Supermarket home delivery - opinions?

[EastEnder]

After years of dismissing it as the purview of the terminally indolent, the 50 hour weeks I now find myself working have forced my hand. I have, reluctantly, starting experimenting with this contemporary evil. Thus far, with less than acceptable results.

Admittedly, I've only tried Sainsburys so far. In the interests of fairness, I decided not to judge too hastily. I've given them 2 weeks, and each time they've pissed me off. How is it possible that you place an order FIVE DAYS in advance, and they still can't supply 5 of the items I asked for??? They gave me "substitutes" instead. Lucky me. I only ordered 31 items FFS, that's a 16% failure rate!!!

And their concept of "substitutions" is laughable. I ordered one pack of organic portobello mushrooms - the nice big, dark, flat type. They delivered: one pack of organic white, closed cup mushrooms. Yes, they're both organic. Yes, they're both mushrooms. If you're listening, Mr Sainsburys, hold a white closed cup mushroom in one hand, and a large, dark, flat, portobello mushroom in the other hand, and tell me exactly how one is an acceptable substitute for the other!!!!!!!

So, next week I'm going to try Tesco's online thingy. They get a two week trial period as well, after which I might be forced to try that ocado thingy (or whatever the hell it's called).

Any other online supermarket experiences out there?

 

[LilMissHissyFit]

Ive used tescos before now when Ive known we need shopping and I wont be able to go and do a big shop or something.
Their online store has a special offers section which I use first, go through and order anything on offer which I think I might buy anyway then go to the main lists. It can be a real sod to find some stuff on the tescos site though

 

[spanglechick]

I gave up on Sainsburys ages ago - because of the substitutions. I ask for creamed tomatoes (for making pasta sauces) - they give me cream of tomato soup.
I ask for 3 individual frozen lasagnas (ex spanglebloke loved eating awful food) they give me a family sized lasagna. (not particularly suitable for exspanglebloke to take to work...)

Ocado are better, but to be honest, it's much less hassle to go shopping myself, as i have a car.

 

[EastEnder]

Ocado are better, but to be honest, it's much less hassle to go shopping myself, as i have a car.

I have a tube pass.

 

[zenie]

The trouble with supermarket shopping online for fresh stuff is they always give you the shortest date - if you were shipping you'd pick meat or fresh stuff with the longest date right?

 

[wtfftw]

My parents experimented with sainsbury deliveries. The subsititutions were rubbish.

Considered a organic box of fruit and veg? that's half your weekly shop done...

 

[minum]

I've found Tescos to be excellent - I get a fortnightly delivery, and generally reorder the same as last time, with a few changes. They always show you any substittions when they arrive with the delivery, and will take them back, and refund you if you dont like them. TBH, not many substitions, usually pack sizes, rather than different brands etc. As they just go round and pick your stuff, as a normal shopper would, rather than a warehouse system, it doesnt make any difference how much in advance you order, they can only give you whats on the shelf at the time.

I love it - dont waste any of my life in supermarkets, and save money as I can pick out all the best special offers, without buying stuff I dont want just because I see it.

 

[rocketman]

Tescos pissed us off twice, so we dumped em. Sainsbury's also crap. We use Ocodo when we need to get a load of stuff in in a hurry and have no time. The other thing about that service is they deliver in hourly time slots, including evenings, which the others did not at the time - I mean, where's the convenience if they cannot commit to a time so you need to stay in and they then deliver late?
The other thing about Ocodo, who also offer some bargains and stuff, is that they give regular discount vouchers, You will probably get a discount on first shop, and then watch your email for fivers and tenners of vouchers.
The food quality is better too.
We get vegetables elsewhere though, but great service for basics, freezer food and cans and stuff. Plus if you sign up for an account card you can buy a load of stuff on credit and pay for it inside 4 weeks to avoid charges and stay solvent.
So they win in our opinion. The others are rubbish in comparison.

 

[EastEnder]

I really don't get this whole substitutions thing. Surely someone's missed a trick here?

I realise that ordering in advance makes no difference because they just send some poor sod to wander round the shelves picking up the stuff like you would. But why? These days supermarkets order new stock every day - the "just in time" concept. So if they know that a certain number of people have ordered certain items well in advance, why not just tack on those items to the daily orders, and then keep the stuff aside ready for delivery?

Surely that would be a huge selling point?

 

[Blonde Fury]

I've just started doing our shopping with Ocado, and I've been really pleased with them. No Waitroses up here locally, and Waitrose was always my favourite supermarket when we lived in London, so when they randomly posted us a £15 off voucher, I gave them a try. Granted, I get our meat/poultry and most of our fresh veg from the farmers' market, and our fish from the local fishmonger, so I can't really say what the quality/sell by date is like from Ocado on those items, but they've never made a subsitution on me yet.

