Sacred Rose Festivalgoers Report Thousands in Overcharges, Fest Responds
Many music fans who attended the Chicagoland area's inaugural Sacred Rose Festival this past weekend and used their credit cards while there subsequently reported thousands in surprise overcharges.
The fest has responded saying it was a glitch with an onsite vendor.
According to numerous concertgoer accounts on Reddit and across social media — not to mention a report from Chicago's CBS 2 — the four-digit charges curiously appeared on the customers' cards after they visited a merchant on the festival grounds.
Watch the video down toward the bottom of this page.
The overcharges weren't small. Various Redditors reported that they each received surprise charges amounting to $1,190, $1,300, $1,500, $1,700, $3,200 or more. One charge of nearly $5,000 was reportedly declined by a customer's bank.
Sacred Rose Fest, the Americana and jam band event that took place at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois, Aug. 26–28, responded with a statement saying the glitch in venue payment processing resulted in the charges, and that they were being reversed.
In a statement apparently made in an Instagram reply and captured by the Facebook page The Festive Owl, Sacred Rose seemed to blame the venue for the overcharges.
Hi everyone, we've been in communication with the venue about this issue. Here is their statement: 'You may have accidentally been charged a large amount from F&B at SeatGeek Stadium when using a credit card. Our payment processing is secure but had a configuration error. There was no exposure and/or fraud; we are PCI compliant. We are reversing all of these charges and you should see the amount credited to your card in 3-5 business days.'
A statement from Bridgeview village spokesperson Ray Hanania delivered the same message, assuring overcharged customers that they would be refunded.
There was a technical glitch with the point of sales system regarding the tips inaccurately processed. SeatGeek and Bridgeview have identified the problem and all the overcharges are being corrected and refunded as we speak. They will see a corrected amount on their credit card statements. The Village and SeatGeek don't know the precise number of customers impacted, but they will make sure every overcharge is corrected and refunded to the proper amount.
Customers who experienced overcharges were encouraged to contact SeatGeek through their contact form at seatgeekstadium.com if the charges weren't reversed.
Sacred Rose was plagued by bad weather and cut its final day on Sunday (Aug. 28) short. Advertised headliners included Wilco's Jeff Tweedy and Grateful Dead's Phil Lesh.