Two flights of stairs = No shopping!!

sonia140974

Just a word of warning.

I've just learned the hard way that there has been a change in Sainsbury's (and possibly other supermarkets?) policy on shopping deliveries.

If you live in a property where there's more than one flight of stairs (in my case, two), your delivery driver can now refuse to deliver your shopping!

My grocery delivery arrived at my property on time today but the driver would not deliver them to my door, but only to the bottom of the stairs leading to my property. I placed an order as I'm at home with a bad back, hence the need for a delivery 'to my door'.

Upon calling Sainsbury's, their customer service rep. confirmed this is a new 'Health & Safety' ruling and the drivers are indeed permitted to refuse to deliver to any property with more than one flight of stairs.

This new 'rule' is apparently in their revised Terms & Conditions but I made it clear to Sainsbury's that an email should have been sent out to all customers warning them of a change in their T&C's, as if I'd known, I would not have placed an order. He agreed.

My order has now been cancelled and I will be closing my account.


Added:
If he means these terms and conditions, I cannot find it:
Ref: h**p://w*w.sainsburys.co.uk/sol/iw_container_page.jsp?pageRef=sites/www/site_furniture/terms_and_conditions/Buying_Online_TC.page#section8

8. Delivery
8.1 We deliver to mainland UK and Northern Ireland addresses. We cannot deliver to the Channel Islands, Isle of Man, Orkney, Shetland and Scottish Islands, BFPO addresses, or the Republic of Ireland. We reserve the right to charge a surcharge to deliver to Northern Ireland. Some larger items cannot be delivered to Northern Ireland at the moment.
8.2 Provided that we have processed and received payment in full for the products, ownership of an item will pass to you once we have delivered the item to you (either directly, or by leaving it in a safe place or with a neighbour). When an item has been delivered, risk of damage to, or loss of, the item passes to you.
8.3 By placing an order you are authorising us to accept signature from another person at the same address on your behalf if are not present at the time of delivery.
8.4 Sainsbury's will be under no liability for any delay or failure to deliver the products within estimated timescales.
8.5 It is your responsibility to ensure you check access to your premises and the space available for the product before placing your order.
8.6 Do not book kitchen fitters/installation engineers until ordered goods have arrived, as we will not be held responsible for any associated costs.

pollyskettle

10. Our grocery doorstep service Back to top
10.1 We will always deliver your order to the front door of your house or to the communal entrance to your block of flats. Our drivers may also deliver beyond this into your home. Please see our ‘providing a safe delivery’ section in our help section for further details.
10.2 Our delivery service does not include a detailed check of your shopping. However, if you have any queries, please call us on 0800 328 1700 after your delivery has taken place.
10.3 If your delivery is to a work address, we will always deliver to the ground floor communal entrance of your business’ building then contact you to meet our driver. We reserve the right to return your order to our store if you do not come to collect your order within a reasonable time. In this instance, we reserve the right to charge for any re-delivery. Please see re-delivery below.

From here (scroll down to 'grocery buying terms and conditions).

I did get an email explaining this and their new bulk buying policy a while back, but I cleared out my emails yesterday so no longer have a copy. ETA - I also think my driver dropped off a leaflet just before the changes, but I then used to have a weekly order.

Don't Tesco have a similar policy too?

sonia140974

I received neither a leaflet or an email. Guess it's back to shopping myself in future. Shame really, I've been receiving deliveries by Sainsbury's to my door for a long time.

Thanks for your reply.

kerrydrobertson

thats quite poor really, i never knew that and i done online shopping for a good 3 years and have always delivered to my 3rd floor flat when i was there although there was a lift. i can remember one time the driver left a box of nappies at the door to keep it open and someone in the flats knicked them and i had to fork out for another box though

wannabe_sybil

Sonia - that is really annoying, when you need the shopping carried. Is it at the driver's discretion? Could you perhaps persuade a friendly one to carry it up for you?

My local lot (on the whole :rolleyes:) would carry it, but service varies so much from area to area.

I haven't received the email, but it doesn't really affect me so I am lucky. That does not excuse their refusal to help you.

btw, is it worth speaking to your local store to see if, due to your bad back, an exception could be made for you? If not, well I certainly would not go back to them!

I hope your back gets better soon.

sinw

Rules n Regulations gone mad i'd say............

Finch

Am I the only one who doesn't see anything wrong with this? I'm not sure why the delivery drivers should be expected to carry shopping (which is often very heavy) up flights of stairs. The drivers we get to my area vary from young men to older women- I always help them unload the van, and I certainly never expect them to carry the heavy bags further than my front door.

To be honest, if you are ill/old (etc) enough to be unable to carry your shopping upstairs, then you need a carer. What ever would you have done in the days before internet shopping?

ellemm

Sorry Finch, have to disagree with you there. I used online shopping last year when I was off work for 4 months with a broken shoulder and OH was recovering from a heart attack and also off work (What a pair!!)

Getting the shopping delivered was great as we live 2 up and although we could have carried the shopping up in several jouneys or made more visits to the shops for smaller shops, neither of us was really well enough to go out at this time and OH wasn't allowed to drive.

An alternative would have been to rely on family members to do our shopping but the online shop was by far the best option at the time.

I agree that perhaps sometimes the load is too much for one delivery person to carry upstairs but then there could be two people to deliver instead of one. Let's face it the supermarkets can afford it and they would be doing a service to their less fit customers, in my opinion.

mrs_T

Finch wrote: »

Am I the only one who doesn't see anything wrong with this? I'm not sure why the delivery drivers should be expected to carry shopping (which is often very heavy) up flights of stairs. The drivers we get to my area vary from young men to older women- I always help them unload the van, and I certainly never expect them to carry the heavy bags further than my front door.

To be honest, if you are ill/old (etc) enough to be unable to carry your shopping upstairs, then you need a carer. What ever would you have done in the days before internet shopping?

Over the summer my mother has started to use tesco online shopping due to a deterioration in her arthritis. I thought this was exactly what this service was for. She lives in a bungalow so stairs are not an issue but delivery man always brings her shopping into her kitchen and even puts it in the cupboard, above and beyond, he certainly earns his tips.

ellemm

mrs_T wrote: »

Over the summer my mother has started to use tesco online shopping due to a deterioration in her arthritis. I thought this was exactly what this service was for. She lives in a bungalow so stairs are not an issue but delivery man always brings her shopping into her kitchen and even puts it in the cupboard, above and beyond, he certainly earns his tips.

I believe Sainsburys were actually advertising *from the store to your kitchen* so to speak at one time and certainly all the deliveries I had from each of the large stores, the delivery person took them right into my kitchen, no problem.

OwtForNowt

Finch wrote: »

Am I the only one who doesn't see anything wrong with this? I'm not sure why the delivery drivers should be expected to carry shopping (which is often very heavy) up flights of stairs. The drivers we get to my area vary from young men to older women- I always help them unload the van, and I certainly never expect them to carry the heavy bags further than my front door.

To be honest, if you are ill/old (etc) enough to be unable to carry your shopping upstairs, then you need a carer. What ever would you have done in the days before internet shopping?

Because its their job to deliver your shopping to your home? :rolleyes: