Online Shopping: What are the pros and cons of substitutes?

terra_ferma

sparky1664 wrote: »

I only use Tesco's (& occasionally Ocado, but there is no control over substitutes there.)

I used to shop online a lot, mainly Ocado. Hardly ever had any subs, always fully stocked.
Tesco on the other hand, would just ignore my choices and substitute with anything that they could find, often totally unrelated stuff. Got fed up and stopped shopping with them for that reason, no point in shopping online if you then have to go to a store to get all the essentials they missed out....

Gillyx

Funny I always use Sainsburys and today had my first ever really bad order from them. Loads of items out of stock. I think the store I use has barely any online shoppers though as it's easy as pie to get a delivery slot, even for next day usually, so I'm assuming it's maybe just with Christmas coming up they've maybe taken some of the items off the shelves to be replaced with things for Christmas.

I normally opt for some items to be substituted and others not, depending on the urgency, how much we want that particular item.

Also today we ordered 3 pints of skimmed milk (single pints) and they got delivered and had todays date on, phoned Customer Service, and they weren't really that interested, sent an E gift card for the value, but that in my opinion isn't really good enough. We weren't even told about it by the driver or anything.

On the whole though I find them far superior to Tesco and I won't even mention the shambles that is Asda.

thunderbird

I shop with Sainsburys and if I get one of the friendly delivery drivers they will sometimes (if they think that is is a ridiculous substitute) let me have the higher priced substitute for free (ie they let me keep it but refund me for it). I guess that the items that are returned aren't put back on the shelves so it is no loss to them anyhow.

geordie_joe

Gillyx wrote: »

I think the store I use has barely any online shoppers

Also today we ordered 3 pints of skimmed milk (single pints) and they got delivered and had todays date on,

They mustn't have many instore shoppers either, if the milk is still there on it's use by date

nakmeister

We use mainly Asda. Price is matched. If you don't like the substitution, you don't keep it. But I typically do- I ordered 4 smartprice xmas giftbags 17p each- not available they subbed for 4 better quality ones for 78p each. Also I ordered smartprice smoked salmon trimmings 98p, not available they sent smartprice smoked salmon £2.97. Also got 2 x part baked baguettes subbed. They were on 2 for £1 or 86p each. They didn't have the white ones I ordered so sent brown. I kept one and returned one, they refunded it at the full 86p so I got the one I kept for 14p!

I really can't complain it's very good. The most subs I've ever had is 6. Many times I've had none, 1 or 2. Great thing about ASDA is, that due to the substitutions you very rarely get something out of stock with no reasonable alternative.

I had less good experiences with Sainsburys/ Tesco

DCFC79

sarah1972 wrote: »

If your going to use Sainsburys then good luck if you dont want any substitutions !!

I stopped using them as week after week I had no milk turn up as there was no substitute for semi skimmed milk :cool: and 3 weeks on the trot there was no substitute for kingsmill medium sliced bread :cool:

That shouldnt have happened, the Team leaders/manager of the online dept do get on our(which they're entitled too) backs about zero picking (you basically decide theres 0 of the bread on the shelf and dont pick a sub) the system can tell if a shopper has zero picked an item and do get told off, there was a shopper the other week who decided to zero pick loose bananas and not offer a sub.

Also with Sainsburys if you get a sub you pay the price that the sub is so if they sub you a premiuim product and you wanted a value product then you pay more whereas Asda and Tesco pricematch so sometimes you get some real bargains.

just wanted to add my knowledge of STY

choccybikkie_2

on my last order with Tesco I ordered a £3.49 joint of pork that was on offer. When my shopping arrived they didn't have any so had substituted it for a £9.95 joint!!! But obv they only charged me the £3.95 Lovely.
I order from Tesco every week and the substitutions ALWAYS work to my advantage. Whereas if I went insore and they didn't have the item I wanted it would be tough. I usually order Tesco own brand or budget brand stuff and they usually sub it for a nicer premium brand... I love subs lol.

andrew-the-cat

Sorry to bump an old thread but I'll just point out some facts

No, Sainsbury's do not price match substitutions. Unless you have ticked the no substitutions box, the shopper will try to pick a product as close as possible to the one you chose (eg a different size pack of the same thing, or a tin of Sainsburys beans instead of Heinz, or a slightly different flavour of chicken drumstick). As you should know it is not always possible to get a perfect match. The substitutions are at the discretion of the individual pickers and are normally sensible, however I have seen some ridiculous ones in the past and it is embarrassing explaining to a customer why they have been given extra large nappies when they ordered medium, or why they've been given a £9 bottle of wine instead of the £4 one they ordered.

However, one of the first things the driver should do after greeting you at the door is hand you the paperwork and inform you of substitutions, they are always at the very top of the receipt and also the products are in blue bags to make them easy to distinguish. They should tell you that if you are not happy then you can refuse the substitution. It happens all the time. There is a section on the drivers copy of the paperwork for any products which the customer refuses and all you have to do is say 'no' and they'll take it back and you are automatically refunded.

We had quite a few recently with Cheerios 600g which were on a half price offer, the supplier could not keep up with the demand and we were constantly out of stock yet literally ever online order had it in there, the pickers were substituting it with the 800g box which was not on offer and almost double the price. The majority of the customers accepted it, very few refused.

And lastly any products which are refused are checked when they come back in to the store, the drivers are supposed to put them back on the shelves at the end of their shift, the only exception is eggs in which case if a single egg in a box is broken the entire box would be refunded but the customer would still keep the good eggs.