Debit card holding amount - online shopping

milliejon

I don't believe it! I tried Asda again this week and the same thing happened. My bank told me that because the holding amount was different from the real amount, the holding amount was left there. Good job I had some money in the savings account to still buy the kids an ice-cream!

So, as well as Asda's prices on the website for measured food (meat, veg and fruit etc) being much lower than the actual prices so they look competitive with other online supermarkets, no clubcard points, and no vouchers for school, I won't be shopping online with them again. I'll be sticking with Tescos, even if they do have more expensive delivery charges.

davey69_2

Hi Milliejon. I used to work on hotel receptions and used to do 'pre-authorisations' on peoples cards all the time when they checked in. What Asda has told you is untrue!! Say for example we took a pre-authorisation for £200 and the guest only spent £100, then when they check out you do something called a 'completion transaction' where you select completion from a list on the credit card machine, enter the authorisation code that you have been given on taking the pre-authorisation, the amount your pre-authorised the card for and then the actual amount that is to be charged to the card. That way the £100 that was 'held' in the account that they didnt actually spend gets released back into their account!! So it is pretty clear to me that Asda are not performing the completion transaction and are just performing a sale transaction from scratch!!

Gemmzie

It's pretty common with online retailers which are owned by American companies I've found.

I spent £9.99 once and they held £80 :eek:

milliejon

It's really unfair to the customer. In effect, the "borrowed" an extra £50 off me until I asked for it to be cancelled by the bank. Well they've lost me as an online customer.

The first time this happened I took the time to email a complaint to Asda, and heard nothing back from them. I guess they're not interested in hearing their customers' feedback.