BBC Watchdog: Asda home deliveries

[yorkshireman]

Hello,
I am a new member, and signed up as a result of my endless Google searches for any help lines, based in the UK to sort out my problems with ASDA online groceries.
Having run to the very outer limits of my patience, i arrive at the conclusion that Asda online grocery shopping has now become so bad, they have based everything in one of the most corrupt areas of this planet.

SOUTH AFRICA

Despite trying any and every phone number i can find online, all roads lead to that dastardly place.

All emails seem to end up there, perhaps they need the toilet paper...

Even the LEEDS HEAD OFFICE simply put you on hold, or ignorantly transfer you to that dismal cesspit, despite specific request not to do so.

The stupidity of this sorry tale is that, I OWE ASDA MONEY, which they cannot collect.......

So lets begin this sorry saga...

I am a severely disabled OAP i maintain my independence by shopping online.
I have used asda online shopping for my groceries for many years, i also use George.com for clothes and other items.

Much of what the previous posters have related to, has happened to me over the years..

Fortunately i have been blessed with a bunch of delivery drivers who always took good care of me, and a local shop, who still remember me from when i was able to shop myself, it is for that reason that i have endured the deteriorating standards to which your users are referring.

1. I learned some years ago NOT TO ALLOW SUBSTITUTIONS

2. I rarely order Fresh meats, meals or other products,other than bread/milk.

3. I always use my credit card, NEVER MY DEBIT CARD OR ANY OTHER MEANS OF PAYMENT.

4. I always order more that i need in the certain knowledge i rarely actually receive my order in full.

Explanation...

As online offers are not always available in store, pickers/packers simply put next best match , or simply product next door, often short dated and needing to be got rid of .

All fresh meats, ready meals and pastries are always short dated, despite, the 4+ days advertised. Hence only bread and milk which is used immediately
should be ordered, all else will be short dated.

I always preferred to us my debit card, hating credit cards as they tend to run up debts easily. As many of your users have reported however, asda never just cancel a first request for funds, they make a new request using your inputted details, leaving the first request still active and ring fenced on your account. Whilst i have questioned the legality of this procedure, i have yet to receive a definitive answer from anywhere. My bankers inform me that the original charge can, and should just be varied as one charge overall.
I fell fowl of that despicable scam when i ordered my weekly shopping in good faith, paid in full with my debit card, only to find my order delivered short, asda made a second deduction on my debit card leaving the first amount still ring fenced, this effectively WIPED OUT MY PENSION FOR TEN DAYS.
Whilst my bankers could see what had happened they could do nothing but wait for the first charge to expire, when it was credited back to my account.
My bankers set up a credit card for me just to stop that happening again, which i now use for most of my online purchases.

I can confirm that despite the many complaints over this despicable practice, they still use it.

That brings me to the reason why i have posted this little blog, fully supporting all those who have gone before, and perhaps giving them a little satisfaction of poetic justice.

My last Asda grocery order arrived in full, however a few days later i started to receive what i thought where cold calls from some fellow with a distinctly foreign accent. Having greeted them with my usual selection of ex-merchant mariner verbal abuse, ( which i could not possibly repeat here) i amused myself fending off further calls over the next few days, finally however, at 0930am on a Sunday morning, i decided to have a bit of fun and to get to the bottom of this, and let the poor chappie speak a little in his guttaral broken English, from that i picked out something to do with my ASDA account.
I thought i best give Asda a call, believing someone had gotten hold of my asda account details.
As usual my local store could do nothing about online orders... not their fault i hasten to add, as local stores have neither power nor control over online shopping.

So, grasping the nettle i tried to log on to my account to send an internal message. Whoops my account has been suspended, please call this number 0800...
With some trepidation i called the number, and low and behold, woke up someone in a little wooden hut somewhere in that godforsaken cesspit of South Africa.
what do you know, some cheeky chappie with that now familiar very foreign accent says he wants some money....... well bless my soul.

