CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Kmart tells Action 9 it's working to sort out layaway issues customers may be facing.
It involves the company's online layaway system -- not the in-store one.
Customers said they paid off items and then received an email stating the items were not in stock.
Action 9 Investigator Jason Stoogenke looked into it and found similar complaints nationally.
When Stoogenke reached out to Kmart, a representative said some of the emails were a mistake. The items are in stock.
In other cases the items were not. The company said it is looking for the items and if it finds them, it will give them to those customers for free.
Below is the full statement from Kmart spokesperson Jamie Stein:
"We are in the process of contacting our customers and members who have received inadvertent cancellation notices for their online layaway contracts. This issue is specific to online layaway contracts for ship to home and does not impact in-store layaways.
"Here's what we are doing. First, we have processed refunds for canceled items and our customers and members will receive these refunds soon, if they haven't already. Second, we are working to find the items that were identified as out of stock – and if we can find them we will provide those items for free and ship at no cost. If we don't have those items, we will provide an e-gift card that can be used toward the purchase of items in the amount equal to the items canceled in their order.
"We have expressed to our members how deeply sorry we are that this has happened – and we know this is a special time of year for families. We are working hard to make things right."
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