To think Asda are just shocking?

[EddyF]

It's late but I can't stop thinking about this. I shopped in Asda quite far from home as I was coming back home with a friend after being somewhere. I ended up doing a bit of a shop including their home stuff. Queue was a nightmare but held on as I really wanted the lamp that I had fallen in love with. Got to the till, everything came to £266 and some change. Entered my card and bloomp! DECLINED! I was mortified as queue was long behind me and I knew there was money in my account. I tried 2 more times and card was declined.

Assistant was fed up with me by then. Luckily my friend paid for my stuff what I was busy trying to tell everyone I had the money. We get back in the car and I charge my completely dead phone. On the motorway I call my bank and they tell me that there is a transaction from Asda for the same amount that was declined. My bank couldnt return it to me as Asda was holding it and advised that Asda would most likely drop it back into my account within 10 days. Just not good enough.

We turn back to go back to Asda and they really couldn't give a shit. Said "yeah it happens sometimes. You will get your money back".

The whole experience was shit which has lead me to remember another time (more fool me for shopping with them; I stick with Sainsbury's and Lidl) when I had a ectopic pregnancy and was home ill from the hosp. I had a home delivery. Young driver was SO rude and hostile to come up the stairs (small flat, no lift). The stairs are about 6 before front door. I explained to him that I was ill. He told me it's not his job to climb stairs as I'm not disabled! I asked him how would he know?he replied well you don't look it and you're not old. He ended up just throwing the bags around. Told him I didn't particularly enjoy seeing my milk and bread on the floor.

I thought of reporting him but he honestly looked like a mouthy yob and i just thought he knows where I leave and I just couldn't be bothered with the hassle of it all.

So yeah this post is probably pointless but I'm done with Asda. Luckily I was able to pay friend straight back as I had money at that rime. But what if I didn't? Why take money and then Shame me by telling me it's declined?

Live not leave

Hi op, I knew what your issue was going to be before I read your op. Asda are notorious for this :(

I read a thread on here not long ago where the same happened to the op for a lot less money, iirc it was around £70/80 and was all of the money that they had at the time.
Op was mortified and Asda customer services told her to take anything home that was "essential" but this was her weekly food shop so everything was essential really.

It took a few days for the money to be returned and op vowed never to darken their doors again. There were many, many posters on the thread who had experienced the same which is shocking.

I am an Asda shopper ( switch between Asda and Tesco ) and usually pay by cash but if this happened to me then I think it would put me off for life.
In this day and age it is not acceptable to a) happen in the first place and b) have to wait so bloody long for a refund.

Thank god your friend helped out. They have lost your custom now so ultimately
will be the loser in the end

Thank you for replying. It's just keep popping in my head as I keep remembering the hot shame I felt and people looking at me. I will not shop there again and if I'm desperate enough, cash only. It was a unnecessary splurge which makes it even worse. I shouldn't have been in there in the first place. Do you know why the payment is rejected in the first place if money has been taken out? That has never happened to me before. And to think they don't return it straightaway. Grrr

Pretty sure I've seen many people mention this on the MoneySavingExpert site, Asda are renowned for it.

I hate big businesses and this is why I've been trying to shop locally and buy gifts from small businesses lately.

I live in Oz but our big stores are the same in that they don't care. Last Christmas I had saved up all year by purchasing gift cards from our big supermarket. Twenty here and there adds up so that when it came to doing my big Christmas shop, I had a few hundred.

Go to the shop, do a big old run through buying this and that....feeling pleased that I'd saved up.

Get to the till and they say there's a problem with gift cards and they can't accept them.

This is two days before Christmas.

NEVER AGAIN.

Luckily, MIL had some money and I was fine but imagine if I didn't have a MIL? Or anyone else to rely on?

The shop didn't care...made no effort to fix the issue. They could see the cards were fine...they could have taken them from me and done the transaction later when the glitch was mended. But nope!

So OP....shop with smaller businesses. It might be more expensive but that pays in the end as you get better service.

From the last thread I remember it was
Something to do with a holding area so the payment had left your bank but did not go straight to them so the transaction declined,
meanwhile your money is floating around
somewhere.
You are still not able to access these funds and Asda haven't received it either so it's in a kind of no mans land.

Still not good enough and it's only ever Asda that I've heard this be a problem.
Must be something wrong in their payment system somewhere?

Hope you enjoy your lamp though, the house stuff is lovely.

I used to work in a store (not Asda) and this happened with a customer before. There was no one available to pay the money for them though and obviously we could not give them the goods without proof that the money had came out of their account. Anyway we sent them away telling them to get proof from their bank that the money had left and we would hold the goods for them until then. They were not happy with this at all, but eventually left. We presumed they had gone to talk to their bank, but they actually came back and stole the products from behind the counter. I noticed them as they were running out of the store. It was all caught on CCTV as well. The police were called and they were charged and convicted of theft. They had actually paid it turned out but as it had not gone through on our end it was still theft as they had no proof of purchase when they took it and they could have easily solved it by bringing in a receipt. Strange people...

Anyway that is totally different to what happened to you and not really relevant, but it made me remember.

yep and make sure you no this for deliveries too.at stroke of midnight they take your money into holding.so if for some reason it didn't get delivered or something happened you wouldn't have either the money or the items.its shocking and has fucked many people up a fair amount of times so ive seen on here and on other forums.

I stay well away from Asda. I had a home delivery that had £35+ goods missing then it took over 5 months to get the money refunded to my bank account! Nightmare.