They do show up early sometimes, since I always pick an hour time block when they'll be in the general vicinity anyway, but they always ring first to make sure it's OK before they come early. They also don't seem to overpackage much; I've never got more bags than I thought were strictly necessary, although since they have colour-coded bags for frozen/refrigerated/store cupboard, occasionally I'll only order one frozen thing and get it in its own carrier bag, but since the colour-coding is actually a convenient and rational thing to do, it doesn't piss me off. I really like the petrol-saving option of being able to choose a time when they're already going to be nearby for delivery. They're a bit pricey, but we don't have a car, so what I'm saving in taxi fares, time and not having to go to the loathsome Asda or Sainsbury's, both of which drive me batshit insane, definitely makes up for it.

 

[aqua]

the couple of times tescos have substituted something I didn't want I rang them and they re-credited the money and let me keep their mistake which was nice

though they have a habit of not remembering everything you asked for which is a bit rude imo

I don't bother with them now unless I need a shop doing, which is mainly storecupboard stuff and I can't be arsed - but you need to check off everything as you unpack it to see what they fucked up on - which is a bit depressing really

I haven't tried Ocado yet though, I'll use that next time I need to

 

[Relahni]

Tescos pissed us off twice, so we dumped em. Sainsbury's also crap. We use Ocodo when we need to get a load of stuff in in a hurry and have no time. The other thing about that service is they deliver in hourly time slots, including evenings, which the others did not at the time - I mean, where's the convenience if they cannot commit to a time so you need to stay in and they then deliver late?
The other thing about Ocodo, who also offer some bargains and stuff, is that they give regular discount vouchers, You will probably get a discount on first shop, and then watch your email for fivers and tenners of vouchers.
The food quality is better too.
We get vegetables elsewhere though, but great service for basics, freezer food and cans and stuff. Plus if you sign up for an account card you can buy a load of stuff on credit and pay for it inside 4 weeks to avoid charges and stay solvent.
So they win in our opinion. The others are rubbish in comparison.

We used Tescos - but they fucked us about big stylee - so we dumped them.

Used Sainsburys for a couple of times - not great start - but one ahead of Tescos (at least they turn up!)

 

[madzone]

I tried having shopping delivered when I first became ill but the stress of it meant it was no help at all. There was only Tesco doing it and they were crap. Missing stuff, substitutions always their most expensive stuff, surly driver. The driver dumped the bags on the step and fucked off before I could check them. When there was loads of stuff that needed to go back I phoned up and they said could I drop them inot the store later on!!
It wasn't worth it.

 

[liberty]

As I'm short of time I use the local shop instead

 

[Ms T]

I tried Sainsbury's a few times, but they kept giving me substitutions I didn't want, and fresh soup that was just about to go out of date. Now I use Ocado for basic groceries and the odd luxury, and it's great. Although Waitrose is relatively expensive, I've found I actually save money, because I'm not impulse-buying on the way round the shop.

 

[lighterthief]

Trying Waitrose home delivery this evening for the first time. We've been ordering our shopping online for about 1.5 years now and have just got sick and tired of substitutions. Sainsbury's are def the worst.

 

[beeboo]

I thought one of the big selling points of Ocado is that it IS from a warehouse not from the shop floor. So they can stock-control a lot better than Sainsburys or Tescos, where (AFAIK) their orders are fulfilled in normal stores. Because they’ve got better stock control, they have fewer substitutions and fewer near-expiry items.

Tesco are in the process working out the logistics of going to a warehouse delivery method, tis the way forward.

I’ve never used online delivery, so I don’t know what they do, but you’d have thought they could give you clever substitution options – like grouping items so if you’ve got a recipe that needs XY and Z, if they don’t have X, then you don’t need Y and Z either. Or options like if you normally buy organic, whether you’d prefer a non-organic exact substitution or an organic approximate substitution. Do any of them do anything like this?
I

 

[spanglechick]

I thought one of the big selling points of Ocado is that it IS from a warehouse not from the shop floor. So they can stock-control a lot better than Sainsburys or Tescos, where (AFAIK) their orders are fulfilled in normal stores. Because they’ve got better stock control, they have fewer substitutions and fewer near-expiry items.

Tesco are in the process working out the logistics of going to a warehouse delivery method, tis the way forward.

I’ve never used online delivery, so I don’t know what they do, but you’d have thought they could give you clever substitution options – like grouping items so if you’ve got a recipe that needs XY and Z, if they don’t have X, then you don’t need Y and Z either. Or options like if you normally buy organic, whether you’d prefer a non-organic exact substitution or an organic approximate substitution. Do any of them do anything like this?
I

iirc, way back in the day sainsburys gave you an item by item subsitution veto. Obviously proved too time consuming.

 

[EastEnder]

Can you imagine if you ordered a Faithless CD from Amazon and they sent you a Westlife CD instead as a "substitution".....

Yet somewhere Sainsburys think it's ok with groceries....

