‘Festive stress’ over Asda order blunder

Elaine Maguire, of Golcar, Huddersfield, said she had spent most of the last week desperately trying to find out what had happened to her order which should have been delivered on December 22.

She was finally told yesterday that she would receive a refund for the food which never arrived, plus a refund for the food she had to buy elsewhere instead along with a £100 goodwill payment.

Asda has previously apologised to customers who did not receive their Christmas orders after a breakdown of the store’s online delivery service.

Around 200 customers’ orders were reportedly delayed while another 50 did not get them at all.

A spokeswoman for the supermarket said an “isolated error” at its distribution centre in Morley had caused problems for “a small number” of customers in the area and there had been no other delivery issues across the UK.

“We have refunded those customers affected for the full cost of their shopping and given them £100 cash by way of apology.” she said.

Mrs Maguire said: “They admitted they made a big mistake. I was the only one they hadn’t sorted out – I am relieved it has now been sorted.

She noticed the money had been taken out of her bank account on Christmas Eve. “Apart from Christmas Day and Boxing Day I phoned their Customer Service Team every day, sometimes twice a day, and I emailed twice.

“They promised that someone would contact me but nobody ever did. It was and still is a very stressful time as well as frustrating because you can’t speak to 
anyone apart from customer services who are based in South Africa.”