BELLEFONTE — In his more than 60 years in business as the owner of Lyons Kennels, Gerald Lyons has always gone a bit out of his way to help his community. Now, he’s asking that same community for a little support to help correct a credit card error that potentially could cost the business thousands of dollars.
Beginning in March and continuing through the early weeks of April, Lyons and his team went about business as usual, providing a wide array of pet services and goods to their loyal customers. Unfortunately for Lyons Kennels, every time a credit card was swiped or slid into the card reader during this time, the charge didn’t register.
Lyons said close to 200 transactions occurred before the error was detected. He said in each of the transactions, cards were swiped or scanned as normal and receipts were printed for each customer to sign; however, these purchases were each recorded as a “demo” and Lyons said they “never actually went through.”
He said an early March storm that swept through the area was heavy enough to knock the business’ credit card system offline. Lyons believes that when the system was restored back to “online” status, something within the system didn’t reset correctly.
“I thought it was going through,” said Lyons, who added with a laugh that, at 83-years-old, he wasn’t able to realize the mistake before it was too late. “It said ‘successful.’”
Unfortunately for Lyons and Lyons Kennels, it wasn’t.
He contacted the credit card company about the issue and was told the company could not reprocess the transactions and the responsibility of collecting any losses falls on the business.
The names and purchase amounts of customers who bought items or services during the glitched times are printed and stacked on the counter near the store’s cash register. Lyons is hoping the people on that list will make their way back into the 1826 Zion Road business and re-swipe their cards to make good on their transactions and lend back some support he generously has given to the Happy Valley community in the past six decades.
Lyons said he has always believed that giving back is an important part of life and he donates time and the kennel’s facilities to several local animal rescue and charitable activities, such as Nittany Beagle Rescue, Pets Come First, Centre County Paws and the Bellefonte Food Bank.
Lyons also works with the Spring Township and Bellefonte Borough police departments as a drop off point for stray or lost dogs. He then works with authorities to return the dogs to their owners and works with animal rescue groups if an owner cannot be identified.
Lyons first had the idea of opening the kennel while serving in the United States Marines Corp. and noticing the number of fellow service members needing a place to board their pets while overseas. His advocacy for veterans continues as he volunteers with the Veterans Assistance Fund and The Nittany Leathernecks.
Friends and supporter of Lyons Kennel began to share the situation on social media, and sure enough, a customer came through the door and made good on their bill. Then another. And another.
Lyons said the names on the list are slowly getting “checked off” as more and more of his customers have returned to pay their uncharged bill. He said some may be a little unsure if their cards were charged and needed to revisit their bank statements to be sure.
He said when customers do see they were never charged by their credit card company, nobody questioned it.
“I’ve treated people right for over 50 years and they know,” said Lyons. “There is nobody, yet, who has come back in and refused to pay.”
