Thousands of sailors just paid for their child care and MWR fees twice, but the Navy is working overtime to fix it.

Duplicate charges to the tune of $5.3 million came out of sailor's bank accounts and credit cards when a server switch-out at Navy Installations Command Support Services in Tennessee activated dormant transaction files, said Dan Kondziela, the support services director.

About 133,000 charges were processed in total, Kondziela said, for sailors and civilians in Japan, Guam, Korea, and Monterey, California.

The charges, which ran from Jan. 22 through June 23, were for everything from Gatorade at the fitness center and theater tickets to child development center fees. For some sailors and spouses, those charges totaled into the thousands of dollars, said Cmdr. Ron Flanders, spokesman for Navy Region Japan in a video for sailors posted on the command's Facebook page.

"We understand that this is not some minor inconvenience for you," Flanders said. "Hundreds and in some cases thousands of dollars were charged to your credit cards. And even worse, for those of you who like to use debit cards for your purchases, money was taken out of your checking account that was not accounted for because you had already paid off these services and this has caused a serious impact on you."

Sailors should ensure that all the money mistakenly charged to their cards is repaid in full, Flanders said.

Navy officials say that the charges, which were processed through Bank of America, should be reversed by the close of business Wednesday but that it may take additional time for the sailors' banks to process the reversal.

Some sailors had their checking accounts overdrafted and were hit with fees, Flanders said in the video. Sailors mentioned that Navy Federal employees told them that they would not have the fees waved but a statement from Navy Federal said that they would not hold their members responsible for the fees.

"Typically, members will call to dispute a duplicate debit transaction. As a part of our dispute process, we will refund fees caused by the duplicate transaction. However, in this instance, we are working to identify the impacted members so we can take proactive steps to reverse the duplicate transactions and refund any associated fees," the statement read.

For sailors whose bank refuses to refund the fees, the Navy will pay for overdraft fees, said Jerry Hieb.

Sailors or spouses with further questions can call (844) 697-4357, or email mwr_creditcard_FAQ.fct@navy.mil.

No personal information was compromised as a result of the error and no hacking or cyber theft was involved, Hieb said.

About David B. Larter

David B. Larter was the naval warfare reporter for Defense News.

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