Difficulty getting delivery slots again

millie

I have had Asda deliveries since March last year and generally find them good. I think a lot depends on who picks the order. Todays delivery had 6 items out of stock 3 of which I had ticked the no substitution box. For 2 of the other items I got nothing. Not had any oranges for the last 3 weeks they do not even send a substitute
and the frozen Lamb shanks in minted gravy were substituted with chilled Hunters Chicken. In the past I had a pack of small orange fruit drinks substituted with a litre bottle of Ribena. mostly they are not too bad and the driver takes them back so not really a problem. I intend to carry on with the deliveries even when things get back to normal and have purchased a delivery pass now.

hugheskevi

Having tried all the major supermarkets online offerings in my area (south London), I concluded:

(1) Morrisons - decent all round performance, can be frustrating that items can be out of stock for literally months at a time and sometimes limited range in some food areas and poor products (ie significant negative feedback) are not discontinued. Need to be very careful with delivery slots - after 10pm and they can be frequently cancelled with no notice, and drivers frequently turn up over an hour before delivery slot. So lots of niggly issues, but nothing too bad.

(2) Tesco - solid all-round performance, very little between them and Morrisons. Probably a stronger performance all things considered, and I use them as my first choice back up to Morrisons.

(3) Sainsburys - good service, but considerably more expensive than all the others. Click and collect service is great too. Never used them for sustained period of time, just occasionally to benefit from an offer or if no slots elsewhere. Never had any issues except for price.

(4) Asda - by far the cheapest, especially with £5 goodwill payments being common for one reason or another. However, missing items were terrible. It was not uncommon for them to miss out all frozen or all refrigerated items due to packing issues, and there were always many missing items each week. It meant that most weeks I went to a supermarket in person anyway to buy the items they missed. Delivery was quite reliable though. I was sorry to leave them, but it was too frustrating to have to do a shop in person so frequently due to missing items.

Bacman

Waitrose - excellent, rarely miss items from order, arrive on time, take note of the comments you put against an item line, friendly, good quality food.

Farway

Bacman said:

Waitrose - excellent, rarely miss items from order, arrive on time, take note of the comments you put against an item line, friendly, good quality food.

Agree entirely, but round here it is impossible to get a slot, and I'm on a priority list so see slots that are further ahead than available to general public,

I can only assume there is some regular slot booking taking place which fills them up the minute they are released

Emmia

I also find it tricky to get Waitrose slots (London, Zone 2), so I end up mostly alternating with Ocado - although there are Waitrose products I prefer over the Ocado or M&S versions.

MysteryMe

Check just after midnight for Waitrose slots being added.

Clowance

Tesco offer slots 3 weeks in advance, I find if you book on Friday or Saturday for 3 weeks time with a placeholder order, you can get slots. HTH.

KxMx

My local Tesco release the bulk of Flexi Slots for the next day in the afternoon. 

Lanzarote1938

I am finding Sainsburys the best at the moment. they offer saver slots which are for 4 hours but email with a 1 hour slot on the day of delivery. It is only £1 as long as the £40 minimum is reached. Last week I had a couple of substitutions , one of which was a £3.50 shoulder of pork. Instead I received half a leg of lamb and so an £8 voucher to use next time!

MrsStepford

Today I cancelled my Ocado delivery pass because I could only get one slot so far this year. Got a seven month refund of £58 something. Cancelled Morrisons delivery pass and got a partial refund of £20 as well. 

Abel & Cole has switched egg supplier from a farm in Wiltshire, to Stonegate. The large eggs aren't as large as they used to be and don't taste as good. Waitrose Duchy organic eggs, also from Stonegate, are 10p cheaper per box. That saves 40p per week for me, or 20.80 per year. Clarence Court is part of Stonegate but their eggs are fantastic. If I switch to their free range duck eggs, even at Waitrose I would save over £60 a year. Not everyone likes duck eggs, but we luv em. 

I'm on Waitrose's Priority list, so getting a slot is a tad easier. Certainly much easier than Ocado (which no longer sells Waitrose products anyway). Orders over £40 get free delivery, whereas Abel & Cole charges 1.50 and that's £78 per year. Abel & Cole's rival, Riverford, doesn't charge for delivery, either. 

I have cancelled my milk order with A&C cos Waitrose Duchy organic unhomogenised milk from West Country farms is 1.85 for 2.272 litres whereas a 2 litre bottle is £2 at A&C. That saves me over £31 per year for over 1/4 litre more milk per bottle ie more than 1 litre extra milk per week. 

Providing I can get a Waitrose slot every week savings of £78 (delivery), £60 (duck eggs), £30 (milk) is a whopping £168 per year.