Latest news with #customerRights
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Loblaw apologizes after charging customers a charity donation without consent
Kirk Bennett had just finished shopping at a grocery store in an on-island Montreal suburb when he noticed something off on his receipt. He had a 62-cent charge for "PC CHARITY" from the Maxi grocery store in Dorval, Que., and he said the cashier never asked him if he wanted to make a donation. "We were kind of dismayed at that," he said. "We thought at least they should ask." It's not a lot of money, he acknowledged, but it's the principle. CBC News spoke to a dozen Maxi shoppers on Friday in the Montreal borough of LaSalle. Only one said their bill had been rounded up for a charity donation. In this case, it was six cents. The rest said it has never happened without asking. But CBC has spoken to other shoppers who had the same experience as Bennett at Dorval's Maxi in recent weeks. Several people have taken to social media to complain about small charges that they didn't agree to, often a dollar or less. People tend to agree it's not about the amount but the principle and, they say, it could add up over time. In a statement, Maxi's parent company Loblaw admitted there have been reports about unauthorized donations on some customers' bills during their current fundraising campaign for President's Choice Children's Charity. However, the company calls these cases isolated incidents as its standard practice is to ask customers if they'd like to donate. "We learned early in the campaign there was a system issue and potential for human error, where some customers were automatically charged," the company says in an emailed statement. "We immediately fixed the issue, retrained our store teams and corrected the process." Expressing regret, Loblaw says customers who were charged without permission can contact the service team for a refund if one wasn't automatically issued. Option consommateurs, a non-profit consumer advocacy group, advises people who have been charged to head back to the store and ask for a refund and that people could even go as far as opening a file in small claims court, assuming the charge is worth the trouble. Sylvie de Bellefeuille, a lawyer with the organization, said a retailer cannot charge more than the advertised price. To charge someone like this, it would need to be very clear when customers enter the store that they should expect an extra charge. "The first thing to do would be talk to the grocery manager," said de Bellefeuille, noting the next step is to contact the Office de la protection du consommateur, which is responsible for enforcing these laws in Quebec. Taking a retailer to court may be considered if there's evidence overcharging has been a regular practice for some time, she said. "It really depends on the situation," she said. As for Bennett, he's keeping an eye on his receipts and even considering shopping elsewhere. "We will always watch our bill very closely at Maxi," he said.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Loblaw apologizes after charging customers a charity donation without consent
Kirk Bennett had just finished shopping at a grocery store in an on-island Montreal suburb when he noticed something off on his receipt. He had a 62-cent charge for "PC CHARITY" from the Maxi grocery store in Dorval, Que., and he said the cashier never asked him if he wanted to make a donation. "We were kind of dismayed at that," he said. "We thought at least they should ask." It's not a lot of money, he acknowledged, but it's the principle. CBC News spoke to a dozen Maxi shoppers on Friday in the Montreal borough of LaSalle. Only one said their bill had been rounded up for a charity donation. In this case, it was six cents. The rest said it has never happened without asking. But CBC has spoken to other shoppers who had the same experience as Bennett at Dorval's Maxi in recent weeks. Several people have taken to social media to complain about small charges that they didn't agree to, often a dollar or less. People tend to agree it's not about the amount but the principle and, they say, it could add up over time. In a statement, Maxi's parent company Loblaw admitted there have been reports about unauthorized donations on some customers' bills during their current fundraising campaign for President's Choice Children's Charity. However, the company calls these cases isolated incidents as its standard practice is to ask customers if they'd like to donate. "We learned early in the campaign there was a system issue and potential for human error, where some customers were automatically charged," the company says in an emailed statement. "We immediately fixed the issue, retrained our store teams and corrected the process." Expressing regret, Loblaw says customers who were charged without permission can contact the service team for a refund if one wasn't automatically issued. Option consommateurs, a non-profit consumer advocacy group, advises people who have been charged to head back to the store and ask for a refund and that people could even go as far as opening a file in small claims court, assuming the charge is worth the trouble. Sylvie de Bellefeuille, a lawyer with the organization, said a retailer cannot charge more than the advertised price. To charge someone like this, it would need to be very clear when customers enter the store that they should expect an extra charge. "The first thing to do would be talk to the grocery manager," said de Bellefeuille, noting the next step is to contact the Office de la protection du consommateur, which is responsible for enforcing these laws in Quebec. Taking a retailer to court may be considered if there's evidence overcharging has been a regular practice for some time, she said. "It really depends on the situation," she said. As for Bennett, he's keeping an eye on his receipts and even considering shopping elsewhere. "We will always watch our bill very closely at Maxi," he said.
