Substituted items online shopping

[Nymeria01]

Today Tesco's delivered my weekly online shop, which almost always has some pragmatic substitutions. However today instead of a pack of 8-15 Drynites I got size 6 night time pull ups. AIBU to think that you cannot substitute one type or size of nappies for another?

[DoJo]

It's not ideal, but I suppose some type of nappy is better than none if you were really desperate. I have heard of some truly bizarre subs so you should probably be grateful you even got something from the same aisle!

[Nymeria01]

DS is 14 and wears them for bedwetting, I don't think potty training pants are an option, even is very small for his age

[MonanaGellar]

Choose not to substitute then?

[Venticoffeecup]

I'm now boycotting a supermarket, not Tescos, because of a similar issue.

In my case it was meat.

I ordered an easy boneless chicken joint for roasting for a Sunday lunch. The kind that comes in a tin foil container you just shove in the oven. They sent me a substitute of jerk chicken.

On a subsequent order I asked for 3 packets of minced beef and I ended up with 3 packets of Italian style meatballs.

After the second occasion I complained, that it was annoying having to send inappropriate meat items back, because it screwed up my meal planning. I asked them, very politely, to have a word with their pickers and suggested that their computer system was giving ridiculous suggestions for substitutions.

I was told that I had to put a note with each order if I wanted a particular substitution and that the pickers made their own decisions about substitutes.

I wrote back that I didn't think that was a reasonable thing to ask and that it was common sense to replace mince with something mince like and a roasting chicken with something you would eat with a Sunday dinner and not with something you'd have on a barbecue.

They basically told me their pickers were adequately trained. I'm assuming it was by Letitia Cropley. They gave me a voucher but I didn't spend it because they must feel my wrath for ever more!

So no YANBU!

[ireallydontlikemonday]

You don't have to accept the substitutions though.

[whatsonyourplate]

I ordered loom bands because they were on special offer. They sent playdough.

[milkpudding]

tbh Venti I wouldn't have realised they were bad substitutions.
But then I am veggie and don't know my beef from my bacon. May be you had a veggie picker? At least they didn't substitute your chicken with a Linda McCartney burger.

[Venticoffeecup]

It's true that you don't have to accept substitutions and that you can leave notes, e.g. smokey bacon only or words to that effect.

However sometimes there are items in your weekly shop that you really really need. Nappies is a great example. It's frustrating if you've planned your day/week around getting a shop in, only to then have to make an additional trip to the supermarket.

Also it would take hours if you had to put a detailed note for every item you bought, I think the pickers have to be able to use their common sense a bit.

To me, if a particular brand of nappy is not available, they should at least be substituted with on in a similar size or style.

[Nymeria01]

DH accepted them, he said he didn't properly register what was being substituted and agreed to it. Which I can understand as you really just want to take you're shopping and get on with the weekend.

[MonanaGellar]

So you're complaining about substitutions that weren't checked properly at your end? Seems logical!

[Venticoffeecup]

Good point Milkpudding, but if you were employed as a picker, I would assume that the supermarket in question would give you adequate training, so that you being a veggie wasn't an issue.

I don't expect pickers to have the knowledge of a French trained chef, but basic stuff about the basic structure of meals is important.

[NoTedInTheBed]

Annoying isn't it. YANBU. I always click no substitutes now after instead of receiving dried apricots...apricot yoghurt!?! WTF? DH accepted that order and didn't have a clue

[Iggi999]

Asda always put the substituted items mixed in with the rest of the shopping. The list they have is truncated and you can't see if they are a suitable substitute without identifying every blasted one of them out of all the bags.
I could tick no substitutes but then risk getting, say, no bread just because the brand I ticked ran out.
And I still get meaty substitutes allow everything in my order has always been vegetarian.

[Nymeria01]

MonanaGellar it was checked properly when I ordered them but sure some blame is on my end. However that still doesn't mean that the substitute they offered was logical. They should be able to figure out that a kid in 8-15 pj pants will not fit into or want to wear pull up nappies. It would have been more logical to have substituted them for underjams.

[ThePinkOcelot]

Iggi, my subs are always in a separate carrier bag with a sub sticker on and the subs clearly set out at the top of the paperwork with Asda.

[InaPuckle]

Well someone who has never used either item might struggle to know. I wouldn't know the difference, aren't they both some kind of night nappy? Does size 6 refer to the age?

[ZebraLovesKnitting]

I ordered 20W screw-cap lightbulbs. Tesco substituted them for 20W bayonet cap lightbulbs. I mean FFS! In whose mind is that an appropriate substitution?!

[Giraffeski]

I got gluten free bagels subbed with normal ones last week. And I had to explain to the delivery man why I was returning them, he disn't seem to be able to grasp that I couldn't eat them. I mean, it just makes no sense- if they'd substituted gluten free bread or crackers or something it would have been more useful!

[Giraffeski]

Zebra that's a good bad one

[LocalEditorCambridgeshire]

More than once I've had 'no substitute availble' foe washing powder...

[Mmolly2013]

They probably done that because if your product isn't available then the substitute can cost more and to be honest they probably don't not to waste money on it because they have to charge the original price

[DoJo]

I'm guessing that the picker thought that something similar was better than nothing, and in fairness it's probably not something most people would understand unless they have children themselves. I hope you have got enough to tide you over and maybe for something like this it is worth putting a note on your shop to specify suitable alternatives. I'm sure they will refund you for the ones you got if you explain that the switch was missed until the shopping had been signed for and you could possibly flag it up as a training issue - I once did this when I had a much smaller packet of something substituted for a larger one, so I suggested that they substitute the quantity as well as the product and to be fair, they have been better since!

[OwlWearingSunglasses]

We had a bottle of red wine substituted and price matched the other week. It was delicious. The wine we paid for was £4 and the substitute was £13 roughly. I could get used to that!

[cozietoesie]

I think my pickers actually try quite hard with the substitutes. Sometimes I won't accept them but occasionally I've had something which I wouldn't have otherwise tried which I've accepted from interest - and which has proved quite good.

I would never purposely allow someone else to accept the order including substitutes though and neither would I rely entirely on something arriving which was critical to a meal. (And there's no guarantee that a B&M shop would have that item either.)

[Iggi999]

...something else for me to be annoyed about with Asda then, why don't they use that system everywhere!