Supermarket delivery didn't arrive, they claim it did

Racheljaa

Have you asked them to check with the driver? I work for a different supermarket and twice that I know of the delivery has gone to the wrong address. That person accept the order that wasn't theirs. The customer complained and we send them a new delivery. Like someone said, they should be able to check it on the driver log if it's not too late.

cannugec5

Okell said:

I've never taken advantage of supermarket home delivery so I don't know how it works, but don't you as the consumer have to acknowledge receipt of the delivery in some way?

I don't think much of the chargeback process as it seems to me to be deficient in many ways.  One of those is (as born_again has pointed out) that if the trader has proof of delivery (even to the wrong address) then you will lose any chargeback claim - apparently...

I presume you wouldn't be able to make a s75 claim - even though you paid by credit card - because each item on the receipt would be priced at less than £100.

I think you're going to have to argue it through with Sainsburys.  If they don't accept that the delivery never happened you'll have to consider suing them

(I'm not sure what @Jono111 is getting at unless they mean that because the original order was never delivered then you must have had to make a replacement order.  Why would you have needed to place a second order if the first had been successfully delivered?  But if you didn't place a second order, why didn't you need to?)

We don’t have Sainsbury’s around here, but I do have Tesco deliveries. Pre COVID I always had to sign an electronic device when deliveries were made. That stopped for infection control. Since then I have randomly been asked to sign for deliveries- maybe about one in four. 

As for doing a replacement shop, had that been me I would have got bits for the day from the co-op instead. I would have been unlikely to get another Tesco delivery slot for 2 weeks ( probably longer given the number of other people with missed deliveries). My shopping habits are pretty random and varied. I’d hate to think someone would question whether my delivery had failed simply because I didn’t place a repeat order. 

brianposter

bassthing said:

(I've got a land line number stored in my phone log)

If you have a record of the incoming phone call it makes it far more difficult to argue that nothing went wrong.

fullyrendered

Exhaust Sainsbury's complaints procedure, up to the CEO's office. If they still can't accept that they failed to deliver send them a letter before action, and then go down the small claims route. You don't need a solicitor.

Set out your timeline, and evidence, and see what happens.

Don't be tempted to go round in circles with front line customer services. I wouldn't waste time going to the store they say fulfills the deliveries, you need things in writing.

Good luck.

visidigi

...have you actually rung them since the last email where they said if this is still not correct ring the team? Or are you just doing emails?

bassthing

cannugec5 said:

As for doing a replacement shop, had that been me I would have got bits for the day from the co-op instead. I would have been unlikely to get another Tesco delivery slot for 2 weeks ( probably longer given the number of other people with missed deliveries). My shopping habits are pretty random and varied. I’d hate to think someone would question whether my delivery had failed simply because I didn’t place a repeat order. 

Yes, same here. I really think the route of going down "in my next shop I bought ... and therefore it's obvious that ...." is a red herring. It might work for some but my use of online shopping is perhaps best described as "strategic and unpredictable". And ultimately the exercise proves nothing - it's a lot of work and arguing for a small amount of circumstantial evidence.

fullyrendered said:

Exhaust Sainsbury's complaints procedure, up to the CEO's office. If they still can't accept that they failed to deliver send them a letter before action, and then go down the small claims route. You don't need a solicitor.

Set out your timeline, and evidence, and see what happens.

Don't be tempted to go round in circles with front line customer services. I wouldn't waste time going to the store they say fulfills the deliveries, you need things in writing.

Good luck.

Thank you. Helpful info and it feels like a sensible plan. Complaints process not exhausted yet so we'll see.

visidigi said:

...have you actually rung them since the last email where they said if this is still not correct ring the team? Or are you just doing emails?

I thought I'd try that first (least amount of effort and it leaves a kind of e-trail) but since it's very slow and their last message was gobbledegook ... Yes I rang them. My question on here was really part of my preparation for that in case they stonewalled me, I was trying to get an idea of my options if that happened.

But in fact the operator was difficult to understand, but *appeared* to accept what I said at face value and tried to xfer me to the "refunds dept". This he failed to achieve. He promised they would call back it sounded like he said: "24 72 hours". Yet to receive their call, it looks like I need to kick the ball back into play now.

Racheljaa said:

Have you asked them to check with the driver? I work for a different supermarket and twice that I know of the delivery has gone to the wrong address. That person accept the order that wasn't theirs. The customer complained and we send them a new delivery. Like someone said, they should be able to check it on the driver log if it's not too late.

Yep, agree! I plan on making that very point, if I need to / when I get the chance to.

brianposter said:

bassthing said:

(I've got a land line number stored in my phone log)

If you have a record of the incoming phone call it makes it far more difficult to argue that nothing went wrong.

Yes! This!

Thanks everyone. I'll let you know what happens, even if it's quite boring.

bassthing

I'm pleased to say that I did eventually receive my refund. Thanks to all those who provided helpful advice here. Some of the comments were just what I was looking for - it's useful to know what you can legally do in such a situation, that is relevant to the scale of the problem.

I'm leaving this note in case it helps anyone in the same or similar position later - if like me, you tend to search for solutions before asking!

Thanks to the knowledge provided here I felt comfortable upscaling my emails to include threats of "commencing my own action" which did seem to cut more ice with the team who received them. My plan was actually to first attempt chargeback, since I had by this point received notes of apology from Sainsbury's in writing but they were stickier about actually refunding … and then if that failed I would have tried making the note "small claim" that was suggested.

Here's what I learned about Sainsbury's - they have a team of people answering emails. Each one attempts to bat the problem away. As I described earlier, I was initially told by phone that I would get an automatic refund; then the first two emails were responded with claims that the goods were delivered, and I should let them know if that wasn't true. (Another email was pure gobbledegook) I tried calling and spent over half an hour waiting for the refunds team to pick up, which they never did, and then for a callback that never came. More definite emails from me then resulted in an acceptance of what had happened and an apology, but no refund.

A further email saw them saying that they would need to see my bank statement to check that they had not already paid me back! I did consider asking "Why the hell should I, you should have a record", but of course by this point I was tired of the whole thing and not really in the mood to die on that hill. So I sent them what they wanted. A week later I was called (on a Sunday, surprisingly) but the refunds team and this time they paid me back.

So it was arguments at every step - an admission of failure with an apology, then an apparent retraction, then a suggestion that I might be trying to obtain two refunds so I had better prove I hadn't had one already. Absolute incompetence and unpleasantness. I will say that some of these emails did contain apologies, while in the next breath then implying that I was still probably lying about something.

Essentially the Sainsbury's food delivery system is obviously riddled with problems and poor communication, and at no point did I get the impression that they really cared about the customer or to proactively sort out their mess.

I wasn't offered any gratuity - when I made that point to the refund team, my last contact with them, I was offered a £10 voucher for all my trouble. Which would need to be spent on a future Sainsbury's delivery. As you can imagine I'm not going to be making any such order.

So, my advice is to keep battering away, they will admit that you're right in the end if you don't back down and give up. I don't recommend calling (long times on hold) or visiting any store (it seems they would also need to contact the refunds team, who don't pick up the phone), my experience is that if you get it in writing and provide all the right documents, then after about a month of trying you will get your money back.

Cheers all. Thanks again to those who offered their advice, it did help.

Searching_for_solutions

Hi. I have exactly the same issue. Sainsbury’s was supposed to deliver to me two weeks ago but it never arrived. I have been battling with the customer service ever since. The driver is claiming that he delivered to the right address to two women (I am a woman living a man) and that one of the women confirmed my name, which is absolutely ridiculous. They have no proof (signature or photo), but still they insist that it was delivered to me.

I spare you the numerous phones conversations, unrecognised numbers they gave me and the rudeness of some of their staff. Someone from the escalation team hung up on me saying that she will close my ticket.

Do you have a specific email address I could use or did you use the form they provide on their website? I tried the form but not reply.

Thanks in advance.

mikb

Searching_for_solutions said:

and that one of the women confirmed my name, which is absolutely ridiculous. They have no proof (signature or photo), but still they insist that it was delivered to me.

I'll tell you what likely happened there ... delivery driver looked at paperwork, knocked door, woman answered, "Delivery for Mrs Solutions?" and random woman said "Yeah" and accepted it. That would constitute "the woman confirmed my name"

It's not like the driver would knock door, and then start a confrontational "I have a delivery, but who are you and can you prove it?" situation. They don't have time, aren't paid enough to care, and it probably doesn't go well anyway!

To truly insist they delivered it to *you* they would need some better proof. Signature likely to be a scrawl that means nothing. Photo would be better. GPS co-ords for the address they delivered to would be good -- that would show they were in the wrong place ...

bassthing

Searching_for_solutions said:

Hi. I have exactly the same issue. Sainsbury’s was supposed to deliver to me two weeks ago but it never arrived. I have been battling with the customer service ever since. The driver is claiming that he delivered to the right address to two women (I am a woman living a man) and that one of the women confirmed my name, which is absolutely ridiculous. They have no proof (signature or photo), but still they insist that it was delivered to me.

I spare you the numerous phones conversations, unrecognised numbers they gave me and the rudeness of some of their staff. Someone from the escalation team hung up on me saying that she will close my ticket.

Do you have a specific email address I could use or did you use the form they provide on their website? I tried the form but not reply.

Thanks in advance.

Hello @Searching_for_solutions
Sorry I only just saw your comment.
I hope you've had some joy with this by now, but if not, then I would agree with @mikb that their GPS records ought to show that they didn't actually make it to your house. (Unless you are really unlucky and they delivered to your next door neighbour!)
I did get the impression that after continuing to threaten my own action (as described) somebody finally thought it was worth checking and they realised they'd messed up. Hopefully you can achieve something similar.
Anyway, to answer your specific question. I think I did successfully begin the email conversation (and had a case number created) by filling in the form on the website, so if you're getting no response to this then they are getting even worse. But after that, every conversation I had came by email chain from our.reply@sainsburys.co.uk - so maybe you could try emailing that?
Best of luck and keep at it! Try the web form again, too, of course.