Sacred Rose Music Festival attendees mistakenly charged thousands through payment glitch

BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. (WLS) -- Attendees of the Sacred Rose Music Festival in Bridgeview were shocked to find they had been charged thousands of dollars though a glitch in the payment system.

"I was shocked," said Courtney Richter, attendee. "I had no idea how that could go through. My first thought is that there was card skimmers at the venue somehow."

Richter was not alone. David Littman said his card was charged nearly $1,300.

"It almost made me laugh because there was just so many things that went wrong with the festival," he said.

The village of Bridgeview, which owns SeatGeek Stadium and ran concessions for the event, said there was a glitch in the payment system for food and drinks on the first day of the weekend-long festival.

"The glitch involved the tip processing point of sale," said Ray Hanania, village spokesperson. "When the tip went in, for some reason it added one or two zeroes to it."

The village said the errant charges have already been reversed, or will be soon. They also said the glitch was fixed by the second day of the festival.

"This is not a reflection of Sacred Rose," Hanania said.

In a tweet, Sacred Rose organizers said they've escalated the issue with the venue and were assured any charges would be refunded in full. But festival organizers had no comment at this time on other complaints, including placement of the stages that led to sound overlapping, and a lack of communication when severe weather led to performances being canceled.

"You know, I had a good time but I would not go back to that festival," Littman said.

"It was chaotic, it was very stressful," Richter said.

Village officials said the payment problems have been resolved and don't anticipate similar issues when SeatGeek Stadium hosts the North Coast Music Festival this weekend.