Supermarket charged woman £533 for two peppers

Bold green Asda signImage source, BBC
Image caption,

Kate Jones was charged £626 for a £92 online food shop

  • Published

A supermarket incorrectly charged a woman £533 for two peppers, leaving her overdrawn and incurring bank charges.

Kate Jones from Worcester received her delivery from Asda on 6 August and noticed that she had been overcharged two days later.

"It's nearly a week since I've done my shopping and I need to do some more but I'm having to live day by day now because I don't trust using my bank card," she said.

Asda apologised for the delay in refunding Ms Jones and claimed a "technical error" was responsible for the inflated cost of the peppers, which should cost 59p.

"Maybe they are gold plated orange peppers," she joked.

Ms Jones said she was promised she would be refunded within 24 hours and was offered a £50 gift voucher but she is still waiting to be compensated while incurring overdraft charges from her bank.

Ms Jones said the situation was made worse by the fact she relied on online shopping as a wheelchair user.

"I do my shopping online because I can't carry a lot of stuff so to me it's an absolute lifeline," she said.

"I won't be shopping online with Asda again."

Image caption,

Asda blamed the incorrect pricing of the pepper on a technical error

Ms Jones said she was £464 overdrawn as a result of being overcharged.

"There's direct debits and things due to come out. It's ridiculous now.

"My bank have said any charges I do get will be refunded," she said, adding: "I hope they honour that."

A spokesperson from Asda said full refunds for the "small number" of people who were overcharged were being processed.

They said Ms Jones had since been contacted to process her refund in full and offer a "gesture of goodwill."

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