HELP!!! Asda have charged me for petrol 2 months late!!!

streethawk101

I cant believe this. I checked my balance at an ATM machine today, expecting to find about £10 of my £100 overdraft facility available, only to find i am overdrawn by £210.

So i checked my internet banking, i noticed three Asda Petrol station transactions today, one for £30, one for £40.02 and one for £50. I havent had any petrol since Saturday last week.

So i called my bank (the co-op) to report fraud, they told me it wasnt fraud but there had been a considerable delay in Asda presenting the "vouchers" for payment. One of these transactions had been on 09/05/08, one one 23/05/08 and one on 06/06/08. I couldnt believe they were allowed to do this.

So i headed straight to Asda and asked to speak to the manager. She explained that is "wasnt their fault" and that the people running the card transactions "Streamline" had made an error and have debited thousands of transactions late. She was no help at all and very rude to be honest. The most she did was give me their head office phone number and they're not open evenings so thats no use.

I'll probably be charged £35 by my bank for each of these transactions tomorrow, leaving me £215 out of pocket from where i thought i was. I was due to go away for a long weekend on saturday, but have had to cancel the trip as i cant even nearly afford it now.

Where do i stand? I dont dispute owing the money, but surely this is unethical at least, is it even fully legal? I'm furious to be honest, but i want to know if i have any options open to me?

Thanks for your input,

Steve.

goldspanners

surely its up to you to keep an eye on your own finances?

streethawk101

Maybe, but this slipped by me, i have a lot of fairly small transaction like these amounts. I think its a pretty awful way to treat your customers.

tomstickland

I'd suggest phoning up the bank and asking them if they can "do anything" about the fees. Politely explain the problem and they'll probably cancel the fees.

I don't think that your "furious" attitude is going to help TBH. They essentially loaned you the money in the time before paying and being charged.

MYLITTLESISTERLOLA

I may be wrong but I think these transactions can be processed up to 6 mths after the purchase, you could try to appeal to the banks better nature, be nice, explain the situation, explain that you realise the bank aren't at fault but you would appreciate any help they could give you, if you go in shouting the odds in my experience ( I work in a bank ) they will be less kind, human nature ! Good Luck

streethawk101

Thanks, might be able to wriggle out of the charges i suppose. Still pretty upset about having to cancel the holiday, but i suppose i have no options.

anewman

I always thought the money was automatically secured from your account (taking it away from your available balance) but charged properly from your balance later?

streethawk101

Thats pretty much how i thought it worked, and why i have "available balance" and "account balance" on my internet banking screen. Transactions pending seem to lower the available balance.

Thunderbird_2

I had this as well. I have purchased petrol from ASDA once, but, they debited my account nearly 8 weeks later. Mind you, I was waiting for this transaction to appear on my online banking.

Good luck with the banck charges!

Markyt

They have just done this to me as well. As a result, I now have an unauthorised overdraft on a closed bank account!

kazwookie

Well I guess you are not going to be the only person this has happened to.

But in your mind you should have allowed for the money to be out of your bank account even if it was still in your account, so in effect you actually spent money on something you didn't have.

You should check your statements off against the reciepts you get for items you have bought.

I would suggest a calm phone call to your bank and explain what has happened and see what they can do to help you.