“Just cancel the whole draw:” Oilers fan says 50/50 raffle charged her 16 times instead of once
Posted August 9, 2020 8:09 am.
Last Updated August 9, 2020 9:22 am.
EDMONTON (CITYNEWS) – It was an all-around bad day for Christy Urusky.
Not only did the St. Albert, Alta. resident see her beloved Edmonton Oilers crash out of the NHL playoffs on Friday, she later discovered multiple unwanted charges on her credit card.
It all stemmed from the Oilers 50/50 raffle and the technical difficulties that marred that day’s draw. A crashed website on Friday prevented thousands of people from purchasing tickets.
“It should have been an omen really, and (I should have) just said ‘it’s probably not your day,’” recounted Urusky. “I should have probably given up a long time before that.”
But Urusky kept trying throughout the day. Once the 50/50 website was apparently working again, she managed to input her credit card information. When she submitted, an error message said the service was not available.
Urusky stopped trying and reluctantly came to terms with the fact she would not get the chance to win half of the record-setting $15 million pot.
“I heard from a few friends to check your email, because some of theirs actually did go through and they didn’t know it,” said Urusky. “And then I went in to go check and yeah, eight times I had purchases gone through, and through on my credit cards.”
Urusky was shocked when she says she was charged $800 instead of $50 – 16 times what she meant to spend.
No word yet from the @Oil_Foundation on how many customers received multiple charges from the #Oilers5050 website. #yeg https://t.co/Z7sbylvZhc
— Sarolta Saskiw (@SaroltaSaskiw) August 9, 2020
And she’s apparently not the only one.
Many people took to social media saying they were also charged multiple times after trying to submit payments they thought had been cancelled or didn’t go through.
The Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation say they are aware of the issues with transactions, including the duplication of some orders.
They say it was caused by a high volume of people trying to use the site at once.
Because of this, the 50/50 draw has been put on hold until all concerns have been addressed.
“I would think that they should essentially just cancel the whole draw and refund everybody’s money for every ticket they bought,” suggested Urusky.
