Asda have fucked up my Christmas food shopping: a rant.

[EwItsAHooman]

Need to rent here so that I don't end up losing my temper with some undeserving person on the customer services helpline.

Booked my online food shop several weeks ago to be delivered tonight. Have gotten an email from Asda now detailing everything that has either been substituted or is not available. Out of 100 items, 28 have been substituted and 5 are unavailable.

Fucks sake.

And the substitutions.... What in the actual fuck!?

40 cocktail sausages, for making pigs in blankets, have been substituted for 12 cocktail sausages. How far do they think 12 will go!?

Frozen party food. A box of mini pizzas has been substituted for one pizza. Selection of Indian snacks has been substituted for spring rolls. Duck rolls have been substituted for spring rolls too. We'll be drowning in spring bloody rolls.

Sausage rolls have been substituted for a pack of Richmond sausages.

A pack of mixed "festive" cheeses has been substituted for a single block of Wensleydale.

Pickled gherkins are now pickled cucumbers.

Extra special fancy flavoured stuffing is now normal Paxo.

Turkey gravy has become chicken gravy granules.

Pretzel stars are now tortilla rolls.

Mint vienetta has become lemon ice cream.

These are just the ones I can remember without going back over the email.

And the kicker, the Birds Eye dippers have been substituted for Asda chicken nuggets. The dippers are for DS because he only eats fucking dippers (ASD) and only Birds Eye fucking dippers.

Unavailable items include cranberry sauce, goose fat, chicken skewers, and a few other things.

So 33% of the shopping is wrong and/or missing.

Customer services have been next to useless and I'm waiting on a manager calling me back (which is why I need to unload so that I can get all my fucks out now and then discuss it calmly when he/she does). Said to give any unwanted items to the driver and they'll refund them, which is all well and good but why have they fucked it up so badly in the first place? When it was ordered weeks ago, why wasn't the stock available? I expected one or two missing or substituted bits but thirty-fucking-three!?

So now I need to get the DC sorted, including one with ASD who hates the supermarket and is going to screech at top volume all the way there and all the way around (enjoy that, fellow shoppers!), will probably the violent somewhere between the checkout and the carpark so I can have a few festive thumps, and might even run off depending on exactly how busy it is. Which is why I shopped online in the first place.

And I can't even pour myself a gin and calm down because I've got to go to the fucking supermarket.

Sorry.

And before anyone says it, yes I know it's a first world problem and some people are homeless/starving or are facing violence at Christmas and so on. I donate to charity. I put two bags of shopping in the food bank trolley last week. We bought a gift for a child in social care via the wish tree at the local shops. I do volunteer work at a community hub that helps families in crisis.

But I'm still allowed to be pissed off about this.

I think part of the issue is that a large number of non-regular shoppers create an online order for Christmas delivery using random items (e.g. 6 bottles of champagne) just to book the slot, but then don't revise their order until 24 hours beforehand to include what the really want to have. So the supermarkets cannot plan their stocks around what people have in their online shopping baskets two or three days ahead, those baskets can and will change.

But I feel for you. One solution I've found is to always book a morning delivery, so that the "pick" happens very early when there are still full shelves.

This is the problem with substitutions. I never allow them, though that doesn’t solve the problem of missing items. My delivery is tonight, waiting to see how much of it actually arrives. Fortunately I’m not the person who will have to brave the shops tomorrow for missing items.

I'm a bit confused about what you wanted and what you got. If X is substituted for Y, it means you got X instead of Y - so you got sausage rolls instead of sausages. Is that right?

Anyway, it's a pita and you have my sympathies. FWIW, I did my food shop yesterday and the supermarkets weren't that horrendous, so you might get lucky...

Sorry to hear that OP, you are certainly allowed to be pissed off.

Thats really crap. I dont understand how the supermarkets can run out of so much! Its not like its a freak snow storm, Christmas is the same date every year so theres no excuse for not being prepared. Particularly as you ordered far in advance.
Anyway, had to add that I have the Birdseye chicken dipper conundrum. I have nearly cried in Tesco in the past when they didnt have any and ds was screeching. Again they are the only thing he will eat (asd again). I dont want to think of how many of them I have cooked in the last year.
Hope the manager can sort this out for you in a way that doesnt mean traipsing to rhe supermarket!

That is pics poor by any standard.

That's the difficulty with online Christmas shopping. I usually do Morrisons as they pick from a warehouse rather than in store and I've only ever had bad experiences with Asda.

Get out there now before closing or very early tomorrow. Be warned, our local supermarket was gridlocked earlier!

Or even piss poor

Why I don't know. They're only shut for one day!

Hoping you get it sorted OP

Had my email from Asda - I think it's brilliant that they pre warn you about the substitutes/oos items in the morning to give you chance to sort alternatives, Tesco don't do this.

