Debit card error in Asda - Advice please! :(

BramleyApple_2

Hi there, sorry if this is not in the right place or been covered already in the forum! Just after a bit of advice if anyone can help?

I did my weekly shop in Asda last Tuesday (7th Dec) and paid on my Visa debit card for the amount, it came to £102 - But me being stressed with trying to keep my 2 year old entertained forgot to hand the cashier the vouchers from the promotion they are doing at the moment. When I realised he cancelled the transaction (even though I had put my number in the card reader) and scanned the vouchers taking the total down to £98. When I tried to pay for the shopping on my card again I got told it had been declined (although the funds were available) So I ended up paying cash in the end...
On returning home I checked my online banking to see a considerable amount missing so I rang automated telephone banking and it told me my last 6 debits from my account - Asda had taken both payments even though one of them had been declined!
I rang Asda to which they told me that the money was 'on hold' or 'floating about' and when it actually comes to take the money out that it will return it to my account when the system realises one transaction was cancelled and one was 'declined' and it could take 2 to 3 days for it to go back in! Has anyone else had a similar experience at all and is this correct? Is the time scale correct that I got given? Any help appreciated! Thank you!

zppp

BramleyApple wrote: »

Hi there, sorry if this is not in the right place or been covered already in the forum! Just after a bit of advice if anyone can help?

I did my weekly shop in Asda last Tuesday (7th Dec) and paid on my Visa debit card for the amount, it came to £102 - But me being stressed with trying to keep my 2 year old entertained forgot to hand the cashier the vouchers from the promotion they are doing at the moment. When I realised he cancelled the transaction (even though I had put my number in the card reader) and scanned the vouchers taking the total down to £98. When I tried to pay for the shopping on my card again I got told it had been declined (although the funds were available) So I ended up paying cash in the end...
On returning home I checked my online banking to see a considerable amount missing so I rang automated telephone banking and it told me my last 6 debits from my account - Asda had taken both payments even though one of them had been declined!
I rang Asda to which they told me that the money was 'on hold' or 'floating about' and when it actually comes to take the money out that it will return it to my account when the system realises one transaction was cancelled and one was 'declined' and it could take 2 to 3 days for it to go back in! Has anyone else had a similar experience at all and is this correct? Is the time scale correct that I got given? Any help appreciated! Thank you!

Welcome to MSE.

Yes, it is common, and most banks will release the funds automatically 48 hours after the transaction if it is not claimed by the retailer.

I_know_my_ABC_and_my_CMYK

I had this happen to me a while back only this was with Tesco. They declined my card twice but debited my account twice. It took about 3 days to re credit my account, fortunately I was with my son who ended up paying for the shopping and me then paying him back.

This seems to be happening more and more frequently with supermarkets, Asda and Tesco in particular, somehow either the supermarkets or the banks need to do something to prevent this from happening.

BramleyApple_2

Hi there!
Thanks for your replies! Hopefully it should go back into my bank by tomorrow then (fingers crossed!) Yes apparently Asda have been doing this quite a lot lately according to my bank (Co-operative) It's a joke as it was all my money swallowed up that I had in my account so have been broke all week! Grrrr! :S

opinions4u

But me being stressed with trying to keep my 2 year old entertained forgot to hand the cashier the vouchers from the promotion they are doing at the moment.

Yes apparently Asda have been doing this quite a lot lately according to my bank (Co-operative) It's a joke as it was all my money swallowed up that I had in my account so have been broke all week! Grrrr! :S

Is it really fair to blame the supermarket?

System

A credit card can be useful if your having issues like this - it would just reduce your available credit for a few days rather than earmarking real money.

savagej

They should really be given the facility there and then to put through what is called a reversal (as opposed to a refund), which will fix the problem immediately. It can be done it just needs someone to program the tills and the staff to be taugh what it is for.

Toe-Jam

zppp wrote: »

Welcome to MSE.

Yes, it is common, and most banks will release the funds automatically 48 hours after the transaction if it is not claimed by the retailer.

Who told you that !, it very much depends on the bank. Halifax for example take 10 days , Santander take 4 days.

Azrael_1701

Toe-Jam wrote: »

Who told you that !, it very much depends on the bank. Halifax for example take 10 days

Think you'll find thats 5 working days for HBoS

mumslave

aye happened to me but with elc, except I tried to order four times after it said 'please try again' and over £400 went from my bank. Was told the same thing, money was back in RBS bank account within 2 days.

zxdor

I arranged an online grocery delivery from ASDA Hereford for Tuesday 30th. Nov. They phoned late in the day to say they couldn't deliver but would the next day during the same time slot. Again they phoned late to say they couldn't deliver. On Thursday 2nd. Dec. they again rang in the morning to arrange delivery, but I could not be at home and canceled the order via the telephone with the caller from ASDA Hereford. On checking my credit card, I discovered that ASDA had taken £137.14 from my account on Mon. 29th Nov. - the day before delivery was due! Calls to ASDA Customer Service revealed that money is taken from the credit card when the order is made, not after delivery. (Like TESCO). Stores have no power to reimburse me, I have to wait for Customer Service to do this. As of today, I have not yet had the money returned. ASDA must make a substantial sum from interest from all the people waiting for their credits.

14th Dec. Still waiting!