Cut a long story short, Asda had tried that dirty old trick again ( as confirmed by my bankers), i had amended my order before delivery, they had attempted to make another charge to my credit card, this second charge was however, MORE THAN THE FIRST CHARGE, because i had added to my order, Not surprisingly, the card security kicked in and declined payment, after three attempts the card security blocked the card completely.
Unfortunately for asda, my bank has now completely closed my card and complete account as a security precaution, and are reporting this to VISA, my card processing company as a serious security breach.
Mainly because of the AREA IN THE WORLD FROM WHERE THIS BREACH WAS RECORDED TO HAVE ORIGINATED FROM ... SOUTH AFRICA.

As indicated at the outset, i have tried to speak to someone in the UK to settle this account, and also as stated at the outset, all roads lead straight back to South Africa.

I will not deal with South Africa and certainly will not provide any of my financial details to anyone out of the UK.

SO my dear friends if you have enjoyed this little piece of poetic just let me Finnish by stating categorically, i got my groceries, i now owe asda for those groceries. Asda have buried themselves so deeply in one of the worlds worst places for frauds, scams and general thievery, i will not deal with them outside of the UK. my bankers are now very very wary of Asda.
Until today, my George.com account was still active, i have now removed all details i could, but can find nowhere just to close the account (????)

If Asda want their money from me, they are going to have to ouse out of whatever sewer they now infest, and provide a mutually secure method of payment.

I hope the foregoing has given a little satisfaction to all those who have suffered at the hands of this abominable organisation.

I offer my sincere apologies to all those very hard working and low paid employees at Asda stores and associated drivers, and wish them well, whilst acknowledging not all have had my luck with drivers and local staff and commiserate with those who have had a less satisfactory experience.

Judging by the many, and growing complaints about asda online shopping, its time to wake up and smell the coffee, other stores are now coming online, try them, at least once, the only way these multinationals take notice is when they start losing money, we have the power, not them. lets use it and shop elsewhere.


Thank you for reading and enjoy the irony.

Stay safe.

 

[yorkshireman]

This site seems as lively as asda customer services, or have we all gotten so accustomed to such rotten services that these sites, and related programs, have little effect on the culprits, just dwindling viewing results of the BBC.

Rest in peace.

 

[ShoutyMcShoutFace]

The bare-faced truth behind home shopping at ASDA - as told by an ex-driver.

Hello all, like many of you - I have registered on this site because of this thread - although I am not, and have never been, an ASDA home-shopping customer - I have been the friendly face-in-green delivering your groceries in all weathers.

I'm a graduate of the arts, and as is the typical scenario for people like me, I graduated into a poor job market. Eventually I ended up at ASDA, as I like(d) serving people and driving vans around. It was a temporary bill-payer, that allowed me to work outdoors - which I enjoy.

However, for all drivers of any of the big supermarkets, this is where the fairytale ends.

You are all probably aware of the basic process of how your order is managed. First you click buttons, then the data of who you are and the stuff you ordered goes to a centralised logistics machine - who then plans vans and routes. At 4am in the morning, 'team leaders' (sub-management) will appear and begin preparing to fulfill those orders. At 5am, pickers will arrive to shop for you, and service teams will turn up to begin loading the vans. Between 6 and 7, the drivers like me will arrive, check routes, perform vehicle checks, and study their itinerary for the day.

Then of course the vans drive away and go to your house. Job done. And for the vast majority of people, the service is easy and efficient - but, as is demonstrated here, when things go wrong the consequences can be significant.

The truth is, that ASDA is a piece of money-making machinery for WalMart, the biggest retailer in the world, and a scandalous villain of workers rights. Unions are discouraged if they are not smashed, entitlements are ignored, departments are purposefully short-staffed and everything possible is done to cut cost.

Those cut costs include absolutely dismal wages. Everyone in the home shopping department is paid minimum wage, with the exception of supervisory personnel and those in expensive areas who get a minimal few pence extra. That's the people handling several tonnes of groceries from the shelves to the vans every day, and the people performing the second-most-dangerous job in the country - driving your vans around.

Every time you buy something that is cheaper at ASDA than competitors - you are supporting this exploitative system. And so every time you complain to the drivers - you are punishing a victim of this system, not the people who have wronged you.

Every driver I have ever worked with has been highly intelligent, educated, diligent and hardworking. We want to get to your house on time, with the correct order, every time. Frankly, we aren't paid enough to listen to your complaints - and as much as we sympathise, we are utterly powerless to do anything to help you. We are merely the blunt end of the administration.

