Aghhh - Tesco substitutions

[Bellyblueboy]

I know - I should have expected it. Did my online Christmas shop as soon as the slots opened. It’s coming tonight.

unavailable with no substitutes -

mince pies, custard, brandy cream, Parma ham, raspberries, smoked salmon, just roll cinnamon swirls.

know I have to go out again after doing the marks and Spencer shop at 8am.

ordering system sucks. How can Tescos have run out of all these popular Christmas foods on 23rd December!!!!!

the rage I feel seems disproportionate 😂😂

15 substitutions in my Sainsbury's shop that's coming in the next hour but nothing that really matters. Biggest disappointment is the festive cheese platter replaced with some plant based cheese alternative??? - which will be going back.

I'm still recovering from this nasty virus that's been going round so I'm not going out to replace anything, it will all have to just do. To my knowledge nobody ever died from festive cheese deprivation! 😁

I got 8 substitutions which is okay, but the box of Maltesers I wanted apparently had no possible substitutions! What no chocolate at all?!

Nooo don't tell me that @Dynamoat we've got a pack in the fridge for new years day brunch!

Sounds like a waste of time. I was in Aldi earlier, it wasn’t packed, had everything except leeks on my list, lots of discounted food and drink, they had all the stuff you have missing on your list. I find I can whizz round Aldi in half an hour max.

Pigs in blankets and stuffing balls were amongst my unavailable. Quick pop to small Tesco where shelves full of them and Christmas is saved - almost. Also unavailable - cheese selection, which wee Tesco didn't have, so will be a run to sainsbury later for dp.

I’ve been Ocado customer for years and never had crazy subs at Christmas. I tend to place my order for around Dec 20th just to be on safe side.

My Asda shop is due this evening. I'm expecting everything to be substituted. If it's too bad I won't be bothering next year I'll just brave the crowds.

Subs can end up costing them a fortune. I think the days are long gone of being subbed up a price range or 2.

Wow, some people seem to get really unlucky. We had our shop today with only one item unavailable - a tube of jelly tots. We never seem to get many subs, I wonder if it is area dependent, ours is picked from a store rather than a warehouse.

I used to work in Tesco and everything you listed would be on the fresh delivery so your problem seems to be that when your order got picked the delivery hadn't come in.

This is why I'd never get a home delivery at Christmas because you are relying on deliveries being in at the time of picking and hoping that the customers shopping in store don't go crazy.

I usually end up going to the shop the order is picked from, the find everything they hadn't got.

This year I cba with all the planning so I did a non perishables delivery last week and set aside and evening to go out and get everything. I did have to go to two supermarkets to get everything on the list but I did get everything that everyone wanted.

Very unsubtly telling you to do it yourself 😂

Online grocery shopping is dire at the best of times let alone when it’s Christmas with ridiculous substitutions that are nothing like what you ordered. This is why I stopped ordering groceries online. You pre order stuff that is supposedly ‘in stock’ but then when it comes to the day of delivery it’s not in stock. There is no proper system in place to make sure they don’t run out of stock!

The final straw for me was Xmas 2020 during covid and I ordered all the food for Xmas day online. The delivery turned up quite late in the evening on the 23rd - no turkey, no prawn cocktail, dessert substituted for something else that wasn’t even a dessert, half the veggies missing so I then had to spend hours rushing about going from supermarket to supermarket on Xmas Eve frantically trying to buy the missing items for Christmas dinner. By that point Turkeys were out of stock in most places so nearly ended up with no Xmas dinner!

Since then I have never relied on online grocery shopping as it’s just a complete shambles and neither use nor ornament when it comes to their promises of “pre order all your Christmas dinner with us and have it delivered on one of our special Christmas delivery slots” rubbish.

I had a Morrisons delivery today with no substitutions. When I expressed surprise, the chap said they pick as much as they can beforehand and store it in a separate part of the warehouse.

I once ordered a little wedge of brie - they did not have it so sent a whole "wheel" of brie! The neighbours helped me to eat it.

The fact is that half the time these orders are packed by staff, in the aisles, in shops and if they're not in the mood/can't get down an aisle etc. they just tick it off.

I've seen staff (in Tesco) pick up food for online orders off the shelves that I have just put back because I've seen mould on it or, in one case, it was already out of date!

If you want decent shopping there's no better option than doing it yourself tbf

No need to order online here as away for Christmas so popped out for some food for now and the dish I'm contributing tomorrow (I always shop daily) Lidl looked like locusts had stripped the shelves, not a mince pie or bottle of ketchup even, no turkeys left, 1 lone easy carve duck no whole chickens, no beef or pork roasting joints. Crazy - but manager did admit they didn't get their full order of turkeys and he was trying to get some sent from another branch

What we ordered from the festive food to order range and what was delivered.
obviously complained, the £22 was refunded and a £50 goodwill voucher. Wasn’t expecting that but also very annoying the preorder wasn’t fulfilled as it’s the whole point of their range.

When I'm cooking I tend to get everything long life in advance and order the meat and veg from a local supplier, far safer, though I hope to have cooked my last Christmas dinner, would much prefer to go away but going to parents instead

Every year I watch this same panto play out with everyone around me 😂

massive anticipation for getting a delivery slot. 5am alarms, intense focus, followed by endless subtle brags about the ‘premium’ slot they managed to bag and how much easier their Christmas will be than the plebs who have to go to the supermarket themselves 😂

A week before the anxiety seems to kick in. Lots of ‘I hope they have everything’ comments flying around.

Then the fuming rage when they inevitably don’t deliver 1/4-1/3 of the items, a mad dash rush to the store usually on either 23rd/24th peak times manic crowds…etc and most of Christmas Day venting stuff like ‘they should really reserve items for those who ordered online otherwise what’s the bloody point?’

But of course they do it all over again the next year having learnt NOTHING

Our Tesco delivery is arriving shortly and only had 4 (sensible) subs and non-available items were sprouts and brandy butter which I was able to pick up at local Sainsburys this afternoon. It's understandable not everything is available at the moment of picking when it's such high demand so I factored in doing a small top up shop today. It's easy to get in and out the stores today with a basket through the self serve as everyone else has massive trolleys piled high in the long check out queues.

I stopped ordering online a few years ago after terrible substitutions. Had ordered 3 weeks before with Sainsburys but they sent a bag of frozen chicken breasts instead of a turkey, rose wine instead of Prosecco and no mince pies or chocolate Yule log. What’s the point ordering so far in advance if they don’t ensure it’s actually in stock for delivery? My dh drove up to Sainsburys that afternoon and there were hundreds of turkeys, Prosecco, mince pies and Yule logs.

These days we just go on 23rd or 24th and buy it all there.

My Tesco shop came today with nothing missing or substituted <humble brag>

I get my shopping delivered weekly anyway, there's not a chance in hell I'd be going to the supermarket at Christmas time.

Just got back from Waitrose and it wasn’t very busy. I was quite surprised.
Lots of Christmas food there.