Daily Mail
19-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
I'm an expat and mail service is slow - why does my pension provider need regular signed letters? STEVE WEBB replies
I'm a British male aged 73 and and live in the Philippines. I have lived here for over 15 years and I'm married. Each month I receive a small private pension payment of £69.53 from Hannover Re based in the UK. Occasionally, I receive a Proof of Life Certificate by post which I duly sign and send them a good scanned copy. The incoming post into the Philippines is extremely slow and it's notriously labelled as snail mail. It can take months to arrive. On a couple of occasions I have noticed my monthly payment hasn't come through. Then I have to phone Hannover Re and it emails me a certificate to sign. The last time I told it to only contact me by email and not by post. Or it could alternatively call me. Anyway, it's happened yet again and my payment for 1 May 2025, which I rely on, hasn't been paid into my bank account in the UK. I've phoned and emailed and apparently they're going to contact me within 10 working days. That's not good enough. My question is this: Surely it has a statutory duty to me as a customer to supply me with the correct documents on time and before it suspends my payments. Why can't it simply email me the documents? Can it suspend payments without prior notice? It didn't inform me it was going to stop it. I'd be extremely grateful if you could look into this matter, not just me but for the other millions of expats who live abroad and receive a pension. Steve Webb replies: We regularly hear at This is Money from readers outside the UK who are having problems with payments being stopped, whether state pensions from the UK government or private pensions. It is frustrating that your payments are repeatedly stopped without notice, and that you are dependent on the national postal system which sounds highly unreliable. You have since told me that you have now got the latest payment reinstated and that you managed to do this by phoning up and passing security checks, and without having to provide a 'proof of life' certificate. This of course raises the question as to why the provider couldn't simply email you and ask you to phone in once a year so it can check it is still paying a living person. It would not necessarily need to do this for all overseas customers but could do it in countries where the postal service is known to be more unreliable. Where you challenged your provider, it initially said it was: 'unable to send these forms to individual members via email due to technical limitations'. It did accept 'the speed and reliability of overseas postal services varies by country', but the best it could do was suggest you phone proactively once a year at around the time that the letters go out. It said if you called and completed the security questions to verify your identity 'we will accept this as confirmation instead of a paper form return'. However, I'm pleased to say the company have now told me it has upheld your complaint and will look to make changes which should reduce the risk of this happening again. Hannover Re said: 'Annual proof of existence information is contractually required to ensure that valid payments are being made. 'For overseas policyholders, this process is more complex as we are not able to use the screening services that are readily available in the UK. 'We therefore send initial requests for a Certificate of Existence at least four months in advance of the due date and follow this up with three more letters before taking any actions to suspend the policy. 'Historically these requests have been sent out via post, and for the vast majority of policyholders this works well. 'We do however recognise that for some overseas policyholders this may not work, and we will be updating our processes going forward to include reminders via email. 'We are able to accept proof of existence information via email and had advised your reader of this last year'. You have also since raised a second question relating to a different insurance company, namely Aviva, who you wanted to notify of a change of address. You wanted to be able to send it a signed letter confirming the change but it would not accept this. Instead, ot asked for an officially certified copy of your passport and a separate proof of address. You pointed out doing this was costly, inconvenient... and couldn't understand why a letter would not do. I put this point to Aviva and it said its approach was standard across the industry. It said part of the problem was it was easier to verify information about UK customers electronically, but this was not possible where customers are outside the UK. Aviva added: 'We always prioritise the security of our customers' funds and data. 'It is therefore important for us to conduct thorough due diligence to ensure our customers' protection. 'Documents from overseas may be more susceptible to forgery, which is why we require them to be certified by a trusted individual who can confirm their authenticity. 'We then verify the certifier's contact details to ensure the legitimacy of the certification, as stamps can also be forged. 'We are committed to safeguarding overseas customers from fraud in the same way as we do for our UK customers.' Clearly from the point of view of providers it is more challenging when they are making payments outside the UK and they want to avoid the risks for fraud or of making payments so someone who has died. But it is good that Hannover Re have undertaken to review their processes to improve matters for you and other customers going forward. Ask Steve Webb a pension question Former pensions minister Steve Webb is This Is Money's agony uncle. He is ready to answer your questions, whether you are still saving, in the process of stopping work, or juggling your finances in retirement. Steve left the Department for Work and Pensions after the May 2015 election. He is now a partner at actuary and consulting firm Lane Clark & Peacock. If you would like to ask Steve a question about pensions, please email him at pensionquestions@ Steve will do his best to reply to your message in a forthcoming column, but he won't be able to answer everyone or correspond privately with readers. Nothing in his replies constitutes regulated financial advice. Published questions are sometimes edited for brevity or other reasons. Please include a daytime contact number with your message - this will be kept confidential and not used for marketing purposes. If Steve is unable to answer your question, you can also contact MoneyHelper, a Government-backed organisation which gives free assistance on pensions to the public. It can be found here and its number is 0800 011 3797.
