Shocked at hidden fees in my Asda shop

[Lucie984]

I’ve shopped through Asda online for years and with the exception of a few minor issues have generally found the service and produce to be good both online and instore. I’m also aware they have a £40 minimum basket charge ( fair enough) we have an anytime pass so as long as I do a £40 shop I should only be paying for the groceries purchased….
However the cumulative basket total shown in the corner as shopping can show £40 but this does not mean you have actually reached the minimum £40 basket total. Was very upset to look back through the full receipt of many of my recent orders I have been charged £7.50-9 in these hidden fees. Shockingly even when actually adding a few extra items would have still made the overall charge on our credit card nearly 25% cheaper!

If you look at the screenshot a poster has put further upthread, it shows the minimum basket charge quite clearly at the checkout stage. Which is exactly how Tesco show theirs. I can't see that they could make it clearer!

They are not hidden though, they are visible when you are at the checkout stage. It would be for you to check your items and then you’d see this so I don’t think this is an Asda fault

I’ve never used Asda for an online delivery, but I agree those screenshots are crystal clear.

Well great for you if you read through everything on the checkout page in fine detail for every shop but as I said, as a busy mother usually doing 5 other things at once then I only do so when ordering things from somewhere I don’t usually order from. It’s also about trust and companies making what would be an illogical transaction clear, for example why would a reputable system charge you £48 for £39 of shopping (as Asda do) when you could have paid a total of £40 for £40 of shopping??

I dont think op is saying that what she is saying is as she shops and adds items to the basket the total shown includes delivery and minimum basket charge so its harder to see if just the items excluding charges reaches £40. Where other supermarkets only add the charges at the end so you can more easily see if you have reached the minimum spend.
So the dispkay at the end may be clear but its a faff

Surely if you’re on a tight budget, I presume you are to post this, you have a rough idea of what you’re spending and how much your groceries cost and when you’ve spent £40, without the need for a fine tooth comb.

OP, can you screenshot a receipt for us so we can see? I’m struggling to understand, and even more so after those two clear screenshots above.

Get bread from the corner shop. Not worth getting 3 Asda shops delivered a week sounds excessive.

I know exactly what you mean Op - I do my elderly Dad's shop and have almost been caught out with this, because you assume the total is the food total, not the amount with £5 delivery and £4 minimum basket charge added!

There's something wrong with the Asda site just now - for eg. if you put "ready meals" into the search bar, it tells you there are 38, then it lists about 5, then the next line is called "products popular with others" (or something like that), and it shows all manner of shite unrelated to ready meals, things like washing up liquid or laundry tablets. What the fuck? The only way to see all the ready meals, is to find one that's on the £8 for 3 deal, then click on the little red square that will show you all meals in the £8 deal. 🙄

You also can't change your slot time any more - you have to cancel the shop and start again. Then when you start again, it asks if you want the same shop at a different time - which would be helpful, however, it restores your basket with only one item of each - so if you've previously ordered 3 litres of milk, it will only put 1 litre back in.

Also, the price per 100g is often miscalculated.

It's a shit show.

They're not charging you £48 for £39 shopping though. They're adding on a minimum spend charge and a delivery charge - all the supermarkets do this. Tesco actually has a minimum spend of £50. It's on you to check the total at the checkout stage.

Do you have a delivery plan in place?

They make it clearer by not adding it to the basket, if the basket states to be over £40 then I am assuming that is of shopping not of these hidden charges, I am not going to finely read through the entire checkout page. The other supermarkets indeed make it very clear you have not reached the minimum basket value, just not Asda … unless of course you have the time and inclination to read through the checkout page every time, I look at the basket total and final checkout amount as I’m checking out and that is sufficient. How come I haven’t been caught out by other supermarkets if Asda are making it so clear?

There is no need to be rude, this is your error. And thanks but I’m also a busy single mum struggling to pay for everything on my own so I can’t afford the luxury of not checking what I’m paying for when I check out. Plus it doesn’t require extra effort, you literally look at the screen when you press check out. As I said it must be really disappointing to realise you’ve made a mistake but it’s not asda doing something wrong.

They have done!!! If you add £39 of shopping to your basket it will read as your basket being £48 and that is what you pay. If you add £40 of items it shows the basket value as £40 and that is what you pay so why would anyone logically do the former if it was clear? Every other supermarket would have a basket total of £39 so you would think oh I need to add something else so I don’t get charged extra fees, Waitrose for example has something which flashes up to tell you you’ve not reached the minimum basket value, even though they make it clear with an accurate cumulative basket total too. I should have just shopped in Waitrose all along and would have saved us a fortune!!

@Lucie984 have you seen the receipt posted by @Ineffable23 at 12.49? You don’t even need to check the whole receipt, it says ‘delivery’ and ‘minimum basket’ together £9.

What do your receipts show?

OP is on the defensive now because she realises how ridiculous her post is 😂

I understand where you're coming from but I still think it's your error. It's hardly 'finely reading' when its one clear line on the checkout page. It's not even as if it's in a small font.

Not at all. What is ridiculous is that every other supermarket seems to have a process where by this is unlikely to happen because of the way they have designed their system. Perhaps you think it’s fine to spend inordinate of time reading through every fine detail through the purchase process, even with a company you order from several times a week but I generally trust that ‘reputable’ companies wouldn’t operate in a way that makes it necessary.

OP this is a you issue.

I do my shopping at Asda and they do not add delivery and the other charge to the basket.

Screenshots uploaded.

I'm not surprised to be honest Asda are utterly crap with prices and delivery. The one near me always cancels the shop and doesn't bother to tell you, then they take their time to refund your money. I've made about 4 complaints and never heard back. I suggest Morrisons OP the one near me is always on time and they pack your shopping properly

I mean, to be fair whether you have no child, 2 children or 8 children you should be reading through stuff before paying……….

Your basket total isn’t shown on your screenshot, yes they do if less than £40 worth of items in the basket

Op this happened to me since they upgraded their systems. The basket total in the right hand corner now shows items plus fees so you can easily think you have added £40 of items when you haven't.

I was caught out a couple of times before I realised. I complained on twitter and got fees refunded.

It's very sneaky.

I get my deliveries from Asda but to honest I’ve been considering switching to a different supermarket - I feel like they don’t really have much in the way of rewards?

Tesco and even Morrisons seem to have better promotions + points accumulating, but I haven’t really sat down to look into it yet so I might be completely wrong.

It seems like a blatant attempt to get you to pay for delivery when you already have a pass!

What the?

Yes it is!

Seriously, you can't be helped.

You are wrong.