Sainsbury's Online Service

Snapdragon

Today I popped into Sainsbury's for some oddments and the till spat out the usual tickets, which I so often forget for the next visit,:o but tonight I actually read them and one looks really interesting...

12 months online grocery Anytime Delivery Pass for £20
There is currently a deal on the delivery pass but the till ticket is better.
http://www.sainsburyssaver.co.uk/

I have shopped online occassionally, usually with Tesco but the delivery charge tends to put me off and the Tesco experience can be a bit hit and miss. I've had very late deliveries, way too much missing or extremely weird substitutions, for example ordered halal chicken breasts purely because they were the cheapest chicken breast deal but ended up with vegetable samosas instead :eek:

The only time I shopped online with Sainsbury their substitution policy alarmed me. I ordered something for 50p it was out of stock so they substituted one costing £4! I was able to send it back and get a refund a few days later but that did put me off using the service again.

The delivery pass offer however is making me reconsider. Delivery anytime of day 7 days a week for a whole year for £20 seems to put-paid to any objection to the delivery charges and I'd probably save by not wasting petrol etc but it doesn't get me over the worry about the additional cost of substitutions. I don't really want to say no in all cases to substitutions as I would usually want them rather than be without an item but not at the sort of price hike I experienced!

A few searches on MSE to see what general feedback on Sainsbury service seemed to be pulled up some posts a few months ago from people working at Sainbury's mentioning the substitution policy was due to change but nothing more recently. Does anyone know has it changed?

Would appreciate any feedback from anyone in the know, or if any regular sainsbury 'onliners' have any advice if I decide to give it a go? Anything I need to be careful of?

Thanks Snapdragon

pullenuk

Get it. If you have 4 deliveries in 12 months you would likely to pay around £20 if you don't have the free delivery on tues, weds, Thurs when you spend £100.

So you could give them a try 4 times over the year. Just remember after that deliveries are free. This works out as delivery charges are between £2.99 and £5.99 last time I looked.

Obviously if you end up liking the service then you got a cracking deal on saving money on delivery fees.

But just remember online shopping at supermarkets all depends on stock levels. They usually shop orders at a certain time and have to be completed at a certain time to allow it to be on the van. This means while your shopping is booked for a 12-1pm slot it could be on a van that's leaves the store at half 8 that morning. So if there is anything out of stock it's usually bad luck. Sainsburys supply chain is actually good, take it from a sainsburys employee, the only reasons why things are out of stock is usually the supplier not delivered to the depot in time. Others simply other customers managed to clear the shelf (unexpectedly as we would hold enough stock if needed) before you and before the supply chain deliveries it's next load.

The sub policy does suck a bit and yes there is plans to change but no confirmed date. Refunds are quick. Emailing customer support saying when subs are unreasonable (because of a huge price difference) will help to inform the shopper it wasn't the best judgement. BUT don't blame them. Some customers would be happy to take it some won't so you are damned if you do and damned if you dont!

I work for sainsburys online, we are rarely late from our store. So it depends on your area and which store serves you. Generally lates are caused by traffic or driver sickness. We are lucky in our area that traffic doesn't affect us too badly and we are big enough to have standby drivers. I'm usually only late to 1 or 2 customers a month and I do around 200 a month. The lates are rarely outside 10 mins. It's usually caused mostly by customers!!! (Difficult access, car in way, not in on time, unusual large order)

Hope that helps I could go on !

DCFC79

OP as of yesterday the substitution policy hadn't changed and we weren't informed of any future changes. I also work for them Snapdragon and the staff are told to pick the most appropriate sub based on price etc, I've seen some strange subs before. If you do get any problems give the call centre a call, they are quite good at sorting it out.

Anything else I can answer.

Anatidaephobia

I've never had a problem with the substitutions from Sainsburys. It's true that I've had some weird substitutions in the past - but if it's something I don't want, I just hand it back to the delivery driver and he refunds the price. No hassle.

welshee

I once ordered fresh mint (for making mojito) and they subbed it for colgate.
????

DCFC79

welshee wrote: »

I once ordered fresh mint (for making mojito) and they subbed it for colgate.
????

Some of the shoppers just need some retrainin.

wonderwallet

I emailed Sainsbury's to ask them if they had any plans to change their subs policy to match the price-matching ones from Asda etc and I received this reply

I can confirm that we do not currently offer a price match service with our substitutions. One of the reasons that we do not offer this service is that we feel it would place our instore customers at a disadvantage. Customers shopping instore, who on occasions may find that their preferred items are unavailable, cannot pick alternative items and bring them to the checkout and pay a cheaper price.

This is ridiculous - shoppers in store can look around and choose something else - if you've had it delivered you've either got to pay for a more expensive product, go out to buy it (defeats the object of online shopping) or just do without it (bit rubbish if you've meticulously planned meals like I do and a vital ingredient is missing)!!

pullenuk

I can understand that response. Its true. You shop in store and you wont get a cheaper price if the one you want out of stock. So why do it online. So basically those who does give cheaper subs are being unfair to their instore customers.

Snapdragon

Thanks everyone for your feedback. When I posted my question, I really hoped Sainsbury would have realised how ridiculous their substitution policy is and given the rumours it was changing I thought it might have improved since I last used them.

Unfortunately since you've been able to confirm it's still the same, that basically means giving them permission to charge me anything they like,:eek: which is totally unacceptable to me, so I am going to give the delivery pass a miss. It is undoubtedly a great deal if you can live with their substitution policy but for me, until Sainsbury change that, they won't be getting my custom I'm afraid.

When I place my order I want to know how much they will be taking from my bank. Given my previous experience of them substituting items that were 8 times the price of the ones I ordered, a minimum order of £40 could be charged at very significantly more. Even though you can get a refund, that takes time and effort and the damage in terms of funds available in your bank while you wait on the refund is already done, so not a risk I'm willing to take.

pullenuk

If you select do not sub then you wont get items changed.

However if out of stock items result in the order being less than £40 (or any price of delivery, free £4.99 etc) these prices are not changed. So if you made an order for £41.24 to make sure you get the free delivery and a item out of stock results in £39.80 you will see get the free delivery.

Also you can order a little extra to get free delivery but return it straight away to the driver ("I forgot I already got some") he will refund it. Naughty though dont make a habit of it.

alanq

Snapdragon wrote: »

When I place my order I want to know how much they will be taking from my bank.

Even without substitutions (to the best of my knowledge) all online grocery services reserve the right to charge the store price on the date of delivery and not on the date of the order.