my bank and dispute the original charge, $15 was authorized, NOT $150. When the bank backdates the unauthorized $150 the 11 overdraft charges would be removed.
No way would I let the bank have me deal with the merchant, or allow for a later credit to be applied.
Debit cards do have some protections. One of those is being charged only for authorized transactions.

Depending on when the extra fees for all the other stuff they bought hit, I don't know if Taco Bell would be responsible for only the overdraft fee from their specific transaction or all the ones after it.

Either way, this is why I like to use credit cards and keep a healthy balance in my checking account just to be sure. Granted, I don't know the posters situation so I don't know whether thats possible or not, but if you're using debit cards on a regular basis having less than $150 in the account is not a good way to go. At that point I'd probably resort to cash to make sure I don't get screwed (I don't think the situation is the guys fault, but at the same time protecting yourself is always better)

@snowburnt: "b) it's true that $135 probably shouldn't knock you into the red, but as the guy said, they are strictly budgeted and don't have much room for error. Not everone lives with excess money from week to week. Maybe someone lost their job and they're scrounging...these aren't exactly the best of times. You know what they say about assumptions..."

Typos happen, typos on Debt cards mean problems. If it wasn't this it would have been something else like a temporary transaction that didn't get purged from the system.

Debt card + tight budget = disaster waiting to happen.

@wchamilton: Taco Bell is owned by Yum! Brands...
[www.yum.com]

@snowmoon (still can't nestle comments...)

1) I do...and so do a lot of other commenters, it seems. Why charge a small purchase to a credit card if you have the money in the bank? Dumb.
2) Do you remember anything about that mystical place they call college? I'm a college student who would be totally screwed if a 15 dollar purchase turned into a 150 dollar purchase...but I can afford to go to Taco Bell, as long as they don't increase my purchase by an order of magnitude. Duh.

This is why I don't use debit cards. Having money lost/tied up from your checking account can create havoc with priority bills like mortgages or car payments. However, having money tied up on your credit card is just one chargeback dispute away from being resolved.

While this was a terrible thing to have happen it's kind of his fault. I mean if you're living that close to the edge that $150 means the end of your money then what are you doing getting a $5 coffee? I just don't get it.

If you are that close you have to modify your lifestyle to reign it back in some. I'll side with the arguments for him using cash or credit card, debt cards are one of the worst things you can use.

I know his Taco Bell receipt said "15.00," but he should also have been given a CC/Debit card receipt.

It was certainly T'Bell's fault for the initial error, but if OP didn't ask for/didn't look at the debit receipt, all the bounce fees are clearly his fault.

Further, if it was a PIN based transaction, he had to hit OK on the little keypad, meaning it is 100% OP's fault.

Taco Bell used to be owned by PepsiCo but they are now owned by Yum! Brands. Due to the previous relationship, all Yum! Brands restaurants have a lifetime contract with PepsiCo. You should contact Yum! Brands instead.

@humphrmi: Who is a subsidiary of PepsiCo

I find it curious how the receipt printed correctly. Most POS terminals perform the debit automatically, so if the transaction does not go through it is declined in real-time.

Since the receipt printed correctly, I wonder if an employee (knowing it was a debit card) voided the transaction and rerung at a higher amount and pocketed the cash difference.

@coan_net: Or.. Everyone could make some "noise" and they won't consider ripping off the guy. A nice letter being "concerned" about this, might make them do the right thing without putting the guy deeper in debt.
BTW, they already refused it, they gave him back the original cost, then they blew him off by telling us they were looking into the overdrafts. This is where consumerist steps in, before it leaves the press and they can slide it under the rug with a "we made the man whole, what more do you want, maybe this guy should get an extra million bucks from us for our already corrected mistake..".. If it's out of the news, they guy has no chance of getting it back. And without the CRAZY overcharge, their is no chance of getting the story back in the news, even on the back (web)page. It wouldn't be news, even if it is wrong.
Let them keep the guys $400 another 30 days, it's not like he needs it... Oh yeah, he budgets every cent, so no car payment or rent this month? I don't think the comment is right in this instance, why should he suffer for a day longer for something they did. They ARE EVIL for ripping this guy off and telling him they may or may not make good on it!

