Amid a nationwide shortage of coins, Chipotle is facing a lawsuit of class action from several customers claiming the restaurant chain has its change in its pocket.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Pennsylvania’s Common Pleas Court in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, claims the burrito chain is directing its employees to clean up the amount of change due to customers paying in cash and then the remaining balance to keep.
According to the lawsuit, which was overseen by TODAY Food, “Chipotle is engaging in a corporate policy of abuse of consumer funds and unfair trading practices by refusing and failing, without legal justification, to provide appropriate change or credit to consumers who use cash to make purchases at Pennsylvania Chipotle stores. “
In one instance mentioned in the lawsuit, a plaintiff who visited the Perry Highway Chipotle earlier this month said she handed over a $ 20 bill for an order that cost $ 8.72. Rather than receive $ 11.28 in change, the customer received $ 11 back.
A second customer reported that they received $ 4 in change when they paid with a bill of $ 20 for an order totaling $ 15.51.
While 20 or 40 cents may not sound monumental, the lawsuit alleges that the changed corporate policy resulted in a loss of an estimated hundreds of thousands of dollars for those who recently visited Chipotle.
Frank Salpietro, a lawyer at Rothman Gordon who represents Chipotle’s clients, said TODAY several people had reached out to him both before and after the lawsuit was filed. “There has been a lot of conversation and people have been complaining about the problem. The representatives of the class and others confirmed that this happened in more than just isolated locations,” he wrote in an email.
Salpietro, who could not immediately comment on his clients’ experience due to client-client privilege, said he has not yet received a response from Chipotle. He is currently seeking more information about Chipotle’s finances before revealing what damage his customers are seeking.
“I can tell you that the Pennsylvania Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law, if violated, incurs a minimum damages of $ 100 per violation,” he said, explaining that the class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of all the people who had similar experiences in a Chipotle store.
Since the trial is pending, TODAY has not been able to speak to any of the plaintiffs involved.
Many restaurants had to become creative during the nationwide shortage of coins. One Chick-fil-A in Huntsville, Alabama, began offering a $ 10 bill and a free chicken sandwich to customers who brought in $ 10 in coins.
However, Salpietro warned that restaurant change should come back for customers, even during a currency shortage. He encouraged everyone else who may have experienced something similar to keep them received if they intended to seek legal action.
When TODAY was reached, Chipotle’s Chief Corporate Affairs and Food Safety Officer Laurie Schalow declined to comment on the pending lawsuit, but shared the following statement about the company’s current policy: “If a restaurant is low on change as a result from the national currency shortage, our policy is only to accept exact change as other non-cash payment methods.Restaurants affected have placed signs on the door as well as inside, and staff are required to warn guests before ordering “We encourage customers to contact us with any concerns so we can promptly investigate and respond to make things right.”
Store managers at the named locations directed TODAY to Chipotle’s corporate office. Several attempts to reach Chipotle to confirm if those stores had placed signs in the lawsuit warning the public about the currency shortage did not go back.
Last October, Chipotle customers expressed their concerns when they last marked for orders they did not place in the burrito chain’s app. At the time, Schalow told TODAY that, to her knowledge, the company had not experienced any data breach.
“The privacy and security of our customer information are very important to us. Chipotle customer accounts, as well as customer accounts for many other retail, hotel and restaurant companies, have copies of reference mail. This prevents usernames and passwords from being stolen from other companies. are being tested to see if they work to gain access to accounts with other companies, “she said.
She went on to say, “Chipotle has not identified any indication that usernames and passwords have been taken from Chipotle’s network, and Chipotle does not retain the full payment card number after it has been used for digital orders.”
