Peterborough councillor demands Asda rethink refund policy after she’s told to ‘visit foodbank’ due to late delivery

Cllr Kirsty Knight, Green Party representative for Orton Waterville, has made the plea to the supermarket after being advised by the chain’s customer service department to go to her local food bank after her delivery was cancelled last week at just a couple of hours notice.

She said she was told that this was because of a shortage of drivers.

Cllr Knight was in isolation at the time and was left with just a tin of baked beans in her house to feed her three children.

When she contacted customer service, she was unhappy to be told that the money could take up to five days to be refunded and upon questioning that policy, she was then given a link to a local food bank.

After asking around in the Orton Waterville ward, she discovered that she was not the only person to be affected by this and upon finding about a single mother, who was also isolating and left with empty cupboards and little money while her refund took five days to be processed, rallied the community to get her help.

She said: “It was the first time I’ve ever thought that I wasn’t able to feed my children.

“I did a big shop that week and the fact they held it for so long, meant that I was forced to spend the same amount again and that was a lot of money to just lay out at one time.

“This is food we’re talking about, it’s people’s lives. The mum I was in touch with was left with nothing, fortunately we were able to help but I’ve had dealings with companies where money has needed to be refunded and it has been done the next day. I don’t know why they held our money for so long.

“I’m just concerned that they are not refunding people for five working days and if it’s a big shop, people can’t afford to wait a week with no food and no money, especially if they are in isolation.

“I think for people to then tell Asda about this and be told to go to the food bank is disgusting. I really want them to have a re-think about this.”

When contacted for comment, a spokesperson for Asda said: “Like many businesses across the UK, we saw an increase in the number of our colleagues who were told to self-isolate. Unfortunately this has led to a small number of customer orders being cancelled in some areas. We will always let customers know we are unable to fulfil their order as soon as possible and ask their bank to release funds immediately, however this process can take between 3-5 days and we advise customer’s to contact their banking provider should they have any problems with this.”