Big W customer’s lay-by woe causes confusion among shoppers

A woman has been left confused after she was told she couldn’t use Afterpay on her lay-by, despite the payment going through without issue.

A shopper has been left confused after using Afterpay to pay off a lay-by before being told it wasn’t allowed the second time she tried.

The Big W customer took to Facebook to explain the situation and ask if any other customers had come up against the same issue.

She said she went to her local store to pay some lay-bys from the store’s Big Toy Sale.

“Last fortnight was a bit of a shorter week financially so I put $100 of it on Afterpay with no issues, nobody said anything,” she said.

“I went in today and thought ‘why not’ and chucked another $50 on it with Afterpay once again.”

Woman’s confusion after using Afterpay at Big W checkout. Picture: Supplied

She said once the payment had been approved the cashier asked if she had used the buy-now-pay-later service and the customer said she had, and it was the second time she had.

“She looked a bit lost and unsure what to do before telling me that I can’t Afterpay lay-by and that I may get a call Monday about it. She said that it’s in the lay-by T&C’s which I guess I didn’t see,” the customer wrote.

“I did this last time no issues, no phone call, my remaining amount still went down accordingly.”

She asked fellow Big W customers if there was a particular reason she wasn’t supposed to use Afterpay when it was accepted.

The woman said she was happy to rectify any issues but she was certain she wasn’t the only person who had been in this position.

Fellow customers of the department store were equally as torn, with some understanding why while others were confused why the transaction went through.

One customer said: “I feel like Lay-by and Afterpay are essentially the same thing except Afterpay you get your goods and pay later, so it would make sense to me that you couldn’t use it.

“It’s probably on their system and they haven’t removed or aren’t able to remove it as an option for payment.”

Another said the reason was the “huge fees” associated with Afterpay, compared to a bank card.

Big W has cleared up the confusion. Picture: Nilsson Jones

One said: “I can’t remove the payment option in my store either. You’d think if Afterpay has this as their request they would have a feature that is triggers a decline with lay-bys/pre orders.”

But others said it shouldn’t have been an issue in the first place if the payment went through.

Another said: “It’s no different to using eftpos. If the cashier wasn’t looking at your phone when you tapped she wouldn’t have even known. It’s one of those grey areas since they bought out the Afterpay card.”

One said: “I would ignore her, it’s the same with returns need to be on the same card. I’ve proven that isn’t true. I used a completely different card and it went thought straight away.”

Another said: “In my view – you’re just transferring your Big W debt over to an afterpay debt – they’re still getting their money. Just means afterpay has to chase you for payments instead of them.”

Big W have since clarified there was an error.

“At Big W we offer our customers many ways to shop including Afterpay and Lay-by,” a spokesperson told news.com.au.

“Customers are able to use Afterpay as a form of payment for in store Lay-by only through their digital wallets. Afterpay is not available for online Lay-by purchases and payments.”