Problem with beelivery and inadequate refund - what can I do?

Hannimal

I recently ordered with beelivery. They are an on-demand grocery shop where a driver picks up the shop and then brings it to you. Much more expensive than shopping in-store but I thought I'd give it a go as I needed some things for today and didn't fancy a last minute grocery shop. Big mistake as I ended up having to pop into the shop anyway as my order was full of substitutions, almost all items were substituted, and systemically to either a product that didn't match what I had ordered or to a smaller packing size, but this was not reflected on the price. 

I was especially unhappy with the following substitutions:

- 1 x Retailer Brand Stir Fry Bag Mixed Veg 350g was substituted to 270g
- 1 x Florette Classic Crispy 170g was substituted to a 115g salad bag
- 1 x Guylian 22 Belgian Chocolates the Original 250g was substituted to Bailey's chocolate collection that contains alcohol. I won't be able to use this box at all.
- 1 x HARIBO Supermix Bag 190g was subsituted to 175g
- 1 x Chargrilled Chicken Pieces 160g was subsituted to with 5 chicken slices weighing 120g
- 1 x Lotus Biscoff Spread 400g was subsituted to 380g
- 2 x HiPP Organic Apple and Pear Baby Food Jar 4+ Months 125g was subsistuted to carrot and peas flavour - apple and pear is quite a different product from carrot and peas.

Now, I understand some of these, like changing a Lotus spread to 380g, but over 50% of my shop was substituted and not a single substitution was a larger pack size. 

There are 4 items there that were not at all suited for what I ordered them for - chicken pieces for a stir-fy, apple and pear baby food for baking substituted for carrot and peas, and the £6.25 box of chocolates that was substituted to a product containing alcohol. It was meant for a child. So I am out of pocket by quite a lot here. The smaller salad and stir fry veg size also meant this was not enough food for us, so I had to run to the shop anyway today. 

The company has refunded me £3 and claim this is as per their substitution policy. This doesn't even cover what I lost on the box of chocolates. The overall value of substituted items was around £25, the value of susbtituted items listed above is around £19.50. I would understand not refunding some of them if it were a one-off but I feel I have been scammed as over half the shop has been subsituted with items of considerably less value from the already inflated prices they're advertised for on the website. 

I paid by credit card so I will get in touch with them and ask for full refund for all those items listed above 

Hannimal

I guess I am checking on whether it is worth my while or if I am doing the right thing if I take it up with the credit card company. Is there someone else I should contact? Is it possible this is actually legal and they're allowed to do this? 

No need to be snarky. 

Hannimal

The question is in the title

Diamandis

If you didnt want substitutions then you select that when you're checking out. Its probably a bit unreasonable to expect them to know you were buying Belgian chocolate for a child. Is the actual value of all the items £19.50 on their site? So its £2.50 you're looking for?

Manxman_in_exile

I'm a bit confused?  (Don't do this shopping by delivery thing).

Are you saying you ordered particular items at a particular price, but they replaced some of those items with cheaper or smaller/lighter items, yet still charged you for the more expensive items they did not deliver?  If their T&Cs allow them to do that I'd steer well clear of them.

Also - when you say "the driver picks up the shop", do they only collect it or do they select it too?

Sorry if these are stupid questions but as I say, I'm not really at all familiar with this.

Hannimal

Diamandis said:

If you didnt want substitutions then you select that when you're checking out. Its probably a bit unreasonable to expect them to know you were buying Belgian chocolate for a child. Is the actual value of all the items £19.50 on their site? So its £2.50 you're looking for?

I understand that they didn't think I was looking for Belgian chocolate but to substitute with alcohol for an order that contained no alcohol is weird. 

I would be happy with £15 to cover the items I couldn't use and the inconvenience. The substitutions across the shop were smaller and cheaper, which makes me feel like I have been conned. 

I paid £19.50 for the items where I was unhappy with substitutions (e.g. fruit replaced with peas and carrot and smaller packet sizes). I don't know where the £2.50 is coming from.

ThisnotThat

Hannimal said:

Diamandis said:

If you didnt want substitutions then you select that when you're checking out. Its probably a bit unreasonable to expect them to know you were buying Belgian chocolate for a child. Is the actual value of all the items £19.50 on their site? So its £2.50 you're looking for?

