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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Several items on long ago booked leading Supermarket home delivery now unavailable!

229 replies

DancingDonkey · 21/12/2014 13:19

I booked an Xmas delivery slot with one of the leading supermarkets in late November. I'd carefully planned the menu etc.

I've just logged back in today to add some more items to this delivery, when I noticed that several of the items I've asked for are listed as 'No longer available'. I wouldn't mind if it was the odd thing here or there but these Christmas staples, such as chestnuts, breadcrumbs etc. All but one of the ingredients I needed for my pudding are also now unavailable.

I'm now going to have to do an additional shop I didn't want to do, as well as totally reconsider my pudding.

I'm pretty hacked off to be honest as I had booked this specifically because it's hard for me to get to the shops at the best of times. I particularly wanted to avoid it at this time of year.

I thought the whole point of them releasing delivery slots early was so that you could ensure you got a delivery and all your hard to get items! I appreciate they can't guarantee items the rest of the year, but I would have thought they would have made more of an effort at Christmas.

Anyway I posted this as a warning really, if you have a Christmas delivery booked you might want to have a double check in your basket to make sure your items are all available.

OP posts:
Pipbin · 22/12/2014 07:24

Glitz, but I see staff members picking home delivery orders from stores all the time. Is it only stores serving big towns and cities that have these home delivery warehouses?

SugarPlumTree · 22/12/2014 07:26

Two years in a row of Waitrose failed to bring my Turkey. On the plus side, I now know it is actually quite easy to find a Turkey on Christmas Eve.

DoesntLeftoverTurkeySoupDragOn · 22/12/2014 07:27

I think the local Tescos warehouse serves several local stores for home delivery.

Hulababy · 22/12/2014 07:36

I only use Ocado now having been let down by others in the past, including Waitrose a couple of times.

I have mine set to no substitutes for many items as ime of other stores the subs were more hassle than not.

Ocado have never let me down yet so fingers crossed for tomorrow.

I always do it for the 23rd as it allows me time for essentials if necessary.

Also have an m and a food order to collect tomorrow but am assuming that'll be ok.

GlitzAndGigglesx · 22/12/2014 08:03

Pipbin I'm not too sure about that. I live and work in London and there are quite a few depots within London and outer London. I think some of the time the click & collect orders are picked in store. I know this has happened before with my company when they took too many orders because they're greedy and over predicted it all

MrsPepperMintonCandyCane · 22/12/2014 08:07

Just had my morrisons delivery. Nothing missing, no substitutions and a Christmas Gingerbreadman. That's everything sorted now.

werenotreallyhere · 22/12/2014 08:10

My Tesco online shop definitely gets picked in store

Pipbin · 22/12/2014 08:13

I imagine the warehouse scenario only happens in large cities where it's worth their while. I certainly see lots of orders being picked in stores this Christmas.

MerryJeffingChristmas · 22/12/2014 08:38

I have Morrisons coming today. Just checked my email and they have let me know that I have just one substitution. Wine substituted for a more expensive bottle. I am impressed Xmas GrinWine

When I booked the slot in November I added 10 chickens to my basket just to reserve the slot. In early Dec I had a call from them asking if that was what I actually wanted (Xmas Blush) and to amend my order as soon as I could as they need to place their own orders with suppliers.

Looks like Tesco could learn something from them tbh. I love Morrisons.

MerryJeffingChristmas · 22/12/2014 08:39

And thanks to MrsPepper I am now anticipating a free gingerbread santa Xmas Grin

Rozbos · 22/12/2014 08:43

We've had the opposite experience, £200 + of shopping delivered by tesco with no substitutions. I tend to get it delivered relatively early then there's time to go to the shops if needed. I think you have to be accepting that if you do an order for Christmas Eve then you may get a few subs.

Roomba · 22/12/2014 08:46

DM has ordered stuff from Sainsburys for the first time ever this year. If it doesn't all arrive she will be fuming and it will no doubt be my fault for persuading her to do it Grin. Fingers crossed!

