Sainsbury's car parking refund policy

LittleVoice

My local Sainsbury’s charges £2 for 1.5 hours’ parking. No problem with that – it’s in a central location and the charge is refunded with a £5 in-store purchase.

I live an almost cashless life but carry £2 in coins so that it’s there for the car park and to be replaced at the till. No longer.

In the past I’ve sometimes been asked if I want the £2 deducted from my bill (and have always taken the cash instead). Today I wasn’t asked: the £2 was just deducted.

I mentioned to Customer Service that I was not happy about this but was told that this was the new policy (no cash refunds just deduction from bill) and there were notices “all over the doors” to the store.

I could not see any such notices but I recognised a supervisor/manager in the carpark and asked him to point out the notices to me. There were none – the policy was introduced about 3 weeks ago and the notices had been up for about 2 weeks.

He agreed that some customers were inconvenienced but that it was a policy from on high, not the local store, and there were reasons for it (not specified).

I used to use Sainsbury’s as my local store, calling in about 5 days a week for a newspaper, milk, bread as well as other shopping. This policy means I would have to break my cashless society life-style and get £10-worth of pound coins every week just to feed the car park.

Venting over – but does anyone else have a problem with this policy?

hjb123

A few local supermarkets in our area do this as it was in the conditions that they were able to be built. We have never had the option to take the cash though, it has always just been deducted from the bill

stamford

LittleVoice wrote: »

My local Sainsbury’s charges £2 for 1.5 hours’ parking. No problem with that – it’s in a central location and the charge is refunded with a £5 in-store purchase.

I live an almost cashless life but carry £2 in coins so that it’s there for the car park and to be replaced at the till. No longer.

In the past I’ve sometimes been asked if I want the £2 deducted from my bill (and have always taken the cash instead). Today I wasn’t asked: the £2 was just deducted.

I mentioned to Customer Service that I was not happy about this but was told that this was the new policy (no cash refunds just deduction from bill) and there were notices “all over the doors” to the store.

I could not see any such notices but I recognised a supervisor/manager in the carpark and asked him to point out the notices to me. There were none – the policy was introduced about 3 weeks ago and the notices had been up for about 2 weeks.

He agreed that some customers were inconvenienced but that it was a policy from on high, not the local store, and there were reasons for it (not specified).

I used to use Sainsbury’s as my local store, calling in about 5 days a week for a newspaper, milk, bread as well as other shopping. This policy means I would have to break my cashless society life-style and get £10-worth of pound coins every week just to feed the car park.

Venting over – but does anyone else have a problem with this policy?

Seems a petty policy by Sainsburys - surely if they hand back coins it reduces their cash handling and banking charges

LittleVoice

Petty - yes.

On the other hand - they save whatever percentage they would pay for the £2 part of what the customer spends on a credit card - and the customer gets less cash back from the card.

stamford

LittleVoice wrote: »

Petty - yes.

On the other hand - they save whatever percentage they would pay for the £2 part of what the customer spends on a credit card - and the customer gets less cash back from the card.

I think the supermarkets pay a fairly miniscule card transaction fee however they do get shafted by Group 4 etc and the banks for bags of cash although maybe a few less £1/£2 coins wouldn't make much difference.

RightRevBod

Do they offer a cash back service? If so, can you not request a £2 cash back with each purcase?

C_Ronaldo

Whats the problem, so it gets taken off your bill and

tripled

RightRevBod wrote: »

Do they offer a cash back service? If so, can you not request a £2 cash back with each purcase?

That would seem the comon sense option to me to avoid this terrible curse Sainsbury's have put on you.

stamford

C_Ronaldo wrote: »

Whats the problem, so it gets taken off your bill and

Put some glasses on and read the first post - op likes to have the cash back

looby75

RightRevBod wrote: »

Do they offer a cash back service? If so, can you not request a £2 cash back with each purcase?

most supermarkets have a £10 minimum cash back now, as I found out when I tried to get £5 cash back last week.

Dave_Brooker

LittleVoice wrote: »

In the past I’ve sometimes been asked if I want the £2 deducted from my bill (and have always taken the cash instead). Today I wasn’t asked: the £2 was just deducted.

I mentioned to Customer Service that I was not happy about this but was told that this was the new policy (no cash refunds just deduction from bill) and there were notices “all over the doors” to the store..

It's not really the end of the world...

LittleVoice wrote: »

I used to use Sainsbury’s as my local store, calling in about 5 days a week for a newspaper, milk, bread as well as other shopping. This policy means I would have to break my cashless society life-style and get £10-worth of pound coins every week just to feed the car park.

Can't you just walk there?