On line supermarket orders - substitutes

I ordered fresh broccoli and they sent me frozen broccoli and cauliflowers florets!

I do a supermarket shop every few months as I like to drink sparkling water and do not have a car to transport it. One month my order contained 10 bottles of still water instead of the sparkling one. I noticed and rejected them but it meant that I still had no sparkling water in the house and that was the only reason I had done an online shop! I have given up now and do my shop and get a taxi home, it is the same cost as the delivery charge and I know I have the right things.

Grandma70s

I use Ocado and very rarely get substitutes. That’s probably famous last words. I did get one last week - KitKat chunky instead of KitKat fingers. Not disastrous, I kept it.

I think thats because Ocado is a warehouse so its easier for then to keep their website uo to date "in real time" with what is in stock; whereas if the orders come from a store they won't know that a customer has taken the last lemon.

My daughter works Nights for Waitrose. She says that when the 'pickers' are choosing the products, if they are out of stock of a particular item, the electronic pad they carry around with the orders suggests what to substitute. But she also says that if the 'picker' has half a brain and sees something as a much better substitute they can ignore the pad and put their own substitute instead.

I use click and collect from two supermarkets.

If there are any substitutions, I just hand them back.

I’m usually informed prior to my collection if there are going to be any substitutions.

I ordered AA batteries because they were on a BOGOF….when they came they were AAA’s…. when I pointed this out to driver he said “ well they are the same brand”( Duracell) …I pointed out it was not the brand that was the salient point but the power! It was lost on him!

I always opt for no subs but occasionally the Tesco picker takes a punt, I get the invoice emailed before the delivery arrives so if there are any iffy items I can pass them straigth back to the driver. When I start an order if an item is unavaiablle the computer will make suggestions my favourite was I wanted coconut pieces they offered pineapple fingers well they are both fruit I suppose but...

My friend tells the story of her substitute for potatoes being a wooden sweeping brush regularly ? Neither of us can understand that logic

There's been a few threads on mumsnet about the inappropriate substitutions made by supermarkets, some of them hysterical. If interested, have a search for them. May be a few years old as I think they might have upped their game by now.

I ordered tinned chopped tomatoes and got coconut milk ?

SunnySusie

I ordered a frozen beef curry and got a tin of stewed beef and a tub of curry powder.

Did it work please?

I once had a phone call from Tesco querying my order. Did I mean to order 22 leeks? No, it should have been 2, but my finger must have stuttered. They said they thought they were going to have to put an extra delivery van on the route. When it turned up the two leeks were huge and filled a bag on their own! ?

I ordered a frozen beef curry and got a tin of stewed beef and a tub of curry powder.

I ordered four figs with my Sainsburys delivery. No figs so nearest exotic! Fruit were kiwis. But I got four bags each with six fruit…..24 .

StarDreamer

It has a higher star rating!

Well, that says it all, doesn't it?

It has a higher star rating!

(No, I didn't!)

Admittedly this was while I was shopping and before I placed the order, but.....???

Many years ago I ordered some kids vitamins for my 7yr old and the delivery driver turned up with over 60s vitamins, even my mum wasn't old enough to qualify for them at the time!
I've had plain water instead of micellar water, a bag of flour instead of a bunch of flowers, a pot of double cream instead of nappy cream, amongst various others but the best/weirdest one was sellotape instead of senokot!

GraceQuirrel

Just select you don’t want a substitution! Saves the faff.

You can’t do that with an Ocado shop but can refuse subs upon delivery.

This is why I don't do online grocery shopping. I've been known to rake through every item or packet of something on a shelf (fresh or chilled stuff) until I find the one with the longest date or which looks best. I don't trust anyone else to pick it for me.

Just select you don’t want a substitution! Saves the faff.

I've had loads of crazy substituted items when I used to regularly do online shopping with ASDA, but the one that really got my back up was they substituted cat food for dog food....our cats were not impressed and did not suddenly turn into dogs, yet trying to explain that to an idiot on the other end of the phone was hard work! I demanded a full refund for all the dog food and they told me to keep it anyway..as we do not have a dog, a friend took some of it and 'our' foxes got the rest. Must admit we've only done a few ASDA online shops since moving house and so far much better...did get some bite and sting cream instead of Germoline antiseptic cream and they tried substituting crisps for horrible cheesy ones but we sent them back with the driver and got a reasonably prompt refund.

My daughter ordered a pack of 4 nailbrushes from Tesco and received a ball of string!!

Tesco are very good. You can select whether you want a sub on each item. Today I got some items that due date was tomorrow so I went to give them back to the driver and he said keep them anyway and he took them off my bill. Also I have had substitutes that cost more but they match it with the price of your original choice. Large pack of cornflakes for price of small.

I think they must use an algorithem. I just send the unwonted item back.