 

[Shelly P]

I've had a terrible time with sainsbury's online. With my first delivery, scheduled for a saturday, only half of the order was delivered. The rest wasn't substituted, it'd just been left behind at the store. All the expensive booze, ordered for a party, was not delivered until Tuesday following. After that fiasco I didn't use them again for a long time - until last week.
As is to be expected there were a lot of unsuitable substitutions which I sent back. Particularly great, I thought, was substituting the saturday guardian for friday's evening standard! But the worst thing was that they charged me for 13 bottles of mouthwash, dispite on the substitution list it clearly stating I'd ordered one bottle, and one (substituted) bottle being delivered. Oh, and the bread I ordered must have been placed next to frozen goods as it was sopping wet. I've now vowed never again to use sainsburys online.

 

[Ms T]

I've heard nothing but bad things about Sainsbury's Online. It's amazing anyone uses it at all...

 

[_angel_]

Like LMHF said sometimes Tesco online's website can be really tricky to find stuff on..

.. but they haven't been 'that' bad. Once or twice I got bits of someone elses shopping by mistake. And sometimes substitutions aren't quite right but they were very good about refunding me (and letting me keep the items).

The only problem is they don't take my new debit card (grrr thanks the Halifax, for issuing me a card that NO ONE takes) so I don't really shop on line any more..

Can you not request no substitions with Sainsburies???? (Personally never tried them )


What is this Ocoda of which you speak - a southern thing I guess..???

 

[beeboo]

Interesting article about the logistics of it here

Tesco deny that they're interested in a warehouse operation (lies, lies!). Providing you've got enough online customers, I can't see how a warehouse based operation isn't more efficient. Fulfilling orders is only really practical if a very small % of shopping is online.

Ocado kicks-ass, logistically speaking.

(I'm such a sad individual, I find this stuff fascinating - luckily I'm in the right line of work!)

 

[sheothebudworths]

I get a fortnightly delivery from Tesco and they're fine - much better fresh produce than Sainsburys and cheaper too. If there's anything at all I'm not happy with, I just phone up the helpline and they credit it back to my account.

You can actually opt out of having substitutions all together btw, or as someone else said, either refuse them at the door or like I said, call the helpline if you have discovered a problem with them after the delivery has already been made.

Also - the forums on moneysavingexpert.com have online discount codes, which I use for every shop (spend £50 get a fiver off, spend £100 get a tenner off, the occasional £15 off offer etc.).

 

[sunflower]

Ocado are excellent if a bit pricey but every time I use them I'm more than happy with the service. I get everything Ive ordered unlike the 2 occasions I used Sainsburys and ended up going out shopping again as they had replaced so many things with unsuitable items.

Has anyone tried Asda? At the moment they arent delivering in my part of London but we do use them quite a bit as theyre soooooooo cheap.
Unfortunately its quite a drive to my nearest Asda.

 

[kea]

i've used tesco a couple of times, for big orders of tins, fizzy water etc, since we don't have a car it makes it a lot easier!
i always check the 'no substitutions' option but what irks me is that they never have enough of what i want. the main reason i use home delivery is for bulk buying, so what's the point on only getting half the baked beans and 1/10th of the bottles of water that i wanted?! and then they charge me the full £5 delivery cost anyway!
edit: oh and the special offers aren't related to when you order something but when you have it delivered! so if you spot a 2-for-1 offer then you might end up being charged full price for it, if the offer is over by the time your delivery date comes round.

never tried sainsburys but sounds like one to avoid! i've been considering giving ocado a try in case they can do better at providing me with my vast quantities of fizzy water ....

 

[AllStarMe]

We've been using Asda for the last year or so and we've not had too much to complain about - theyve only messed up one delivery. Other than that its a god send as my boyf and I dont own a car and despite the supermarket being near by theyre a bitch to get to on the buses and a taxi costs more than the delivery charge so its great.
The only complaint I have is that the fresh stuff is sometimes close to the sell by date and on the odd occassion that we've had a substitution its been a bit random. But other than that Id recommend it. Although I guess the quality of service would vary store to store.

One thing though - if you can buy you're fruit and veg seperately, then do because the people shopping for you are just getting the stuff closest to hand, rather than the best.

 

[WasGeri]

I've been using Tesco for quite a few years now and they have definitely improved. It's been ages since I've felt the urge to post a rant on here! The only things to annoy me recently are the fact that they are often late (I reckon 50% of the time they fail to deliver within the two hour time slot) and the way they pack the goods - dozens of carrier bags with only a few items in each.

I would avoid ordering fresh meat & veg as they tend to give you the stuff with the shortest sell by date, and bleach (don't know why but it always leaks!)

 

[dessiato]

Used Sainsbury and Ocado, never had any problem with either. Ocado has a narrower time slot for delivery which is very useful. But couldn't really say anything against either from my experience.

 

[madamv]

and the way they pack the goods - dozens of carrier bags with only a few items in each. I would avoid ordering fresh meat & veg as they tend to give you the stuff with the shortest sell by date,

I agree.

Hope you dont mind me para phrasing you Geri?