Sainsburys have pissed me off.

[EddyF]

I did a favour for a friend last night. Paid an online shop from Sainsbury. As a first time online customer, I received £15 pounds of as long as I spent over £80 pounds. My final total after discount was £67. Once payment was made I realised I did not want substitute but could not find the section to change this.

Today I receive a text from friend saying they was a problem with taking money out. I knew i had money so called the number sainsbury had provided. They apologised and I gave my bank details again.

This evening, I can see 90 odd pounds taken by Sainsburys. I call them. They tell me a £5 pounds cutlery set had been substituted for a £22 odd cutlery set. They also after fluffing about the phone discover they also did not apply the 15 discount.

Apparently the difference for the cultery set would be given to me as vouchers for online shop next time. Like I want to shop with them again!

I'm too tired to write (half way through, I was calming down😄)

My dinner has gone cold and they say they will refund the £15.

But who would substitute an item of that greater value????

Today

If your total after a £15 discount was £67, that means the total before discount was £82.

The cutlery set you originally ordered was £5.

Had you selected 'no substitutions', the £5 cutlery set would have been deducted, giving you a total of £77. Meaning you would not have been eligible for any discount at all. You would then be fuming because £77 had been taken from your account, not £67.

I've despised Saindbury's for about a decade.

Want to start a club?

You’d still have got the discount.

You get the increase for the sub back anyway.

I love sainsburys, if they haven't got something they automatically sub for a higher value item of the same kind of thing (no bizarre choices) and you get a voucher for the difference so you don't pay any extra long term.

I also had a delivery due this week and ended up having to take DD to A&E about a head injury, so I tweeted them asking for help and they sorted a reschedule for me with no issues.

Great customer service IMO

I think the problem here is subbing a product for another at an additional cost of £17 I’d be fuming, why can’t they refund instead?

Left sainsburys online grocery service, because of missing items and poor substitutions. Found customer services to be hard work too.

I'd be annoyed. Tesco substitute but sure they absorb the cost of the price difference, though it's been food items and not as expensive as a cutlery set.

Why did your friend not reject the delivery of this item?

So glad we don’t use them. Substitutions are usually a miss not a hit but charging you extra and giving it as vouchers seems mad.. don’t the others just charge you the same or less if it’s lower cost?

I wouldn’t have ticked the box thinking it’d either be missed out or not cost any more... vouchers are useless if the rest of what’s in the bank is for travel/bills

Tesco’s sybarite at the same cost - so if you wanted a £5 item they give you a higher priced item - think £22 for €5 substitute is a bit steep though

@ViciousJackdaw

Had you selected 'no substitutions', the £5 cutlery set would have been deducted, giving you a total of £77. Meaning you would not have been eligible for any discount at all. You would then be fuming because £77 had been taken from your account, not £67.

Eg? OP spent £82 including the £5 cutlery.

Agree, their delivery service is shite. I cancelled for similar reasons. Mostly faithful to Tesco now

I think it depends a lot on the store. I once had quite an expensive and crucial item that had been left in the shop and they delivered it a few hours later and gave me a £10 voucher. Never had a problem with the customer service either. I'm polite to them and they're polite to me.

I've used them for my weekly shop for years and never had a problem that didn't get sorted out.

The problem is your dishonest friend who received a higher value cutlery set than was ordered but failed to inform you!

I have only ever used Sainsburys for online supermarket shop. I always choose no substitutes and find it quite easy to navigate....Only issue was one day there was a lack of drivers/vans; they called me at lunchtime for a late evening delivery to advise me of the problem and told me I could cancel or reschedule.

I've had this problem too. They subbed a homeware item worth 75p for one that cost £2.50, which adds up when you ordered 5 of them.
It then turns out that they don't honour the price difference on anything other than grocery items. I ended up having to take them back in store as there was no other way of getting my money back. Awful customer service. Why sub things that aren't included under the sub price promise!?

The delivery driver has always warned me if there are subs, your friend should have rejected the substitute.

If there is something I don't want a sub for (my weekly tv listing magazine in my case), then tick the no subs for the item.

Can you return the cutlery set in-store for a refund? Instead of accepting vouchers.

I’m confused, when substitutes are more expensive you’re not usually asked to pay the difference are you? I haven’t ordered online from Sainsbury’s before though, are they different?

I remember when I moved out for university at 18, I bought a cheap electric toothbrush and Asda substituted it for one £20-30 more expensive at no further expense as they were out of stock of the cheapo one! I was most pleased.

Also confused at why your dinner is cold if you ordered the groceries for a friend

Also your friend is cheeky for accepting the more expensive cutlery set at your expense- unless she’s reimbursing you?

If the sub is for more than you ordered they are meant to honour that. You shouldn’t be charged for it. I’m confused.

I worked on online shopping for Sainsbury’s so I’m confused why you were charged. You’re not meant to be

Their website is a bit unclear, they don’t explicitly state that you will be charged the difference of you keep a more expensive item but I suppose it’s inferred.

I think your friend was rude to accept the more expensive set if the driver informed her

You don't have a Sainsburys problem, you have a CF friend issue. The delivery driver always makes you aware of subs and gives you the option to not take them. Your friend should be paying you the difference as she now has the cutlery set!