How should shoppers protect their cash?

Over the last week, there have been multiple reports of shoppers in Tesco being double, or even triple charged for their shopping, as the supermarket chain experiences payment issues throughout the UK. Although not every store is affected, many customers are still waiting for their money to be refunded.

To help consumers protect their cash personal finance experts money.co.uk has today offered much-needed advice to consumers.

Salman Haqqi, personal finance expert at money.co.uk said: “If you’ve been double charged and can provide a receipt or bank statement, Tesco has pledged to refund your money within 24 hours.

“However, if the payment error resulted in a bank fee – for example, if the error pushed you beyond your overdraft limit – there is no guarantee that the supermarket will pick up the charge.

“Tesco say that they’ll evaluate each of these fee-related issues on a case-by-case basis, so in the meantime, if you do have to shop in Tesco, ensure that you’re drawing from an account with some spare cash in as a buffer.

“When it comes to the refunds, the process should be automatic, meaning you don’t have to contact Tesco to ask for your money back. It is still sensible, however, to check and date each transaction carefully to make sure the issue is dealt with promptly. If it isn’t fixed within 24 hours, contact Tesco directly.

“Online shopping orders are unaffected by the payment issues, so if you are still keen to buy from Tesco (maybe you have a lot of Clubcard points built up), arrange an online order for the next week.