Your driver has dodged traffic, cyclists and pedestrians in residential areas with skill and professionalism - and still has nowhere to park. Your driver has pulled up to your address after working nine hours to find that you live on the ninth-floor of a block of flats with no lift, and even though he or she has only a few timed minutes to deliver to you - they will have to climb to your address, with your shopping, multiple times to complete your delivery. This is followed by yet more massive tasks, and probably was preceded by payroll cocking up the meagre scraps we earn.

This system is the absolute ultimate in consumerist-driven ultra-capitalism. Nobody earns anything apart from the ludicrously wealthy elite at the top, and the general managers of the huge stores. Benefits are non-existent, wages are the minimum legally possible, much of the work is unrelenting hard-labour and dealing with complaints that are not by any stretch the driver's fault, and being under the eye of a management pummeled into totalitarianism from central command.

Escaping this system was one of the greatest liberations I have ever known, and that is why, no matter what, I treat my delivery drivers (from other supermarkets) as saints.

Insulting our intelligence, criticising the work we do, and getting blustered under a wave of wrath is an absolute slap in the face to all of us. We are under the boot of big business, a boot you are lacing up, and in trying to perform a service where you can get fed and watered without having to even leave your house - I wonder whether you have become spoiled and grumpy.

Don't use ASDA. Don't give them your money. But if you do - don't you dare give your driver a sh*t time.

Thank you.

 

[yorkshireman]

Well said - there is life in this site after all.

Note that in my original post on this site, in response to another Asda driver, i praised each and every driver i had come into contact with.

Others where not so lucky - and they have a right to post as they wish, lets not forget that.

Otherwise a good well written post, join the revolution brother.

Update .. I still owe Asda money, heard nothing from them, dont intend to waste my time following up, put the money with the bill in an envelope, its there anytime they wanto to come get it ...

Had my first delivery from Morrisons new system. Very very good so far.


Up the revolution .....

 

[Home Shopping Colleague]

I know this thread is a bit old but I work as a Home Shopping Colleague at an ASDA store doing deliveries.
We take loads of flack and get abuse for mistakes made in store due to pickers,( Substitutes ) but in all honesty the pickers do their best and honestly do a good job in general where I work.
I love my job, I can say my aim is to make the customer happy and leave the customer feeling happy and knowing I have done my best to help.
My manager is superb.
We only get min wage but the job satisfaction is outstanding.
we get backlogged at times and run slightly late but that's the job and how it goes, I phone customers and tell them if I am going to be late or early.
I could have a higher paid job BUT I love this one.
I have not been here long but I love it.
Like said we are supposed to arrive at a time set by asda but sometimes traffic and delivery needs for some customers put us back a little.
I for one will always try my best to help and deliver your shopping on time and if you have any substitutes or damaged goods I will take care of this for you at your door.
If you are unable to unload or carry shopping to your kitchen or where you want it ! I will also help.
I will not give my details out as I will get in trouble but I really hope all drivers have this attitude, Thanks Home Shopping Colleague

 

[Adelesliwinski65]

ASDA HOME SHOPPING DELIVERED CANCELLED ORDER !

This is a long story but here goes. I have had a extremely stressful week thanks to Asda home shopping. I placed an order to be delivered on the 30th of June. Check the status of the delivery and it was showing cancelled, kept checking still showing cancelled, rang my bank to check there were no pending payments to Asda and the bank confirmed that no pending payments but it had rejected 3 attempts during the early hours of the morning for Asda to take payment. Okay , checked Asdas site still order was cancelled, I went ahead and arranged alternative arrangements to get my weekly shop. I am a single mum to 4 children, my eldest is 23 but has ADHD, Autism and learning difficulties , I am his appointee and carer. My 2 other boys both have Autism also and I also care and home Educate them due to their high anxiety and sensory issues my 14 year old daughter is thankfully fine. I have to prepare my boys for changes in routine and especially if I am going out , so nipping out to shop is not an option so I use home shopping as it is an easier option for me and I also have no transport. I went ahead and managed to find help to go get my shopping, prepared my boys for my short absence, my daughter was unable to stay home as she had rehearsals for her Drama. I took our weekly shop budget, checked again the order was still cancelled and went ahead and did a rushed but complete shop for the week ahead. On my way home I got a phone call from my eldest to tell me that the shopping had arrived ???, I explained to him that I was on my way home with the shopping but he insisted that the shopping had arrived. To my complete dismay Asda had delivered the order and left it with my son. I have spent all week trying to sort this out, they are demanding payment but i had already purchased groceries with the money we had ....I have rang them many times although they are now saying no contact was made, I explained I had no way to take the groceries back, no transport and could not carry the whole order back on my own....I have sent emails etc but still insisting that I pay for the order as it was accepted. I can not pay for 2 lots of groceries, my budget is air tight and no room for doubling up etc, If I pay them we will have to forfeit our grocery shop for the week ahead , this would live us with very little to no food....I am at a loss, terrified I am going to get into trouble, Asda Executive customer services will not help...I am at my wits end. Could anyone offer any advice please?