@FortunesFave: I live in Oz but our big stores are the same in that they don't care

I do most of my shopping at the local Coles and find that, as a company, their customer service has improved enormously over the last few years. I sometimes put that down to now living in an area where people probably expect good service and are polite and pleasant to each other, in comparison to where I used to live which was the exact opposite. As a Flybuys cardholder, they seem to be always sending me customer satisfaction surveys - of course, that could just be lip service.

I would be ropeable about their inability to redeem gift cards. I hope you kicked up a big fuss in both the store and with customer care when you got home. Woolies and Coles can't compete with Aldi on prices, they must be able to provide good service or they will find themselves in financial problems.

Did you get a reaction from whichever store it was?

Frood no. Tbh I was embarrassed. Anyone on a low income feels the same probably. You don't want to broadcast the fact that you were reliant on your saved cards really do you?

@Raffleeight: Anyway we sent them away telling them to get proof from their bank that the money had left

What sort of proof do you demand? Would using, on the spot, the bank's mobile app, which indicated that the bank had processed the transaction and that money had left the shopper's account, suffice?

I refuse to use Asda or Tesco online. If i ever have to go inside one physically, I only pay in cash because I have been fucked about a lot and they don't give a shit.

Yanbu. Google "Asda stole my money" and be shocked. I have no idea how they can get away with what is basically stealing.

It’s. It only Asda who does this, it happens in every single shop who has a card machine, and is in a pending transaction account.

You’ve had bad experience with Asda, however ya into think it’s only Asda who does this or give bad customer service

I’ve had pretty shocking customer service from Sainsbury’s before.

At my last post

It’s not only Asda who does this, it happens in every single shop who has a card machine, basically the signal on purchasing the translation was lost when processing so it then becomes stuck and the money is then held is a payment pending hold until it can ascertain if the money was spent or not.

You’ve had bad experience with Asda, however you are BU to think it’s only Asda who does this or give bad customer service

I’ve had pretty shocking customer service from Sainsbury’s before, and also have plenty of pending payments before also, in fact Toby Carvery is one of the worst for me.

Asda customers service is shite in general. I MN from my phone but could you print off this thread and send it to them in s complaint

I never go into Asda, always Aldi or Tesco. No particularly bad experience for me, just think the customer service isn't the best. My partner however hates them and will only go in when necessary. I was due any day with DS1 so he switched to non-alcoholic beer (just in case) he was ID'd and was refused purchase when said he didn't have it (he's 28 by the way) made me lol though 😂

It's horrible though OP, it's happened to my mum so many times. It's embarrassing when it happens and they don't care, what do you do 🤷🏻‍♀️

For a start, you complained to the wrong person, you think the store has some sort of magic power over the fiscal policy and IT systems of their head office ?

We turn back to go back to Asda and they really couldn't give a shit. Said "yeah it happens sometimes. You will get your money back".

They had absolutely no ability to reverse that transaction.

Again not sure what time this actually happened but if its after 5pm, you wouldn't get a response from their finance department

Asda delivery also don't bother to turn up on time and deliver food which has obviously not been refrigerated for hours.

Google "Asda stole my money" and be shocked. I have no idea how they can get away with what is basically stealing.

Drama, drama, drama. It isn't basically stealing or literally stealing or actually stealing. Theft is the intention to permanently deprive the owner of enjoyment of their goods. This isnt the case at all is it? Asda hasn't taken the money. It's sitting in the ether.

What are Pending Transactions? A pending transaction is a recent card transaction that has not yet been fully processed by the merchant. If the merchant doesn't take the funds from your account, in most cases it will drop back into the account after 7 days. This can be 28 days for car hire and hotel reservations, and other hire transactions may also take 28 days.

How awful about the person who this happened to who, having paid for her groceries, then got done for theft for actually taking them away! She paid for them then Asda tried to steal them - she was not the thief! But the police always side with big businesses. Just awful!

It might not only be asda who do this, but asdas processes and in frequent cases staff training so badly designed that it seems to have more impact on customers.

I was once due my online shop between 6-8pm and was then due to go out to see friends. Come 8pm no delivery. Phoned customer services and was told it was on its way and would be with me soon. I explained I had to go out but they told me to wait as it was almost there. An hour later still nothing. At 10:45pm I was told that they'd be there by 11pm as that was the cut off and they couldn't return to store with the delivery. Delivery never arrived. Next day phone customer services (annoyed having missed my night out), told that they don't know where the delivery is. However they'd taken the money from my bank (into holding) and I now had no shopping and no money to buy replacement food. Was like talking to a robot. They told me that if I wanted the food I'd have to pay again as they didn't have the money and obviously I couldn't do that. Ended up cancelling and money came back in 10 days. Had to borrow money from someone else in the meantime. Thankfully I could. Incidentally a couple of days later I was talking to my friend who lived a few doors down - you'd never believe it but asda randomly turned up at her house and few nights before with an order she hadn't placed. Driver told asked her if she was X house number (patently not as a totally different number), she said no and he said "well would you like this shopping anyway as I don't have time to look for the house". I complained to CEOs office about the whole thing was given a £50 gift card but have never used them since. I don't trust their processes at all and mostly I don't trust their customer service to sort it out.

I never use Asda online as once they took about £120 for a £60 shop it took ages and many phone calls to their useless call centre to get the money back, in the end It was the local store that sorted it out.

Other stores do use the same processes but Asda customer service is not good nor is their useless overseas call centre that didn't seem to have a clue.