MSE News: Starbucks offering vouchers to customers hit with hefty late charges

MSE_Luke

Starbucks customers across the UK have been charged lump sums of more than £100 for various individual purchases...

Read the full story:
'Starbucks offering vouchers to customers hit with hefty late charges – check now to see if you're impacted'

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mjm3346

Another customer, told the paper: "I have to manage my money quite carefully and this large amount coming out has seen me fall into my overdraft, for which I have been charged. A direct debit payment, which comes out of the same account, also bounced and I got charged for that as well.

If they really needed to manage their money quite carefully they shouldn't have been wasting it in Starbucks and if they were keeping a proper running tally the money should just have been sitting in their account waiting to be taken.

Pincher

Starbucks

Up to £5 statement credit

Save to Card to get £1 back for each £3 of spend, up to a maximum of £5 total statement credit, at participating Starbucks until 19 June 2016. Valid for the first 75,000 Cardmembers to save. Terms apply.


So if I bought multiple £3+ items, and the computer delayed submitting them until after 19th June, I don't get the cashback.


Also, I get 5% cashback with TSB for Contactless transactions, up to £100. If they time shifted the transactions from May to June, I could end up spending a lot less than £100 in May, and over £100 for June.

I only go into Starbucks for the cashbacks, far too expensive for daily use.

VT82

mjm3346 wrote: »

If they really needed to manage their money quite carefully they shouldn't have been wasting it in Starbucks

Exactly what I opened the thread to say but you beat me to it!

Anyone who can afford to spend £100+ in Starbucks over a few months should have the financial resources to get out of an overdraft easily enough.

jaydeeuk1

Oi you little brats, turn off Sky, put yer PS4 controller down, we're eating for free today, Donna sez starbucks aint charging. Tyler, chantelle, get yer uggs on! Tyler? TYLER? TYLER, PUT YOUR GODDAMN SHOES ON, BUS LEAVES IN 5 MINUTES!

3 months later

It ain't free, got no money for the leccy!!

gadgetmind

Pincher wrote: »

American Express Offer - Tailored To You

Hmmm, why am I seeing this? Is MSE turning to the dark side now with advertising?

miller

So these transactions have been aggregated by Starbucks before being submitted for settlement a lot of time later? Sounds like there has been some back office jiggery pokery going on. The original transactions would not have been for that amount, so potentially the cardholder could dispute them (notwithstanding the moral obligation to pay).

I asked Barclaycard how long a retailer has to settle a transaction and they could not or would not answer. I have seen figures of 6 months/12 months quoted on the internet, but there is nothing definitive. Maybe MSE Luke could do some digging on this - whilst people should make allowances for transactions settled later than expected (e.g. cheques) there should be a cut-off IMO.

Yolina

Lemme see if I got this right: people can't be arsed to keep tabs on what they spend, therefore don't realise they have more money that they should, which they spend (again), and then go crying when the first lot of money's taken from their account... Totally self-inflicted and I have zero sympathy.

There's a separate issue if some transactions have been taken twice, that's obviously totally different.

miller

Yolina wrote: »

Lemme see if I got this right: people can't be arsed to keep tabs on what they spend, therefore don't realise they have more money that they should, which they spend (again), and then go crying when the first lot of money's taken from their account... Totally self-inflicted and I have zero sympathy.

I would imagine some people thought they were getting free coffee, but there are other issues here regarding how and when transactions are submitted for settlement which should be established. For me, the majority of purchases are on my recent transactions list within a few days. How long should people be expected to account for a "rogue" retailer's tardiness a year, 2 years, a decade...

miller

Retailers gift cards typically have a 12 month/24 month expiry so that they can have certainty for accounting purposes, so the consumer should have the same certainty.

Yolina

miller wrote: »

How long should people be expected to account for a "rogue" retailer's tardiness a year, 2 years, a decade...

Well, according to the article it's transactions from February onwards that were taken late May so nowhere near a decade

And also from one of the customers quoted in the article (bold is my emphasis):

"I do check my balance quite regularly, but I can't say I look through my statements that closely, so I had no idea that they hadn't been charging me for coffee since March. I contacted my bank but they said companies have six months to claim payment so there's nothing they can do."

Edit: this is also the person who has to "manage their money quite carefully" apparently... tip of the day: checking actual transactions on your statement rather than just the balance helps.