 

[yorkshireman]

ASDA HOME SHOPPING DELIVERED CANCELLED ORDER !

This is a long story but here goes. I have had a extremely stressful week thanks to Asda home shopping. I placed an order to be delivered on the 30th of June. Check the status of the delivery and it was showing cancelled, kept checking still showing cancelled, rang my bank to check there were no pending payments to Asda and the bank confirmed that no pending payments but it had rejected 3 attempts during the early hours of the morning for Asda to take payment. Okay , checked Asdas site still order was cancelled, I went ahead and arranged alternative arrangements to get my weekly shop. I am a single mum to 4 children, my eldest is 23 but has ADHD, Autism and learning difficulties , I am his appointee and carer. My 2 other boys both have Autism also and I also care and home Educate them due to their high anxiety and sensory issues my 14 year old daughter is thankfully fine. I have to prepare my boys for changes in routine and especially if I am going out , so nipping out to shop is not an option so I use home shopping as it is an easier option for me and I also have no transport. I went ahead and managed to find help to go get my shopping, prepared my boys for my short absence, my daughter was unable to stay home as she had rehearsals for her Drama. I took our weekly shop budget, checked again the order was still cancelled and went ahead and did a rushed but complete shop for the week ahead. On my way home I got a phone call from my eldest to tell me that the shopping had arrived ???, I explained to him that I was on my way home with the shopping but he insisted that the shopping had arrived. To my complete dismay Asda had delivered the order and left it with my son. I have spent all week trying to sort this out, they are demanding payment but i had already purchased groceries with the money we had ....I have rang them many times although they are now saying no contact was made, I explained I had no way to take the groceries back, no transport and could not carry the whole order back on my own....I have sent emails etc but still insisting that I pay for the order as it was accepted. I can not pay for 2 lots of groceries, my budget is air tight and no room for doubling up etc, If I pay them we will have to forfeit our grocery shop for the week ahead , this would live us with very little to no food....I am at a loss, terrified I am going to get into trouble, Asda Executive customer services will not help...I am at my wits end. Could anyone offer any advice please?

DO NOT PANIC THEY AINT WORTH IT.

1. Use the food up, dont let it go to waste.

2. Ignore all phone calls and emails from ASDA, they are usually from South Africa anyway.

3. Make sure your credit card is still active, It is often automatically blocked if 3 unsuccessful attempts have been made.

4. Pick another supplier, I went to morrisons, but you choose your own.

5. Download and print all ASDA correspondence. Place it in an envelope and put it safely in a drawer somewhere ,( do not forget any receipts sent to you for payment at time of purchase ), and/or any emails from your bank certifying why the payment was blocked.

6. Try to put a little money in the envelope each week towards the total amount owing.

7. Go about your business and forget it. Nobody will come to your door. When/if they call again sinmply tell them you refuse to give them any further details of your credit card details because they misused it and your card issuer will not trust them again anyway. If they want the money they can arrange for a cash payment, at your convenience.

8. Do not try to pay the outstanding amount at your local store ( even if you could get there ) they wont take it from you, because ALL ONLINE SALES ARE CONTROLLED FROM SOUTH AFRICA.

