Dude, where are my food points?

It's amazing how quickly Dukies can burn through food points. But this week, many students knew their appetites were no match for their DukeCard records.

A number of students who logged onto the DukeCard Web site noticed that they had been billed twice for the same purchases made on food points or FLEX Saturday, said Matthew Drummond, Office of Information Technology director of the DukeCard Office. The double-charging was simply a display error—students were not actually charged twice–but the glitch seems to have ruffled some students' feathers.  

It should have been just an uneventful trip to The 'Dillo. But something about the experience did not sit well with senior Qing Wang when she was assessing the state of her food points the next day.

"I knew I did not order two burritos," she said. "I guess being an alert individual, I just noticed it.... I was just practicing responsible individual finance."

Word of the apparent double-charging spread quickly in the student community. Wang notified hundreds of Duke students of the apparent double-charging by e-mail, and many of those students in turn seem to have passed the news on to their friends. Most students Wang contacted reported that their accounts no longer showed the double-charges after Tuesday, and the items did not appear to have been deducted twice from their balances, she said.

But Wang said one double-charge still appears on her balance, noting that she has done the math and it seems she was indeed billed twice for the item. DukeCard officials have sent an e-mail explaining the glitch to students, but Wang still wants answers.

"I'm definitely going to follow up on that—not because Food Points are important to me but just for peace of mind," she said. "What is going on? How credible is the Duke dining system?"