Abbey holding onto my money

twise

I am having a problem with Abbey and i'm wondering if anyone can give me advice.

I internet shop with Asda every week and my food is delivered on a Friday. My weekly shopping bill is around £130 per week. The provisonal bill total is taken from my account on Thursday, my food is delivered on Friday . The final bill total is always different to the provisional total due to free delivery codes, things not being in stock etc.

On a Sunday the final bill total is also taken from my account....so the provisonal bill total has been taken out aswell as the final bill total so in theory £260 is taken out for a £130 shop.

This tends to leave me with no money on a Sunday and sometimes over my already bulging overdraft.

On a Monday I then have to phone Abbey's authorisation department to get them to release the provisional funds back into my account. Sometimes they do this no problem other times I have a stand up argument with someone who advises me that this happens to eveyone and I should be more patient as the funds will be paid back into my account within 4 days.

I am not in a position to wait for money that should be in my account anyway and also why should I?

I have been through the majority of the Abbey staff asking them why this is happening and all i am getting is thats the way things are done and its the system.

I have been having this problem for the last 6 months and have reached the end of my tether.

Is this happening to anyone else?

Advice gratefully sought




Twise

Homework

When you pay the bill in the first instance it gets processed and when you finally get your bill it gets processed too. Asda will only request one of the payments and the other falls back into your account within a few days.

It has happened to me with Hotels and other things and it is a safeguard and also very irritating. Asda will have 2 authorisation codes but only collect on one, your bank does not know that you have not had 2 loads of shopping and they have already told Asda that they have authorised payment so they have to wait until Asda does not collect the payment as proof that it is ok to return the money to you. Otherwise Asda could come back and say the customer did 2 shops where is our money.

Can you ask Asda if they do this to everybody or is something in particular with the type of card you have or the brand of card? I would think there would be many other people complaining if they were doing this but it is not the bank's problem.

twise

Thanks for your reply

I have spoken to Asda and they claim they only use 1 authorisation code...when I told Abbey today and asked them to give me the authorisation codes they could only find 1 code (the one that Asda quoted!!!)


Twise

bargains83

No, this isn't abbey's problem. I do my online shopping with tesco and they do an authorisation to check that the funds are there immediately after my shopping basket of groceries is confirmed, this is the price of the shopping before any discounts. The money is taken off the available balance but doesn't show on the statement. 2 or 3 days later the actual price of the shopping (with discounts) appears on my statement as a single entry and any discrepancy between the authorisation and the actual price reflects on the single statement entry.

If Asda are actually taking money from your bank account twice to the point where it reflects as multiple transactions on your statement then this is a problem with them and perhaps they ought to address it as is doesn't seem right. Holding on to £260 for a £130 shop over a few days means they are earning interest on your money, twice as much as they should which is wrong.

You definately need to take this up with asda and not the bank as it is not their fault.

Homework

Sorry, I don't know how Asda are able to set aside money out of your account if they haven't asked Abbey to do so and been authorised. If Asda haven't asked for the money twice how would Abbey know how much your shopping was prior and after delivery.

Hopefully someone will be able to answer this for you but I am pretty positive that it is Asda who is causing this. Abbey couldn't possibly guess the amounts and dates.

twise

Thankyou for for your replies. i feel like a ping pong ball at the moment going back and forth to see who 's causing the problem.

Asda swear blind that they only use 1 authorisation code so the money should be coming out of the amount that has been provisionally held...Abbey say that they are using 2 authorisation codes but when i ask what the codes are they only come up with the one.

To confirm i only have the one correct transaction come up on my bank statement but its the fact that the other amount is being held from my available balance and therefore i am unable to use this until they release it back into my account.

I think I might blow the moth balls off my credit card and pay using this and then pay it off the following Monday...at least this means me and mine will have some money on a weekend!!

Twise

110frankie

get yourself a cashback credit card.

nealallen

Abbey National (Or their new name) Shabbey National are in a mess. They have had problems with their Debit cards since March this year. Thousands of complaints and no help, that includes me. I would far more believe what Asda has told you than what Shabbey has :mad:

If you don't believe me, look at this thread http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=515980

hev_2

I've found Sainsburys very good and they don't seem to do this with me - though I am with the Nationwide.

It would cause no end of grief, because I shop monthly and as soon as one delivery arrives I book the next. I add stuff as I remember and take stuff off I think is an impulse buy we can do without. If I had money taken out every time I confirm I would be bankrupt!

Are you attached to Asda with good service, products etc or do you think it worth shopping round?

jill2002

The above posters who say it is Asda's fault are correct. They claim the funds of your initial order and the bank then 'withhold' that amount from your account waiting for the actual debit to come through, this is normally 2 -3 days. Asda then process your actual order with the correct amount and that amount is then 'withheld' from your account waiting for the actual debit to come through. The first withholding doesn't materialise and therefore does not get debited from your account.

So the funds are not taken from your account until the actual debit has come through, so you haven't lost any.

I am not sure if Asda processes the initial 'withholding' as soon as you place your order or when they 'process' your order, they obviously process the second withholding when your order is completed and delivered having taken off any vouchers that you provide to the driver. But it may well be worth trying to place your order earlier in the week and see if the same thing happens then.

bargains83

twise wrote: »

To confirm i only have the one correct transaction come up on my bank statement but its the fact that the other amount is being held from my available balance and therefore i am unable to use this until they release it back into my account.

This is definately Asda's fault then, they are reserving money at the time of order and then not collecting on that authorisation so Abbey just credit it back to your available account balance after a period of time has elapsed. They are then putting another authorisation request through for the actual price on the shopping but collecting on this one immediately so there must be 2 authorisation codes.

Are you sure Asda have given you the authorisation code(s) and not their retail identifier code which let banks know what type of goods you are purchasing. E.G groceries, petrol, gambling, utillities etc.?