9. The above is exactly the action i took with these cretins, I have informed them the full cash amount is sitting in above outlined envelope, which it is. I have heard nothing more from them.

As a disabled OAP i too cannot afford to pay two weeks groceries, nor visit the shop, but i sure as hell aint loosing any sleep over that bunch of vermin, neither should you.

Regards

 

[Scott001]

Had my first delivery today from Asda. Delivery driver turned up. He was complaining to me and my wife that finding my property was hard. He never called. Also when bringing my shopping to my door he stood at door with a crate thinking he wanted me to unload it from his hands. Oh no!! He rudely said 'don't think I'm standing here waiting for you to unload'
He dropped crate to floor and walked off. He was so angry and rude.
My wife was getting scared. I told him not to talk to us like that.
He turned around and said I don't have the attitude, we do!
Can't believe this.
I'm tempted to call police as he was very aggressive.
Called customer service they just said sorry.
I would like people to take time and read this.

The store in question was
Ferrying in West Sussex

 

[Sarah75]

I ordered my shopping for asda to be delivered today , they took the money out of my account this morning , ive Had an email this morning telling me it's been picked ready for packing , I also had text messages right up until 15 mins before the order was due to be delivered . My order never arrived , I rang customer services who politely told me they had cancelled it but said they didn't have a reason , I was told it could take 10 days to put my money back in my bank , I was then told that I could travel to the store and collect it , they gave me a time slot and off I went on the half hour drive to collect my shopping . When I arrived I was told it wasn't there and they weren't going to give me my shopping at all . I spoke to the manager who tried to tell me I was wrong and that I'd had an email telling me there was a problem , I showed him all my proof that according to them my shopping Was being delivered on time and that it had been paid for but he still couldn't tell me what had happened . I had to leave the store with no shopping and no money to go anywhere else to get food for my family as it could take up to 10 days for them to put my money that they had wrongly taken back into my bank . How can they get away with this ?

 

[Tony]

This is really shocking I would recommend making a complaint to head office, as Asda will surely not be proud about this and will want to put this situation right. Good luck and let me know how you get on.

 

[bonniesbrn]

After reading all comments in this thread, I will never go with the ASDA delivery. Thank you for sharing your negative experience, so you could prevent others from it. I will definitely tell my friends how careful they should be and consider using ASDA home-shopping customer service.

 

[analogue]

I have just had yet another home delivery from Asda not arrive when it should. I've been shopping with them online for about two years, in the last year alone I've spent around £1,500 on groceries.....until today. I am so angry that I will NEVER shop with them again.
We had a delivery due between 12-1pm. I've had a few deliveries in the past not arrive but when I phoned the store and spoke with the store manager it was always sorted out and the delivery was sent out later that same day.
Today I checked online just before 8am to see how my order status was as that is the only way to see if it's been cancelled as they don't call or text like other supermarkets do if they have any problems getting payment. Found out they had cancelled my order (nearly £100 worth), phoned them up to find out they couldn't get payment for some strange reason (even though there was plenty of money in the bank account?) so I asked them to try again and hey presto they got their money so was then told order would come as planned later in the day so just to make sure it was coming after the phone call I checked online again and it stated my order was being picked.
Checked online again just before 12pm and saw my order was cancelled AGAIN. Phoned them up and was told they couldn't get the money. Phoned the bank and was told that Asda had their payment since 8am today. Phoned Asda back up only to get put through to other people with foreign accents who couldn't help me. Phoned up the store and the store manager was not available (no acting manager either apparently) so only spoke to the Home Shopping manager who was extremely unhelpful and a tad cheeky. Ended up having to phone the bank twice and Asda about 7 or 8 times and spent nearly two hours on the phone with no real explanation as to why I was not getting my shopping.
I requested a refund and was told I would receive my refund within 24 hours (I wont hold my breath). I'm never shopping with them again after today's fiasco.

