Mix-up at Linglestown eatery explained

By Harrison L. Michelson
for Linglestown Gazette

Early this week a comment appeared on the Linglestown forum at PennLive.com that accused a Linglestown-area restaurant of ripping off customers by double charging them by hitting their credit-card accounts at the point of sale and a second time months later. (See thread #475)

Giovanni Barone, the owner of Giotti's Family Italian Restaurant located behind Commerce Bank on Linglestown Road, said what may appear to be unauthorized transactions are valid, but a mix-up with his credit-card system caused several days' worth of transactions to be delayed, including some from as far back as last March.

When the system works correctly, credit-card sales made during a business day are batched together and sent to a credit-card processor. From there the data is sent to a bank, and finally money is deposited in Giotti's account.

But, Barone recently noticed that there were 12 to 14 days during 2008 that weren't batched at all. The outstanding credit-card sales were batched at the beginning of this year out sent out to be processed. The next day customers started calling wondering why they were being charged. Others went so far as to think they were being double charged.

Barone explained that there was no way he could give card owners advance notice of the catch-up transactions because the only information he has on file is the last four digits of credit-card account numbers.

To make amends for the confusion, Barone has been offering gift certificates to people who have been affected by the error. If you feel like you have a problem related to this situation, you can reach Barone at 717-652-5656.