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Stratford Man's Bank Account Drained in Online Order Glitch

Rick Lavrado watched as $7,200 in charges hit his bank account minutes after placing an order online.

The Stratford resident placed an order on AllPosters.com in October 2017 and paid for it with his debit card. Lavrado expected the cost of $189.66 to be deducted from his account. When he checked his bank statement, he saw 38 withdrawals of $189.66 from AllPosters.com, totaling $7,207.08.

The company blamed a technical glitch and promised to put the money back into Lavrado’s account.

Four days later, the money was back - the company refunded him for everything but the shipping cost of the original order. But as a result of the error, Lavrado’s bank account was overdrawn by $4,000, causing two checks to bounce and $74 in overdraft fees.

Lavrado told NBC Connecticut the company agreed to repay him for the overdraft fees and he faxed over a copy of his bank statement. But he said he didn’t get a response.

Lavrado waited several months for a response, then decided to contact NBC Connecticut Responds.

NBC Connecticut Responds reached out to Art.com Inc., the company that runs AllPosters.com.

In response to our inquiry, a spokesperson said Lavrado’s request for a reimbursement of his overdraft fees was overlooked due to an internal communication error.

“We want every customer experience to be a great one, and sincerely apologize to any of our customers who were inconvenienced by this error. We have taken action to ensure that it does not happen again,” the spokesperson said.

The company is sending Lavrado a check for $74 to cover the overdraft fees, along with a $100 gift card.

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