I understand that they didn't think I was looking for Belgian chocolate but to substitute with alcohol for an order that contained no alcohol is weird. 

I would be happy with £15 to cover the items I couldn't use and the inconvenience. The substitutions across the shop were smaller and cheaper, which makes me feel like I have been conned. 

I paid £19.50 for the items where I was unhappy with substitutions (e.g. fruit replaced with peas and carrot and smaller packet sizes). I don't know where the £2.50 is coming from.

It's not weird, they substituted chocolate with chocolate and baby food with baby food.

Hannimal

Manxman_in_exile said:

I'm a bit confused?  (Don't do this shopping by delivery thing).

Are you saying you ordered particular items at a particular price, but they replaced some of those items with cheaper or smaller/lighter items, yet still charged you for the more expensive items they did not deliver?  If their T&Cs allow them to do that I'd steer well clear of them.

Also - when you say "the driver picks up the shop", do they only collect it or do they select it too?

Sorry if these are stupid questions but as I say, I'm not really at all familiar with this.

Yes that is exactly what I am saying. Across the whole shop, around half the items were replaced by smaller packaging size. 

The drivers select the shop from the grocery store. The concept is good if drivers are honest as you can do an "emergency" shop without going to the supermarket. I don't drive so this would be ideal for me but the dishonesty makes the service not worthwhile.

Your questions are not stupid, I was probably being a bit unclear. 

Hannimal

ThisnotThat said:

Hannimal said:

I guess I am checking on whether it is worth my while or if I am doing the right thing if I take it up with the credit card company. Is there someone else I should contact? Is it possible this is actually legal and they're allowed to do this? 

No need to be snarky. 

I'm not being snarky, you literally didn't ask a question.

The credit card company will reject your complaint, the T&C's allow for what happened.

Is it the quote below that you are referring to in the T&Cs that allows for this? I am sure this cannot be right that you place your order and they can deliver whatever they please. I am sure I still have some statutory rights here?


https://www.beelivery.com/Disclaimer

Beelivery is not responsible for the delivery driver who makes the delivery to you, nor for the items that he/she delivers. However, we do take all reasonable steps to assist in ensuring that you are happy with the service that your delivery driver provides to you.

ThisnotThat

Hannimal said:

Manxman_in_exile said:

I'm a bit confused?  (Don't do this shopping by delivery thing).

Are you saying you ordered particular items at a particular price, but they replaced some of those items with cheaper or smaller/lighter items, yet still charged you for the more expensive items they did not deliver?  If their T&Cs allow them to do that I'd steer well clear of them.

Also - when you say "the driver picks up the shop", do they only collect it or do they select it too?

Sorry if these are stupid questions but as I say, I'm not really at all familiar with this.

Yes that is exactly what I am saying. Across the whole shop, around half the items were replaced by smaller packaging size. 

The drivers select the shop from the grocery store. The concept is good if drivers are honest as you can do an "emergency" shop without going to the supermarket. I don't drive so this would be ideal for me but the dishonesty makes the service not worthwhile.

Your questions are not stupid, I was probably being a bit unclear. 

The packaging sizes are barely different and so this smells a lot like the retailer in question stocking smaller sizes than a deliberate attempt by the delivery driver to pick smaller sizes to get one up on you.

Seems like the issue is that their page hasn't been updated to take this into account, but if the retailer didn't stock those sizes it's a moot point.

Diamandis

Hannimal said:

Diamandis said:

If you didnt want substitutions then you select that when you're checking out. Its probably a bit unreasonable to expect them to know you were buying Belgian chocolate for a child. Is the actual value of all the items £19.50 on their site? So its £2.50 you're looking for?

I understand that they didn't think I was looking for Belgian chocolate but to substitute with alcohol for an order that contained no alcohol is weird. 

I would be happy with £15 to cover the items I couldn't use and the inconvenience. The substitutions across the shop were smaller and cheaper, which makes me feel like I have been conned. 

I paid £19.50 for the items where I was unhappy with substitutions (e.g. fruit replaced with peas and carrot and smaller packet sizes). I don't know where the £2.50 is coming from.

You said "The overall value of substituted items was around £25, the value of susbtituted items listed above is around £19.50." You also said they are giving you £3.

Can you clarify what this actually means?

What is the £15 you want for exactly?