Okanagan winery mistakenly exposes billing info of 1,200 customers
An Okanagan winery says it's reviewing its security measures after it mistakenly emailed out the credit card information of 1,200 customers this week.
Members of the wine club at Gray Monk Estate Winery in Lake Country, B.C., learned Thursday that their credit card information has been exposed to 70 club members.
The winery said an employee inadvertently sent an email with an attached Exel spreadsheet that contained customer's billing information, including full names, addresses, phone numbers and credit card numbers.
Jennifer Saxton, a wine club member, said she was forced to cancel her credit card the same day.
"I was mostly in shock," she told Daybreak South host Chris Walker about receiving the email.
Saxton said she tried repeatedly to reach winery staff Thursday to follow up but had yet to hear back.
Cellar club
The winery, which was established in 1972, is situated on 75 acres of vineyards overlooking Okanagan Lake.
It offers a "cellar club" with four shipments each year of its estate wines and vintage releases.
It's not the first time the winery has messed up, Saxton said, noting that she only received three bottles of wine in her last shipment instead of the six she had paid for.
"They should really reassess who they have in those positions there," she said.
"I work in finance and to just randomly have an Excel spreadsheet with everyone's information on it that can be attached to an email isn't exactly a good security measure."
Saxton said she's cancelling her membership and wants the winery to purge her personal information.
'Embarrassment to shock'
Jeff Hanson, the winery's regional estate manager, said he shared Saxton's disappointment.
Hanson said winery staff quickly started calling customers Thursday after it sent out the mass email.
"I believe that we left [Saxton] a voicemail, but at the same time, I'm sure that we would have liked to have called everybody immediately."
A team is now in place to ensure customer information is encrypted, he said. The winery will also be offering its members free access to a credit fraud protection service.
"I can't tell you how horrible they feel," Hanson said about the employee who made the mistake.
"Everything from embarrassment to shock. They can't believe this actually happened."
