Changing Online Weekly Shopping ?

uncletupelo

I'm looking for people's experiences with 3 supermarkets and their online grocery deliveries; Asda, Morrison's & Sainsbury. I need to know about the stock availability, item substitutions, delivery timekeeping and customer service when things go wrong. I do one weekly shop delivered on a mid-week morning currently.

millie

I have only used Asda and up until the last couple of months there were quite a few substitutions. I have everything I have ordered for the last six weeks, no substitutes. If I have a problem with anything such as dates or damages I just request a refund online and it has never been a problem. They usually arrive on time mostly or even early by up to 30 minutes. Usually pleasant and helpful. Only started with online shopping because of the pandemic but I will be using it permanently now, so much easier

uncletupelo

With Tesco you can write down which item u will accept as a substitute when your placing the order; eg give me Crunchy Nut Cornflakes instead of Regular Cornflakes. Do Asda let you do that? 

millie

uncletupelo said:

With Tesco you can write down which item u will accept as a substitute when your placing the order; eg give me Crunchy Nut Cornflakes instead of Regular Cornflakes. Do Asda let you do that? 

No the only option you have is to choose which items you will accept substitutes for. The substitutes are a bit hit and miss sometimes they send a more expensive item, but you still pay the original price, other times it is just something similar. They email a receipt the morning of delivery and if there is something you do not want just give it back to the driver for a refund

Farway

millie said:

I have only used Asda and up until the last couple of months there were quite a few substitutions. I have everything I have ordered for the last six weeks, no substitutes. If I have a problem with anything such as dates or damages I just request a refund online and it has never been a problem. They usually arrive on time mostly or even early by up to 30 minutes. Usually pleasant and helpful. Only started with online shopping because of the pandemic but I will be using it permanently now, so much easier

Much same as my Asda experience, I have now learned to untick the substitution boxes for those which can be problematic, minor points but an example, for celery the sub was sticks, which is fine but was not suitable as they they do not keep as long. It would be more critical for some items. such as if you had food intolerance and the sub included say dairy

I've never had a problem getting a refund, more or less instant on line but the sums involved were small, £1 or under

I now use Asda with annual delivery pass

Morrison's do not have a sub or no option, you get subbed with whatever seems suitable to them, and I found a lot of items just never arrived.

Sainsbury's I could never get a slot so gave up

pumpkin89

I've tried Sainsbury's in the past and it was dire.  I read that they have grown their online business more than any other supermarket during lockdown, so it may have improved (considerably?) since then.  My experience was ordering 28 items and 11 of them being out of stock, 1 of the others damaged - not much more than half my order actually delivered, and it was a real battle to get the delivery fee refunded.  The saving grace was the delivery person, who was extremely polite and well within the time slot.

HogMan

We now use Sainsbury's having previously used Asda. The issue with Asda was the strange substitutions (a melon for a pineapple, single cream for double cream etc) and out of stock items.
As others have said you have to manage what you want substituted. Nowadays we say no substitute to most items unless there is likely to be an obvious like for like replacement eg bread, eggs etc.
Delivery from Sainsbury's has never been late apart from when the truck had a flat tyre (the driver rang to say he would be late). Most of the time the delivery arrives early.
Customer service has been excellent, where goods have been missing or damaged a refund has been very quickly processed. Last week the driver insisted on processing a refund for a short dated lettuce without us asking. The drivers have always been very friendly and Covid safe.

MrsStepford

I have used ASDA, Iceland, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsburys, Tesco and Waitrose  as I have been having online deliveries since 2012.
My experience with Tesco was so bad, that I never use them now. Not just late delivery and subs, but also food quality issues, ranging from out of date food, to info on additives only available inside packs and 10% added water on things that you wouldn't expect eg pork chops. 

If you choose to accept subs, you will get them, so that people who won't accept subs, get their orders. Doesn't matter which supermarket it is. When deliveries are made, stock is divided between store and delivery service. You can go into store and find they have chicken, when the website says out of stock. It just means that the delivery stock has been used up. 

Sainsbury's does a pretty good job of delivering most/all of the order as does ASDA. Quality of ASDA organic fruit & veg is exceptional, better than Sainsbury's and Waitrose and prices are great. ASDA and Iceland are the friendliest drivers in my experience, but Tesco aside, all drivers are polite. 

I had a Morrisons delivery pass but cancelled. I would be told by email that I was getting  my order and when it turned up, I would find subs not indicated as such. After it happened five times, I gave up. 

I would have an ASDA delivery pass if Waitrose didn't deliver here as I like ASDA. . But it's now free delivery rom Waitrose  on a £40 order. I switched from Abel & Cole to Riverford for top-up stuff and that saves me £78 per year. So if I pay a little more for a few veggies, I'm not fussed when all my deliveries are free. I use Iceland for pantry stuff about once a month and again, free delivery. 

Mnoee

A lot of things change from store to store within the same company - I moved 15 minutes down the road which meant my (Tesco) delivery store changed, and it's dramatically better than the previous store. My Iceland extra bits have gone from great to rubbish, however. I've had good and bad experiences from all the supermarkets I've tried - online grocery shopping for 15 years and have moved around a fair bit in that time. 

uncletupelo

In regards to Asda. My nearest store is no longer 24hrs so I believe the actual 'picking' for the first couple of delivery windows starts at 5am. Is it therefore best to wait until a late morning delivery slot to allow them to fully work that mornings fresh delivery and in theory have everything in stock? I found with Tesco if i took the very first slot at 8am there would be more missing or subbed items...purely because as the picking was being done the newly arrived delivery was also just getting done.