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Some Diamond Parking customers in the Seattle area were charged several times more than what they were supposed to be this week because of a third-party software glitch, according to the company.

Instead of paying $11 for an early bird special in Pioneer Square Wednesday, Martin Johns of West Seattle said he was charged more than $13 five times. He said a Diamond Parking service representative told him thousands of customers may have been overcharged and that some were charged many times more than Johns was.

“I’m lucky enough I’m in a position where it hasn’t put me in a bind,” said Johns, whose wife spotted the charges while looking at their bank account online. “But I’m sure that for someone, that charge could overdraft them and cause all kinds of other headaches.”

That was the case with one woman who told KING she was charged 12 times for a total cost of $144.43, which caused her bank account to be overdrawn.

A spokeswoman for Elavon, the company Diamond Parking contracts with for payment processing, said a software upgrade led to the overcharges, and the problem was fixed Wednesday night. Since then, spokeswoman Holly Lytle said, the company has opened a customer-service line to help people undo the overcharges as soon as possible: 855-429-8562. If customers do nothing, charges should be reversed in about seven to 10 days, she said.

Though Diamond Parking operates in several western states, most of the overcharges affected customers in the Seattle area, Lytle said. She did not know exactly what areas or how many customers were affected. Lytle couldn’t confirm how many times some customers were charged, but said there were inconsistencies in how payments were authorized.

Lytle advises customers affected to call Elavon at 855-429-8562 and not Diamond Parking to resolve the overcharges.

“Diamond parking didn’t have anything to do with this. This was a vendor problem,” Lytle said.

News tips regarding this problem can be sent to avaughn@seattletimes.com.