Approved Food - general discussion thread

jaytin

Dan told my husband when he phoned that the shop stock and the stock for internet orders were separate. There is no way you could have one pile of goods for both methods of purchase, you would constantly run out. I do wonder though, when people order online and then go to collect, which pile of stock does it come from? :rolleyes:

tricki1

jaytin wrote: »

Dan told my husband when he phoned that the shop stock and the stock for internet orders were separate. There is no way you could have one pile of goods for both methods of purchase, you would constantly run out. I do wonder though, when people order online and then go to collect, which pile of stock does it come from? :rolleyes:

So we were wrong, it did seem illogical to have them together really, I supposed that it was due to the cash and carry stores, but I guess I fell pray to the old idiom - If you assume something, you make an a.s.s out of u and me! (curse the curse words filter)

Not sure why there are still orders missing items then, I ordered after they changed the website so would not let order after zero, and still had to have items refunded, which shouldn't happen if there is enough stock available for them.

Only thing I can think of is error with the script, or server overloading errors. If he's holding enough stock to cover orders then its just a technical problem, and will improve quickly when wiggle the bugs out, so bit of good news

Smashing

tricki1 wrote: »

Not sure why there are still orders missing items then, I ordered after they changed the website so would not let order after zero, and still had to have items refunded, which shouldn't happen if there is enough stock available for them.

Well that's just it - if items are being sold to people buying direct from the warehouse then they should be updating the availability of the items on the website - seems pretty simple logic to me. I ordered after the change, heard nothing until I sent an email last night and then received a sheepish phone call this morning informing me that it hasn't been shipped and half the order is out of stock. :rolleyes:

Dan has said that items will now be dealt in the order that they are placed, but this thread as shown this still isn't happening so busy or not, an update is overdue.

cruella_de_vile

poet123 wrote: »

I am not happy,have waited since 7/2 and now half of my order has been refunded..and.still no despatch information. I don't think I will be bothering again,there seem to be too many snags in their ordering system.

Also my son who is at Uni ordered,and the packaging one item came in(bottled drinks fortunately)smelled like somone had vomited over it,honestly, it was that awful distinctive smell. So until the kinks have been ironed out,I think I will stick to paying higher prices at Tesco.

Same here, the delivery charge is now higher than my order cost. :cool:

Jazzy_B

My goodwill is wearing a bit thin too. I've had a refund, no word of a delivery date, and I'm a bit hacked off that orders are not being done in order.I've phoned and was given no idea when my order might come. Clearly Dan has had to delegate, but I'd hoped the level of service would be the same. His increase in turnover will be short lived if all his customers feel like me.

cruella_de_vile

I've just cancelled my order, it's a shame though because I was really looking forward to receiving it.

I feel the same as you Jazzy, people will only be patient for so long.

nickynoo08

Got my e-mail yesterday saying it was gonna be dispatched and it arrived today. All items present and correct, had to wait nearly 3weeks for it but i knew there was a backlog of orders so i didnt mind. Will definatley be using them again.

tricki1

Smashing wrote: »

Well that's just it - if items are being sold to people buying direct from the warehouse then they should be updating the availability of the items on the website - seems pretty simple logic to me. I ordered after the change, heard nothing until I sent an email last night and then received a sheepish phone call this morning informing me that it hasn't been shipped and half the order is out of stock. :rolleyes:

Dan has said that items will now be dealt in the order that they are placed, but this thread as shown this still isn't happening so busy or not, an update is overdue.

I think you are right, Dan needs to come on here and explain why there are still problems if he wants to keep the goodwill of people and stop the rumours and grumbles (including my own:rolleyes:)

Even though I have a good idea of some of the reasons for the problems, It still annoys me a little to see my orders delayed and with items missing, when others are getting their orders quickly and complete. Someone who ordered without knowing about this site wouldn't have a clue why they are not getting what ordered, and so slow and will not be as forgiving even if they cannot know that others are not having same problems.
Better calm the natives before you have a mutiny Dan :eek:

mdecker_london

My order was finally delivered last week, nearly three weeks after ordering (24th January). It was my second order, and my last until things change. The first order took a week to arrive, and there were some broken items which I pointed out (but didn’t get a refund), but was otherwise reasonably complete.

When I ordered the second time there was no mention of the two week delay that was later mentioned on their front page, even though they knew seven days before on 17th January that they'd have no chance of honouring orders made after that time in a reasonable period of time (they had a rush of orders on the 16th that they knew would overwhelm them). They also knew by 17th January that many items still advertised on 24th when I placed my order were already out of stock. Despite this, they took the full amount from my bank account via Google checkout, even though Google specifically ban such actions until the order is confirmed to be in stock and ready to ship.

It was only after coming to this site that I discovered that items were out of stock, that delivery would be weeks rather than days, that substitutions would need to be requested, and that delivery would be refunded (but only for those who paid the lowest delivery charge).
Unable to get through on the phone, I therefore emailed a long list of substitutions taken from the current stock list on the website, which supposedly only displays 'in stock' items. I didn't receive an acknowledgement, so I sent it again.

The next thing I received was an email stating there'd been an £18 refund against the order (around 20%) for items out of stock. I again emailed the list of substitutions and pointed out there should be a delivery refund. I then got another email saying there’d be some substitutions. I then had to pay the £18 that had been refunded, and the boxes arrived on the 13th – 20 days after order placed.

The substitutions weren’t a representation across my suggestions; it was notable that no heavy substitutions were made, even though most of the out of stock items were heavy (Pepsi, vitamin Coke, Saka water, Capri Sun) and represented more than half the delivery cost. Like others, I’d taken time when ordering to load up the weight so it came to just within the 3x delivery charge. Some of the packing was dismal – e.g. packets of crisps had been used to pack out the space between loose boxes, so they’re pretty much atomised. All the jars of ruby grapefruit went straight in the bin – very nasty looking white bits floating around, a nasty odour, and packed in the heat of Southern Africa in polythene jars – yuck.

I’m also uneasy that this vendor didn’t use his common sense and stop taking orders after 16th January until he could clear the backlog. That would have meant much shorter times between order/delivery, and much less likelihood that items would be out of stock. In addition I’m disappointed at the lack of contact – at no point prior to the day of despatch was I contacted, despite the vendor knowing for nearly three weeks that he wouldn’t be able to fulfil the order in its entirety.

Perhaps the most serious cause for concern is that the vendor, in breach of all sorts of legislation (as well as Google’s T’s and C’s) took payment in full despite not having the goods available for sale and in the knowledge that even a part-order couldn’t be shipped for weeks. This can only be explained by a) the vendor being slapdash and/or ignorant of Google’s rules and the law or b) a crook.

So, yeah, cheap food – but it’s just not worth all the hassle. I’ve had to send loads of emails, waste time trying to get through on the phone, waited far too long for food of which a third or more wasn’t what I’d originally ordered, and mess about with payment, refund, and payment again – plus of course gyp from my wife.

Life is just too short for the sake of a few quid off a few tins of food…….

Sarahsaver

So, honeymoon over folks??? I did notice that when there was baby food on the site it said those orders would get priority. i shoulda done some tactical ordering LOL;)

I still hope AF carries on because for packed lunch drinks nowhere beats its prices. I know my kids could drink water at school but having tried that for AGES and them drinking nothing...