Asda home delivery - holding my money even though I have paid them!

I_know_my_ABC_and_my_CMYK

jacobsdaduk wrote: »

sarah1972 wrote: »

Its never happened to me with my numerous Asda home deliveries?
QUOTE]

It had never happened to me either until this week and I've used Asda for 3 years.

It won't be happening again either. Tesco can have my business from now on instead.

Tesco have done exactly the same tome whilst shopping. They took the money out of my account twice and decline the payment twice. Had it not been for my son we would have left Tesco without the shopping.

Strangely enough it has only ever happened to me whilst using Co - Op bank.

Gina2

Hi all,

Just been reading this thread and this is what has happened to me but has left me with no groceries and no money to buy any.

I placed an order with Asda home delivery for Wed 1st Dec. I thought there would be problems because of the snow but thought they must be managing because they hadn't contacted me. A hour past my delivery slot I contacted their customer service (30 min on hold) and was told my delivery was on its way they would find out where the driver was. Another hour and I get a call from the driver who states that she hadn't even set off (customer services lied to me) and would try her best to get to me. 2Hours later another phone call from driver saying she was stuck in snow and wouldn't be able to get to me so would book the order in again for Thurs 3rd Dec. Checked my online account and noticed they had cancelled the order and hadn't rebooked it. Contacted customer service again (1 hour on hold) and was told the only deliveries now available was Sunday 5th Dec. They booked it in.

I then checked my bank account this morning to find that I don't have any money in my account to pay for the groceries. Asda still had my £100 on hold for the order they cancelled. Contacted customer services again and was told it could take up to 10 days to be cleared back to my account. I told them this was unacceptable as that money was all I had for groceries. They told me I shouldn't have cancelled the order:mad:.
Explained it was them that cancelled the order because of the weather and asked them what they was going to do about my delivery as my money wouldn't be available by Sun 5th Dec. I was then told that the money should be available by then (contradicting because they had already told me it would take up to 10 days:mad:) I was then told that if the money couldn't be accessed by them my order for %th Dec would also be cancelled. I am really stuck as what to do I have a young family to feed no money or groceries to do it with.:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

jacobsdaduk

I strongly suggest you call your bank and explain the situation.

I did that with the Cooperative and they were very understanding. If you explain that you have no money they should help.

I also suggest you contact Watchdog. The more people that do, the better the chance that Asda will listen to their customers.

Optimist

Watchdog are looking for stories for their next series and this is just the sort of thing they love. Get enough to report it and they and will probably run with it Watchdog link

fluffnutter

pollyskettle wrote: »

They do indeed 'ringfence' the money, just as most other online retailers do for advance orders. Unfortunately, sometimes when Asda process the order, instead of using the original banking reference given for the ringfenced money, they put the transaction through separately as a new transaction, resulting in the first amount ringfenced and not released for some time (I think it's five working days, but I'm not certain) and the second amount actually debitting the account.

Thanks for explaining that pollyskettle; I see people complain about this a lot but it's not yet been clear what's actually going on.

Basically then, there's nothing wrong per se with 'ringfencing' the money in advance, i.e. when you place your order. What's going wrong is the next part of the process, i.e. taking the money when the goods are actually delivered.

Quite frankly, a few minor adjustments to the process will sort this out, i.e. check whether an advance order exists, ALWAYS use those transaction details to debit the account. Either their IT systems need improving (perhaps it's very awkward to find the right transaction?) and/or their staff need better training. Either way, it's so simple to resolve!

Personally I wouldn't shop there if you paid me, online or otherwise.

jacobsdaduk

fluffnutter wrote: »

Thanks for explaining that pollyskettle; I see people complain about this a lot but it's not yet been clear what's actually going on.

Basically then, there's nothing wrong per se with 'ringfencing' the money in advance, i.e. when you place your order. What's going wrong is the next part of the process, i.e. taking the money when the goods are actually delivered.

Quite frankly, a few minor adjustments to the process will sort this out, i.e. check whether an advance order exists, ALWAYS use those transaction details to debit the account. Either their IT systems need improving (perhaps it's very awkward to find the right transaction?) and/or their staff need better training. Either way, it's so simple to resolve!

Personally I wouldn't shop there if you paid me, online or otherwise.

Agreed. If they just placed the correct reference against the refund, it would be sorted.

One has to wonder though how much interest Asda can make on this money - money that isn't theirs - while it sits in their account. Which makes me wonder if they do it on purpose. I know the interest rate isn't high, but it's still an earner on £100K!

fluffnutter

jacobsdaduk wrote: »

Agreed. If they just placed the correct reference against the refund, it would be sorted.

One has to wonder though how much interest Asda can make on this money - money that isn't theirs - while it sits in their account. Which makes me wonder if they do it on purpose. I know the interest rate isn't high, but it's still an earner on £100K!

One wonders indeed. The amount extra they're earning no doubt exceeds the amount they lose due to disgruntled customers going elsewhere. There's one simple way of stopping them doing this... don't shop there. Problem is it would take hundreds of thousands of people to make a difference.

athenajm

This has just happened to me for an order I placed on 30th November to be delivered on 1st. Asda are refusing to accept any responsibility saying that it's my bank's fault. The bank say they can't refund it unless Asda tell them that they're not taking the money but Asda claim they've already done that. Apparently the money should be back in my account by Friday but that doesn't help when it's my birthday party tonight and I have NO money!!!! :mad:
I am never using Asda again and have also reported them to Watchdog. Hopefully if enough of us do that then something will be done.

rugbymum

jacobsdaduk wrote: »

Agreed. If they just placed the correct reference against the refund, it would be sorted.

One has to wonder though how much interest Asda can make on this money - money that isn't theirs - while it sits in their account. Which makes me wonder if they do it on purpose. I know the interest rate isn't high, but it's still an earner on £100K!

The money doesn't actually leave your account. What happens is that the bank makes those funds unavailable until the company, asda, tells them what to do with it ie pay it out or make it available to the customer.
Asda customer service always tell the you that it's the banks fault.
I found out that the robbing toads put a transaction through at two minutes past midnight on the day the delivery was due. Then they put it through again a couple of hours before they delivered it.
Luckily the Co-op bank were great and put it back for me later that day.

peachyprice

It happened to me, just the once, that was enough, I would never ever shop with them again.

Like alot of people have said Co-op were fantastic when I phoned them and they removed the block immediately, they said they have sooo many people complaining about this practice by Asda.

I did send an email to Asda customer services, they didn't even bother to reply, so it seems they don't really value their customers at all. Thankfully it was only for a short period that I needed to use online shopping, hopefully I'll never been in the situation where I need to again.