I had this same exact thing happen to me. However, my bank dropped the fees when the merchant made their correction and I pointed out that if it hadn't been for that error I wouldn't have overdrafted. He needs to talk to his bank.

Wells Fargo themselves did this to me recently after making some changes to my accounts that they did incorrectly. I spent over a half hour on the phone, and a few hours at the local branch to get all the charges reversed.

@gaya2081: seriously!! I only keep enough $$ in my checking account to cover what I plan on spending. Everything else goes into savings. And my bank charges the OD fee even if my checking is linked to savings for OD purposes, so I refused that option.

So the bank shouldn't be responsible for leveling $400 in NSF fees, one fee per charge? For Christ's sake, if a cardholder is debiting against an empty checking account, then decline the transaction!

Bank's responsibility, not Taco Bell (besides the initial goof, of course).

@cortana: Not so much.
KFC spun off Pizza Hut, KFC, and Taco Bell in 1997, forming a company named "Tricon Global Restaurants, Inc". Tricon changed its name to Yum! Brands in 2002.
[en.wikipedia.org]

Also, what are the odds that a Yum EECB isn't appropriate since the restaurant is a franchise?

I had something like this happen when L.A. Fitness took out two months of dues at one time. I printed out my statement, blacked out what was none of their business, and showed how they cost me almost $200 in overdraft fees and told them - Hey, YOU are responsible for this because of YOUR error. And if you don't make it right, I'll be going to the county prosecuting attorney who deals with people who pass bad financial transactions.

They said they'd fix it - I made the manager type up a letter STATING that they'd fix it on L.A. Fitness letterhead and when I could expect payment. They seriously put a hold on my finances for nearly a week and a half.

@pecan 3.14159265: When you're low on funds, yeah, you even need to budget if a fast food meal here or there is OK. I'm about to see if I have enough money to buy lunch out today.

When I worked for WaMu back in better times - it was bank policy that any overdraft fees that were caused by merchant error were to be reversed after the merchant corrected the problem.

I agree with everyone who says the OP should talk to his bank. Not because Taco Bell didn't make the mistake, but because he will probably get more mileage talking to the bank.

The bank did not really lose money in this transaction, and those fees were leveled as penalties. Taco Bell will be more hostile to paying the fees than the bank will be to dropping them because it stands to lose more. This is especially true if the Taco Bell restaurant has to pay it back rather than corporate.

Don't you have to PIN in for a debit card at pretty much every other kind of store, where they show you the amount and you OK it? The only time I don't have that happen is when I run a card as credit OR if I'm buying a small meal. Sometimes I wish these places would make you OK the purchase like other merchants. There's no way to verify they've charged you correctly.

@snowman - In this economy people do have to budget and do not always have a ton of money in their checking account. I always use my debit card....and yes I will buy a meal for $15 even if I only have $150 in my checking account.

@greggen: There are a lot of fast food type places that will only make you authorize a charge if it's over $25, and will just run your debit card as a credit card. Fast food really doesn't let you authorize.

@metaled: Can you let me know where you got your information from - I just read the article, and I did not really read as much as you are saying.

From the article, what I got was the local store quickly refunded the error - and that they would have to get permission (from higher management) to possible refund the overdrafts that they caused - again, this is what I got from the article (which did not have much), so please share if you know of more information.

@emilymarion333: Debt card + low balance = recipe for disaster.

Use cash or use credit otherwise you are just asking for problems.

I've actually had that happen to me too - by Verizon! Their response to me was that it was MY fault for not having enough in my checking account to cover a few fees (7)! I know I SHOULD keep at least $100 in my checking account for just such a reason, but that's not always possible (especially the day before payday). Anyway, I fussed about it so much and threatended to go public unless they made everything right, that they finally did - after about two weeks!

I know a lot of people that would be thrown off some if their $15 trip to Taco Bell turned into a $150 outing with $35 overdraft fees for every transaction you made after that.

If Yum wants to be a good corporate citizen here, they should reimburse the family the overdraft fees their account has been hit with. The bank isn't going to stand in and say it was an error - they processed the transactions accordingly and then likely re-ordered the charges based on dollar amount. The bank is going to say you should have looked more closely at the receipt. Yum is going to say they reimbursed the $150 and that is all they need to do. Somewhere, in the middle, is the consumer that armed with a budget wanted $15 in tacos.

Have a heart Yum.