Mine was pretty good, a couple of upgraded substitutes and no crackers but otherwise fine, I was expecting worse at this time of year.

With staples like chicken dippers and long life items you maybe could have got them in your last shop, sorry not helpful I know hope the shopping trip isn't too stressful

Not any use to you now, but I always do an ‘amend’ 30 minutes before midnight with asda as they tell you which items are going to be unavailable, so that way you can pick better alternatives yourself. I only had one substitution which was a low fat squirty cream for a full fat.

I'm a bit confused about what you wanted and what you got. If X is substituted for Y, it means you got X instead of Y - so you got sausage rolls instead of sausages. Is that right?

The first item is what I wanted and the second is what I got, so I wanted X but am being sent Y.

Why I don't know. They're only shut for one day!

I don't shop on Boxing Day as I think shops should be closed to give staff time with their families. I know my one woman protest won't make much difference but I can think of nothing worse than shopping in that week between Christmas and New year.

Not any use to you now, but I always do an ‘amend’ 30 minutes before midnight with asda as they tell you which items are going to be unavailable, so that way you can pick better alternatives yourself

I checked through it last night and there was only one item unavailable, some brandy sauce which I substituted for a different brandy sauce.

Hoping you get it sorted OP

Still waiting for the manager to ring.

You have my sympathies. Just sent DH for s last minute rummage at the coop because there are quite a few missing items/ nonsensical substitutions in my ASDA order. I'm sorry you're under pressure today; I do hope it works out for you and hope the MN rant helped.

My favourite substitution from today; size 5 nappies instead of size 6. Yes, it'll clearly be fine that he's wearing a too small nappy over Xmas 😂🙄

The papers and social media have been full of horror stories about asda this year.

Everything from cancelled deliveries with no warnings to no turkey etc. With 2 weeks for a refund.

Feel for you. You are entitled to moan.

Definitely twitter for this

Ours wasn't too bad. I lot of substitutes for cheese and and no fresh bread (the fresh in cut loaf variety which DH couldn't get in store earlier either).

The fails were my fault - ordered two bottles of prosecco which were 2 for £10. I noticed the other day they were showing at £4.50 each but assumed they had dropped the price. They showed up and I spotted (after driver had gone) they were small 35cl bottles. The fresh orange I thought u had ordered was small cartons you would get for packed lunches. Grr.

That is crap....I do one online shop a year and it is my Xmas shop. I always stick with Ocado as I have never had any substitutes or any issue at all. I do always check and amend my order and then check the email receipt when it arrives to check if there are any items not available. I ordered once with Sainsburys not only did I get substitutes but I got items where the use by date was the day I got them. Fuming....stay calm, cancel the order and head out closer to midnight to get your shopping as it might be a bit quieter...

I wouldn’t hold my breath that Asda customer services will do anything to make it better. I refuse to shop there purely because they fuck up so often and their customer service is a joke

Sometimes it is the calibre of shopper picking your order. Some have zero clues and the substitutions are laughable.

Can you shop tomorrow op?

Unlike Ocado, which has a ginormous warehouse, you’ve got Asda employees going around the store with your list. If the items aren’t on the shell, little they can do to magic them up. This always happens and plenty enough people bitch about it on social media yearly, so not sure why you’re surprised. Next year, order long lasting/frozen food well ahead instead of 2 days before Xmas. Or suffer the wrath of random substitution

Oh dear!
My husband is going to Asda shortly to pick up a large food order for my son. I am now living in dread that he won't have everything he wants. We are going to him on Christmas day.

I had same as you last year from Waitrose. Sometimes substitutions are OK but some stuff was substituted with totally unrelated goods.
This year I ordered from Ocado, it all arrived on Friday morning and was fine. Thank goodness.

I do feel sorry for you but thankfully shops are still open. I know the idea of ordering is to save you going shopping but you might find the shops aren't that full. My husband went to Sainsbury yesterday, late afternoon, and he said it was virtually empty.

Good luck

A similar thing happened to me last year so this time I did my Christmas shop in November. Froze the Turkey and pigs in blankets. Stored away the alcohol and junk foods. Only have a small fresh shop coming tonight. Could you try doing that instead next year?

ASD mom here, I feel your pain.

I have given up trusting on Christmas Delivery, had too many lets downs and fails.

I will stock up on everything in the preceding few weeks during normal shopping trips so then all I have to do is go xmas eve to pick up the fresh stuff that I need.

If you can leave going to the supermarket as late as possible should help OP,near Christmas our local Asda is usually at it's quitest late evening/night time and early in the morning.

I'm another one that's used a local co-op when my supermarket Christmas shop has been missing bits as well,I got really lucky because the co-op had everything I wanted and a bit more and tons of it was reduced and the shop was really empty.

I hope you get it sorted OP 3 of our 5DC are asd and I don't think you could pay me to go shopping with any of them at this time of year.