 

[Nogrogpq]

Hi I worked for asda for a year as a home shopping driver. I got all the training ,by computer on line programmes ,and filling in questionnaire's .being told all asda rule's and regulations. If I got stuck on something the person doing the course just filled it in himself. Your told the do's and don'ts. When I got down to the the home shopping pod, that was where all the stuff i learnd at my induction was completely out the window. I had one week out on the road with another drive ,then out on my own ,some times with 20 drops ,it was November on the back shift,dark it was extremely difficult to find the drops. I was given a phone with no credit on. I had to use my personal phone to call the store for help. Most of the time there was nobody in the pod to answer my call for help. I had to use my own satnav , the asda one was completely useless. I was give 7 minutes to deliver to a house and 10 minutes for a flat. Me being new to the job ,it was impossible to meet the times given. Some times I was 3 hours late , nobody was there when I got back to pod. I couldn't get in the security gate because there was nobody there to let me in. When I got in I have to empty the van . And put away all the returns. The next day I went in to start my shift.nobody checked ,or even asked what happened the night before. Nobody cared. And thats what it was like most ****s. I was told (unofficially of course) that you have to exceed the speed limit to meet the times . The fridges and freezers on the vans were unbelievably disgustingly unhygienic.there was rotten food left in fridges .milk was the worst. If milk got spilt in the van it was never cleaned out and stunk . When I reported it nothing was done. All they were interested in was getting home and the bonuses that they got . He totes were never washed . The driver's never got a brake , we had to eat our sandwiches while driving. Any complaints we got from customers fell on deaf ears. NOBODY CARES. Nobody answered phones they were left to ring in a hale of abuse shouted in the detection of the phone. The pickers are pushed to get orders ready for the next delivery. There was no order to how the food was put in the totes. Sometimes your next order was out on the loading bay waiting on you to return. In the height of the summer. The chilled and sometimes the frozen was out in the heat. There was nobody taking temperature of anything. I delivered one customer order ,when she checked the dates on to asda pizzas there was mould on the top of the two of them and they were 2months out of date.i phoned the store while I was at the customers door. I was told to credit her for the two pizzas. When I got back to the store I was told to throw them in the skip and not mention it again. The people in charge of ASDA have not got a clue how to run the place. Nobody stays there long. The home shopping manager is never there , and the staff just run the place to suit them . Hygiene does not come in to it. I went to the manager and told them how it was. I was sacked but I was going to walk out anyway. Over the state of the place. The wages are ridiculous £7.20 an hour .it's a very had and stressful job.

 

[alant]

Diabolical customer service robots may as well be robots

ASDA do not care about service, so I am not going to waste too long here, other than to briefly explain the issues i had

Home shopping,
You place an order, they say they dont have the items, so send a substitute you do not need, want or use.
Items never leave the van, yet you got NO proof or receipt for returned items, and then no refund.
Then the fun starts, ASDA have the worst e mail system in the UK, it is useless, dozens of e mails later, months later you get told the items were not returned, then after solving that, the wrong refund has been put through, start again, in the end had to give notice of court action then,eventually you get told in 5-10 days you will get the right refund.
No apology, no reply to questions, even the CEO has stopped having e mails, you may as well talk to a wall, you would get a better reply.
This has happened so often now, I will not use ASDA home delivery, if a company the size of ASDA cannot offer a decent level of customer service, they do not deserve my business.

 

[Crazycook]

I have been using ASDA's home delivery for some years now and as a business spend between £10,000 and £15,000 with them a year (£760.00 in the last 3 days alone but it is Christmas). One of my earlier issues was with the change in the final total cost and the money being taken from bank via debit card twice to reflect the change with the other being later refunded, however, I found this issue was solved when paying by credit card.

What seems to be the ongoing problem is what appears to be the pickers failure to read the order properly. Today I have an order coming where I ordered (among other things) 3 x 4.5kg gammon joints. These are apparently unavailable (again, along with 6 other items) and has been substituted with a single leg joint weighing 1.9kg! Needless to say, this will be going back and I'll be making a trip to my local ASDA later today to pick up the correct items.

All in all I have always found it a pretty good service and have pretty much always received a call from an automated message informing me if my order is going to be late or cancelled. I have never had any items missing but HAVE had other peoples items in with mine (usually the odd few items where a carrier bag of goods has clearly strayed into the wrong crate).

As ASDA are one of the few that deliver to businesses (Tesco's don't and Sainsbury's are even worse!) I will continue using them purely because of their prices, they're way way cheaper than the industrial suppliers like Brakes/3663 ect