On a side note, I bought a massive, lovely real Christmas tree from Sainsburys the other year on Christmas Eve, for 1p! It was fantastic - they just wanted rid of them pronto, and I'd wanted a real tree but was too skint to get one.

m0therofdragons · 22/12/2014 08:57

I had this with chocolate - not important to most when making mousse bit I was making it for a cealiac so needed green and blacks as it's gluten free. Ended up going to 3 different supermarkets yesterday! :(

Eastpoint · 22/12/2014 09:00

m0therofdragons the right sort of chocolate is incredibly important at all times.

marne2 · 22/12/2014 09:06

Tesco's are a nightmare, I have used waitrose this year, delivery due late tomorrow so we shall see what they bring, I bought my turkey somewhere else as I didn't want to risk the main item not turning up, as long as my prawns and my veg turns up I will be ok, the rest is just luxury items that I could probably live without ( oh, except the Florentines ,I will cry if they don't turn up ). I can always pop out Christmas Eve if I have too but I really don't want to.

bruffin · 22/12/2014 09:11

Sainsbods come from a large but local store, as do Tesco's

Not necessarily so, I think we now have a Tesco distribution centre in our area, for this, although they still use instore for click and collect, may be wrong.

I used to use Waitrose for christmas which were picked in store and very rarely didnt get what i wanted, although one year I ended up with and extra bag of food, but waitrose told me to keep it and naother year I ended with a huge turkey but i got charged the same price as a small one.

As others have said, if it says no longer available, it means for new orders and whatever was in your basket originally is safe.

PrincessOfChina · 22/12/2014 09:13

My Ocado is on its way with no substitutions or missing items. I saw someone wailing on Twitter last night that she hadn't updated her Sainsbury's order and everything was out of stock. Daft.

WeAllHaveWings · 22/12/2014 09:23

I don't use online shopping for Xmas shop as I always assumed too risky as the order will be picked from the shelves early on the day of despatch, so if the item is oos you don't get the opportunity to decide on something else instore. I get non perishables weeks before and brave the shops for the rest.

I would not expect (would like it, but dont think thats how online deliveries wrk) the store to have stock put aside specifically for deliveries.

MrsPepperMintonCandyCane · 22/12/2014 10:07

Enjoy MaryJeffing Xmas Grin

LightastheBreeze · 22/12/2014 11:38

I've just been to our local Asda which delivers the home shopping and I overheard the pickers talking about a lot of empty shelves, I think they were struggling to fulfill the orders.

Titsalinabumsquash · 22/12/2014 11:48

When I was in Tesco yesterday the floors were filled with cages and staff desperately trying to restock shelves.

All the things that were listed as unavailable in my basket have now simply disappeared as if never ordered. Hmm

I swear to god if I find myself in Tesco on the 24th wrestling with someone over a parsnip, Tesco will not be getting my custom next year.

fairgame · 22/12/2014 13:07

Just got my tesco delivery and it was fine. All my xmas dinner stuff was there. They didn't have any fresh chicken stock so that was missing but its not a problem really. They substituted 600g carrots and gave me 1kg. They also substituted a medium beef joint for a small one so I sent that back as it was tiny. Beef is for boxing day so I've got plenty of time to get one.

hiccupgirl · 22/12/2014 13:11

We're picking up our Tesco order later and when I checked it last night there were at least 10 pretty standard things that were suddenly unavailable. Had to revise the list to find alternatives as none of their suggestions were any good. Was not impressed tbh.

Will be interesting to see what we actually get at pick up time.

TheReluctantCountess · 22/12/2014 13:23

We always do the food shopping on Christmas Eve and have never found anything to be out of stock.

Original poster
DancingDonkey · 22/12/2014 13:50

My order arrived this morning.

I took the suddenly unavailable items out of my basket. So I have no idea what would have happened had I left them in. I read it that they were simply not available. There was no note to say otherwise.

For some other items I was given the choice to make my own substitutions from a range of options. This was fair enough, but it's a good job I checked or I would never have known. I never received an email to tell me to do this.

I checked my basket at the last possible hour before it 'closed'. I added some items which, according to the website, were available.

My order arrived this morning, with 5 substitutions and one item with no suitable substitution.

In November I had ordered a Christmas Pudding and Mince pies, both non alcoholic options. These were not available and were substituted for alcoholic versions. I was not too thrilled about that, luckily that's just a personal preference and not because we have alcoholics in the family. It would have been pretty rubbish if we had because I don't know how easy it is to track down the non alcoholic versions. I couldn't see any in M&S today.

The rest of the substitutions were things I'd ordered last night, which read as available on the website. They were not even Xmas things, so I don't know why they were not available.

I've been pretty disappointed by this experience. They made a huge song and dance about being able to save a Christmas Delivery slot. I think they should make the effort to ensure that your Christmas items, e.g. Christmas Puddings, Mince Pies, Chestnuts are available. Those are things that can easily sit in a warehouse. Otherwise what is the point?

Luckily I was able to get to M&S today and I've replaced all the things I was missing. I think next year I will still book a slot, but it will just be for everyday things and not for Xmas stuff.

OP posts: