Tesco online - Freshness guarantee dates removed

beevalleykay

I've just made my weekly online order with Tesco. I order fresh food to last at least a week to save doing a top- up shop. Previously, all fresh food (bar fruit and veg) was marked with a freshness guarantee icon ( eg + 1 week) . That has disappeared.

I've WhatsApp 'd Tesco and the reply I received was "We have removed the freshness guarantee from some of our products  which helps our customers make informed choices when ordering online. Any product that arrives and isn't suitable, this can be handed back to the driver for a full refund."

Trust Tesco to try to put a positive spin on this!!! My choice when ordering has been removed and I'm expected to check every single sell-by date when the order arrives. Finally, if any dates are too short then I hand them back and have to do another shop to replace the items.

Time to shop elsewhere!

molerat

We have removed the freshness guarantee from some of our products  which helps our customers

No, it makes picking quicker, therefore cheaper, for Tesco.  I suspect the cost of returned items will be far outweighed by the labour cost savings.

sarah1972

I always have to check every items use by date anyway, quite often they are not what the website said anyway. I’ve also had mouldy fruit that is in date. 

One of the downfalls of online shopping. 

littlegreen

If you're a very loyal shopper to Tesco and any fresh food goes off in  reasonable time, honestly just WhatsApp them and you usually get a refund for the item within the hour. I online shop with them circa 15 times a year, and in store top up shop too, the 3 or so times a year I have with a mouldy easy peeler or some mushy raspberries I've sent a picture, order number and they've refunded cost of whole item. In fact last time they also gave me £5 off my next shop too. Generally I find Tesco fresh items last a really good amount of time, far superior to the discounters who I sometimes shop at

Mnoee

I understand the annoyance. I don't shop at Tesco any more, but I find it handy seeing what the rough shelf life is when buying new products. Some stuff is days, some is weeks or even months and there's few places I know of that'll tell you that without physically looking at the product. 

bob723

Similar issue here.

They've started sending fruits and veg with best before within a couple of days and not marking it as short-life. The customer service team was unhelpful and never admitted this although I could see it on previous online shops I've done with in the last few weeks.

MrsStepford

Post-Brexit, fresh fruit and vegetables coming from EU have to be inspected. The phytosanitary unit at Sevington (Ashford) isn't open 24/7 which causes delays. Some of the tests can't be done there, so these are sub-contracted. The Guardian found that some of the sub-contracted tests are being done in Germany.

A lot of fruit and veg doesn't even make it to supermarket distribution centres on time and the supermarkets turn them away. We had a good Just In Time system before Brexit. Supermarkets have long-term contracts with suppliers and can't easily break them. The UK doesn't have the capacity to replace them with UK grown produce. Farmers aren't getting subsidies, so many are going bust. 

Short dates are reality. 

A._Badger

Brexit scare stories aren't responsible for my West Sussex grown fresh peas, delivered by Tesco on Saturday evening with a use by date of Sunday. Happily, Tesco refunded the price but short dating is more likely to be due to poor stock control and fluctuating weather - which impacts demand as well as supply..