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Original poster

Tesco rant - if you shop online you need to know!

45 replies

gigglinggoblin · 15/05/2010 17:28

Couple of weeks ago I ordered Tesco shopping to be delivered as usual. Got a call to say van broken down, cant deliver. Rearranged for 2 days later which was bank holiday Monday. Shopping arrives.

Following day payment is taken from my bank account not just for one lot of shopping but also for the one they didnt deliver. Rang them as I assumed it was a mistake and its not, IT IS THEIR POLICY TO CHARGE YOU TWICE THEN REFUND YOU IN 3 - 5 DAYS!!!!

I spoke to 3 people to rearrange, none of them warned me about this. The guy who told me it was policy just stuck to saying there was nothing he could do, thats the way things are, I wrote to them and they have said sorry I didnt know (not sorry their policy is shocking) and its the banks fault it takes so long to refund. I am absolutely fuming and speechless. This left me with over £100 less than I should have in my account for the best part of a week.

I think it is a disgrace they are allowed to get away with this and even worse that they think they have the right to do this to people. So as they dont care enough to do anything about it I am spreading the word so if anyone else is in this situation you have the opportunity to say you dont want to rearrange delivery incase you cannot afford to pay for your shopping twice - you will still be charged for the stuff you dont get but if a second charge leaves you with nothing its nice to have the choice!

OP posts:
AndieWalsh · 15/05/2010 17:29

Sounds totally bonkers. Why on earth charge you twice? have you put a complaint in writing? Demand compensation!

Original poster
gigglinggoblin · 15/05/2010 17:32

I have put it in writing, it is their policy to do this. Which is why I think people need to know.

OP posts:
ChocolatePants · 15/05/2010 17:35

If it meant you went overdrawn though- will they refund the bank charges for you?

My budget is very tight and it would mess things up if that happened to me.

Is it stated anywhere when you order? (Small writing type thing that is easliy overlooked?)

BertieBotts · 15/05/2010 17:38

That is odd - I thought that the money only came out when the order was dispatched, so surely it's easy enough for them to just not put through the cancelled order.

I imagine that not a lot of people can afford to pay out twice for their shopping and wait half a week for it to be refunded. That is ridiculous.

sapell3 · 15/05/2010 17:42

Surely it's illegal for them to take money for something you haven't ordered, i.e. a second lot of shopping?

PrettyCandles · 15/05/2010 17:52

Only one word to say to you: Ocado.

If you shop carefully it's virtually the same price as Tesco, and the service is very very good.

Show Tesco your opinion of them with your feet (mouse!).

bonkerz · 15/05/2010 17:54

i presume the shopping had been dispatched and that the van broke down on its way to you in which case it would have been deducted BUT this is down to the store that does the delivery. I once had tesco deliver and they came with a handful of things i had ordered and everything else was subs or not there. i refused delivery and actually held the delivery guy hostage whilst i phoned the shop. they did refund in cash which they sent with a driver but i had to go to extreme measures to get it! LOL

juneybean · 15/05/2010 17:55

Ocado can't be that great they don't deliver to all of England.

Goodadvice1980 · 15/05/2010 17:56

I would send a letter to the Chief Exec advising him that Tesco have breached the Data Protection Act by processing your personal data without your consent (i.e. using your credit card without your consent).

And - you are legally entitled to interest on the money they have taken - from the day it was taken until it is refunded to your card!

Thieving gits

saslou · 15/05/2010 17:57

I try very hard not to buy anything in Tesco. Aldi and Morrisons are both cheaper and nicer imo. Thanks for the warning though

GoldenSnitch · 15/05/2010 18:06

Ocado are NOT the same price as Tesco!

I do my shopping on Mysupermarket.com which compares the price of your identical basket of shopping at Tesco, ASDA, Ocado and Sainsburys and Ocado NEVER EVER in all the time I have been shopping on there been less than £13 MORE EXPENSIVE than Tesco!!

Price match my arse.

GoldenSnitch · 15/05/2010 18:07

The double charging this is awful though. I would try complaining in writing Op.

bubbles4 · 15/05/2010 18:07

It isnt just Tesco who do this,there is a very lon thread on the forums of money saving expert.com about Asda doing this when they had to cancel deliveries due to the bad weather.

sethstarkaddersmum · 15/05/2010 18:11

they've been doing this for years - did it to me c.2003 when they kept rearranging my delivery and charged me each time. The third time when I rang to ask where the hell my shopping was they informed me they had no record of my order at all and said I would have to do it all again . Despite this they charged me three times for food I never got.

