CHARLOTTE, N.C. — If you're a fan of music from the '80s, then you're probably familiar with Tommy Tutone's hit song "867-5309/Jenny." Maybe you even tried calling the number, but adding in your local area code.
In Charlotte, North Carolina, one man has that famed number: Chris Och. He bought the 704 version of the beloved digits more than a decade ago, just because it was well-known.
"It was one of the things on my bucket list actually," Och said. "I wanted a memorable phone number, and I didn't want business cards for my business."
And aside from making calls, he's used it for another thing: Grocery store rewards programs. Och goes to his local Food Lion all the time to shop. He will go to the checkout line and enter his phone number at the register so he can claim rewards.
Each time, it shows how much he has saved over a year.
“My receipt shows $92,965 as what I’ve saved," Och said.
That means he must have spent millions of dollars at Food Lion stores across the area, right? For him, that's not the case at all.
Och suspects when someone doesn't have an account, they use his phone number so they can save some money at checkout.
“The money that is being displayed as the savings on Mr. Och’s receipt is a visual representation of the total amount of MVP savings year to date," Food Lion said in a statement to WCNC Charlotte. "That amount that has already been saved by all the customers who have entered Mr. Och’s phone number at checkout. There is no money available for donation since this is simply the MVP savings history."
Food Lion explained to WCNC Charlotte that its customers who enrolled in the digital MVP account Shop & Earn program can earn rewards after activating qualifying offers each month. Those customers then have the option to redeem their rewards at the grocery or donate their rewards to a local food bank. The average customer, Food Lion says, earns up to $20 a month.
"Mr. Och had not earned or donated any Shop & Earn rewards to a local food bank," Food Lion said to WCNC Charlotte in a statement.
Och was unaware he wasn't enrolled. He learned about the mix-up when he got a phone call from Food Lion.
"They said 'By the way your phone number cannot be used anymore,'" Och said.
Food Lion deactivated his number from their system, and when it turned off, his savings dropped to zero.
“I want to make sure they use what’s going in there," Och said.
Food Lion sent WCNC Charlotte a statement about what happened:
At Food Lion, we take customer concerns seriously. While we regret this situation is happening to our customer, Food Lion also has a responsibility to prevent misuse of the MVP customer loyalty program. Due to the high volume of transactions associated with the phone number, our systems were alerted to potential misuse. At that time, the customer’s phone number was deactivated in our system. Unfortunately, the phone number was re-activated. However, Food Lion has since taken steps to deactivate this phone number.
Food Lion has worked and continues to work with our customer to address and resolve his concerns.
Food Lion’s MVP Program is designed to save customers money at the point of transaction. There is an additional program within the MVP program, Shop & Earn, that allows customers to earn rewards, which on average amounts to $20 per month, through purchasing qualifying items. These rewards, once earned, are applied to a customers’ next grocery purchase OR can be donated by the customer to a local food bank.
Contact Austin Walker at awalker@wcnc.com and follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.