Thousands of store card customers will receive up to £100 each in compensation, Argos says.
Argos is set to repay £30 million to customers who were wrongly charged late fees on their store cards.
The retail giant will begin contacting thousands of customers in the coming weeks, with each receiving up to £100 in compensation.
The issue was first discovered earlier this year, and the retailer subsequently set aside £17 million.
However, the problem proved far more widespread than first expected and it has now had to set aside a far larger sum.
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What Argos had to say
Home Retail Group, the owner of Argos, made the revelation in its latest trading update.
“The Group… identified that it had erroneously collected excess fees in relation to the late payment of amounts due from certain customers,” it said.
“Existing customer redress provision may need to be increased by an amount in the region of £30million.”
John Walden, the Group’s chief executive, claimed it was “not a material number of customers and not a material amount of money per customer."
He added: “But for each customer it matters. We will address it and treat customers fairly.”
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What do you need to do if you think you’re affected
It’s been reported that roughly one in 10 store cardholders has been overcharged.
As mentioned earlier, Argos has pledged to write to all those affected so you shouldn’t need to do anything to get a refund.
If, however, you would like to take the initiative then you can contact Argos via their site or call them on 0345 640 2020.
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