So, when I asked for a refund they said 'oh we will refund you but it will take 2 weeks'. I said wtf etc and the money did come back sooner than that but they never so much as apologised. Bastards.
naturally I've never shopped online with them since....!

Lauriefairycake · 15/05/2010 18:14

Ocado charge me at least 2/3/4 days after shopping is delivered.

sethstarkaddersmum · 15/05/2010 18:16

I still rant about my 2003 Tesco experience every few months Wonder if I'll ever be able to let it go.

Original poster
gigglinggoblin · 15/05/2010 18:20

Have put it in writing. It is policy to do this. Absolutely appalling imo and I will not be shopping with them again (or Asda after the feedback I have got). Ocado dont deliver round here so its Sainsbos for us from now on, dh is very pleased, he has never been impressed with Tesco quality anyway!

OP posts:
mumbar · 15/05/2010 18:23

seth I think under the circumstances you describe your entitled.

OP you have to 'sign' when they deliver shopping if you didn't I am sure that they cannot charge you as you haven't actually received anything.

FabIsGoingToGetFit · 15/05/2010 18:27

Ocado do price match on Tesco though it might not be every item.

bubbles4 · 15/05/2010 19:16

Asda do this as well

PrettyCandles · 15/05/2010 19:49

That's why I said you need to shop carefully. Keep an eye out for multibuy offers, sometimes taking brand names, sometimes taking ownbrands. Taking advantage of vouchers, using the free delivery slots (usually at times like 10-11pm).

Ocado are not always cheaper than Tesco, but virtually the same price. How much is the lack of agro worth?

But of course all that is no use if they don't delivery in your area.

Cloudbase · 15/05/2010 23:10

I hate to say this, but Tesco have cancelled loads of orders of mine, but have never charged me twice - on the contrary, they have always refunded my delivery charge or sent me online vouchers - sorry!

Having said that, they do drive me mad because my online orders with them go wrong quite a lot and they never let me know, I always have to keep ringing and chase them to find out where my stuff is - Grrr. Would far rather use Ocado all the time (Charming delivery man "Where would you like me to put your shopping?")but just can't afford it.

j0807bump · 15/05/2010 23:30

did my first tesco on line this week and one with asda a couple of weeks ago to find out what they were like for use when new baby here.

had been happy with both orders but never new they could cancel and then charge you 2/3 times!

if this happened to us they'd prob put us over our limit. will definately recosider using them again after this.

onagar · 15/05/2010 23:46

While it sounds like it would be better if they kept the original payment and just didn't bill you for the replacement delivery it isn't unreasonable to charge you when they dispatch the first one. Anything you order online is charged before it's delivered isn't it.

They probably can't do it that way and must refund the first charge and make a new charge. If they said "oh we will hang onto your money until we can send a replacement order" some people wouldn't like that would they.

I've never had any real problem with them. Subs I declined are charged of course, but the refund generally goes through hard on the heels of the charge. In fact I just checked one and the refund was the very next day.

carrotsarenottheonlyvegetable · 16/05/2010 08:20

This makes no sense at all. This is a standard mail order transaction. You wouldn't expect to make an online order with, say, a clothing company, have an item delayed and be charged for it again before dispatch.

If it is their policy I would be asking WHY it's their policy. Is it because they automatically refund the first delivery charge, which will take 3-5 days to come back to your card (and that IS down to the bank) and then re-process the card - and these can overlap? In which case it's clearly not the best thing for the customer.

It's pointless asking for interest as with current interest rates 1 week of £100 would be very much less than a penny. It's also not breaking the data protection act. It's possibly, possibly the case that it breaks their card merchant service contract but I would doubt it as to break something so crucial to them would be disastrous.

My only interpretation would be that somewhere way back when they decided that they shouldn't hold onto your money if they're not delivering as normal, so refunding it and re-charging, which has the possibly unintended consequence that you would experience a double debit cross-over. In this case they need to CHANGE their policy to one where they only refund and re-debit when the second delivery is more than 5 days after the first failed delivery.

Personally I would be pointing all this out, making a big but polite fuss about how the double debit has caused you financial difficulties and at the very least I would expect them to send you some vouchers or something.