Customers claim chicken chain is charging accounts for purchases they did not make

People who visited a popular fast food restaurant months ago tell 5 On Your Side that they are suddenly seeing waves of charges hit their bank accounts.

Enrique Perez said he hasn't been to Pollo Campero in months but recently noticed the restaurant unexpectedly charged his account.

"I found three charges to my account and a subscription, a recurring payment to my account," he said.

Perez called his bank to cancel the charges then checked his mother's bank account.

"I looked over my mom's finances. She had a $90 payment and a $50 payment ... both from Charlotte locations which we had never been to," Perez said.

Several other people emailed and called WRAL News with similar claims, and dozens chimed in on NextDoor posts saying the same thing has been happening to them.

Asked about the charges, the owner of the Raleigh franchise wrote:

“AV Performance, Inc., Pollo Campero franchisee and operator of the Raleigh, North Carolina, Pollo Campero restaurant, recently discovered that the restaurant’s credit and debit card transactions from October 2022 through April 2023 were not posted for processing. As a result, guests were not charged for their purchases in a timely manner. Beginning April 3, 2023, these legitimate charges began posting and have now been processed, which is why they are now appearing on guests’ credit and debit card statements. Those who visited the Raleigh Pollo Campero multiple times October through March will see charges from each of those visits.

This is an isolated situation affecting only purchases made with credit and debit cards at the Pollo Campero Raleigh, North Carolina location. The problem has been corrected and credit and debit cards are now being posted and processed daily. AV Performance, Inc., apologizes to our guests for any inconvenience and is reviewing all our internal processes to ensure something like this never occurs again."

The customers told 5 On Your Side that Pollo Campero's explanation – that they simply delayed charges – did not hold water. Perez said the charges he was hit with don't appear to line up with how much he spent at the restaurant.

"It was a total of about $150 for a days worth of charges at this place," he said.

Perez said the situation has him questioning whether to do business there in the future.

WRAL News followed up with more questions and received the following responses:

Q: Multiple customers have told 5 On Your Side that the amounts they are being charged in April do not line up with the amounts of their past purchases. One person had a charge for $90 and $60, they do not report making purchases in that amount. Another person says they were charged $12 for an order that was canceled when the food he ordered was not available. What is the explanation to people who say what they are being charged now is not accurate?

A: Those who believe the charges are in error can contact us at 919-438-0762 or email info@avinvestments.com can dispute the charges with their credit card company.

Q: Why was there no notification? In some cases, hundreds of dollars, if not more, were suddenly withdrawn from people bank accounts without any notice. The fact that they were “legitimate charges” doesn’t change the fact that Pollo Campero over drafted people’s bank accounts without warning while many others canceled credit cards and disputed charges in a panic thinking their bank account information was compromised.

A: We do not gather contact information for our guests, so unfortunately, we did not have a way to provide advance notice.

Q: Why did it take 6 months to discover this error? Was the franchise location really viable from October until now with no credit/debit income?

A: We were made aware of this system error on April 3 and reacted as quick as possible. Our team has been working around the clock to communicate with our customers. We are still undergoing an investigation to determine what caused the system error.