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

CwningenBach

I have had 2 rather bad experiences with Adsa Online Shopping in the last month, and I certainly won't be going in for a third.

Naively, on the 14th December I placed an order online for £132.00 worth of Alcohol for a Christmas party. I chose a cheap £2 / 8 hour slot for the following Sunday, as I knew I would be stuck indoors with my little one. Well, 8pm and still no delivery. Online, my order appears as "delivered". Panicking, thinking someone else has got been given a great Crimbo prezzie, I ring the *helpline* and was kept on hold for so long, my credit ran out. I topped up, and spent another hour tracking down a *home shopping manager* within my local store. Eventually, after explaining the situation, he told me he would contact the driver and phone me back. And to his credit, within minutes, he called back to say that the driver couldn't find my address so she had put my order back on the *system* for a re-delivery(?????). (I personally think she parked up, realised that she would have to carry 6 crates and 17 bottles up 4 flights of stairs, by herself, in the snow and the dark, and thought better of it!) The manager then reassured me that he would "sort it"!
Now, this is where the difference between Online Adsa and the Store comes in; I get a call back from the Home Shopping Manager after about 20 minutes. He says he's rallied 2 of his staff to collect my shopping and bring it to me personally, in his family 4x4! Sure as anything, 15 minutes later, Jack and Steve were at my door (I actually recognised them from the store)! It turns out the original driver was too far away for them to get to in the bad weather, therefore they ran round the drinks isle re-shopping for my order!! (Top Lads!)

My second experience has no happy ending (yet). On the 1st of January, I ordered New Year groceries and added my *free delivery voucher*. Thankfully, it arrived on time and I wiped my brow thinking I'd avoided another "ordeal"! The driver however didn't stop to explain items that were either substituted or missing (£2.75's worth, not much, but a pain in the frikkin !!!!!) she just told me that my receipt was in the bag.
Thanks to the substitutions, I've since learnt that Asda took an initial amount to *hold* from my Co-Op account and then a separate, revised total a few days later, after the delivery. And yep, as you can gather, the initial amount taken is still on *hold*! I honestly cant afford the call charges to call the *helpline* to ask them, although I can pretty much guess what they're going to say ("Not out fault, talk to your Bank!"). I am going to have to wait the 10 days and see if it will return automatically. And for future notes to myself, to never EVER use Asda online again!


BEWARE!! WHEN YOU SHOP FROM ASDA ONLINE, DONT EXPECT A REASONABLE SERVICE!! IT'S NOT CUSTOMER SERVICE, IT'S JUST NUMBERS ON A SCREEN!!