Coles slammed over little-known $30 fee

An outraged Coles customer berates the supermarket giant after being told to pay a little-known $30 fee for canceling his online Click&Collect order.

Trent Julien, an avid Click&Collect customer, placed an order with a Coles supermarket on Friday totaling about $52 before deciding to cancel it because they replaced items he had ordered due to stock being unavailable.

After canceling the order, he received an email informing him of the little-known cancellation fee.

“Okay, has this ever happened to anyone, right? I just did a click-and-collect order with Coles, and they are so bad at this,” Trent said in a video posted to social media.

‘Like the last time I did a Click&Collect order, they replaced a few steaks with roasts – which is a completely different cut of meat. So anyway, they screwed up again,” he added.

“I sent them an email saying, ‘Look, I’m done with you guys, I’m not messing with you anymore.’ And so they just sent me this – $30 to cancel this order.

“There will be a $30 cancellation fee to cancel an order they messed up. And this is the third time they screw up. Like, no way man. No damn way.’

Trent explained that his order was “not even that big” and wanted to cancel only part of it, which would have reduced the order to about $40.

He claims that Coles advised him to talk to the store staff because they were unsure if they could get just a few items off the order.

Trent explained that he uses Click&Collect because it gives him time to get his groceries after work and then pick up his daughter from school.

“The last thing I wanted to do was be late to pick up my daughter because I had to go to the store and rummage and trade stuff,” he said.

“I just wanted to email them to tell them to take it off the order, and I’ll pick up what’s left on it.

“When they said, ‘I don’t know if we can do it, talk to them at the store, I just told them to cancel the whole order.’

Trent shared a screenshot of the email from the Coles outlining the cancellation fee.

We are sorry to hear that you are not satisfied with the replacement in your order. Let me inform you that would happen [be] a $30.00 cancellation fee to cancel the order,” the email said.

Trent shared the email he received from a Coles Online representative (pictured)

The video garnered more than 35,000 views and more than 100 comments, with many calling out the supermarket giant for its outrageous cancellation fees.

‘What! I’ve never seen a cancellation fee,” one wrote.

“That’s a bit much,” commented another.

“Coles Australia, you are going to sue this man for being (sic) embarrassed,” said a third person.

Others recommended that Trent disable substitutions on all his future orders to avoid getting the wrong product or item. However, he replied that turning off substations didn’t work.

“The last time I didn’t make a replacement, $90 of a $220 order was out of stock,” he replied. “When I went in to pick up, I went to the store and it was in stock on the shelf.”

Coles’ Click&Collect terms and conditions state that a customer may be charged $30 if an order is canceled after the closing time.

Daily Mail Australia understands that cancellation charges are given at the discretion of each retailer and will apply in certain circumstances, including if a customer regularly cancels an order.

Daily Mail Australia understands that the $30 cancellation fee is given at the discretion of each Coles store (stock image, Coles click&collect)

A spokesperson for Coles told Daily Mail Australia the supermarket was working with Trent to resolve the issue.

“Coles Online encourages customers to elect to receive replacements so that we can replace out-of-stock items with similar products for their convenience,” said Coles.

“We are sorry to hear that this customer was not satisfied with the replacement they were offered. The customer has been contacted and our customer service team has resolved the issue with them.”

Daily Mail Australia understands that Trent has been given a full refund and a gift card as a gesture of goodwill.