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

You are lucky to get a refund for the difference between your chosen and substituted item when it wasn't food. `They don't normally do this for non-food items (check their exceptions to the substitutions). However if you get anything you don't want, then you can send it back with the driver and they will refund you.

I have had problems getting refunds for food substitutions before, though. And even worse problems getting not-about-to-go-out-of-date food items. Had some right barneys with them about use-by dates, I can tell you! When everything in your fresh shop needs to be used within 24 hours, it's a bit much!

In my experience sainsburys are the best delivery. Have you seen the shit asda substitutes?

@SchadenfreudePersonified you’re absolutely right! I bought several boxes of fresh fruit to discover it was all due to expire the same evening. They literally just offloaded the things they couldn’t shift in store on me! There was so much fruit that it would have been impossible to eat it in time but they were still iffy about issuing a refund🙄

Nearly forgot about this thread; so tired. It was a late delivery slot for tonight so friend had not yet received the shopping. Plus I wouldn't bother her about the issue due to issues she's going through. My complaint was simply the annoyance of taking more money out of my account for a substitute. We all know even once refunded it takes a few days before money is back into account. From £5 to over £20 is not acceptable. It would be extremely difficult to budget in case supermarket takes more.

I should have checked beforehand but once I had paid I could not find information to refuse any substitutes. If it were a pound or more difference I would have been OK with it.

Doesn't seem I'm in luck with supermarkets as I have also realised Asda has taken a payment of 43 pounds twice. I popped in there after work for toothpaste, ended buying more. Card declined which was odd so did it again and it went through. This was a different card from Sainsbury. Asda has done this to me before so I don't know I just don't learn.

Sticking to my Lidls and Waitrose.

I dislike online shopping with Sainsbury's - I tried them out for one shop after my Tesco delivery pass ran out to see about potentially changing over and they subbed or didn't bring 10 items. 10 for a normal every day Thursday shop is ridiculous - dread to think what it would be like for Christmas so I renewed Tesco sub. It's not perfect but it's much better.

They also did the refund as vouchers to me too - I don't like the policy (another reason I returned to Tesco) as it's a sneaky way to make you keep shopping with them and if your Sainsbury's is as craply stocked as mine it's a vicious circle! They also only last about 5-6 months so keep an eye on them if you do have them and don't shop regularly.

ceramiccat you've got the opposite problem though - you were substituted a cheaper item.
You can normally check through any substitutions and reject them.

Removing the item that was refunded has taken you below the threshold for the discount. Therefore the full cost of the shopping (£82 - £5) has been charged to you rather than the discounted rate (£82 - £15).

It’s annoying and I see exactly why you are upset but you have been refunded the money and I don’t see how it is their fault that your dinner went cold.

With Tesco if they sub with something more expensive than the thing you ordered you pay the original price, no faffing about with vouchers.

The substitution link to change your preferences is right there on the checkout page, just above the payment details and where you tick the box to agree to accept the terms and conditions. It's made even more obvious for new customers. So sort of your fault, sorry, for not paying attention.

It would have been easiest to text your friend and get her to reject it on the doorstep. That way you would have been refunded in money rather than vouchers. It would have taken a few days, true, but they can't not take the money on the off chance they can't trust a customer's substitution preferences.

The issue with Sainsbury's is they dont refund you for the difference in price. It's a voucher on your account.

I'm a regular online shopper with them, so I always use my "substitute vouchers" but actually it's a bit bloody cheeky. They should refund the difference.

• personally love Sainsbo's and have a delivery pass with them as they have been consistently the best online delivery service for me.

I think the problem here is subbing a product for another at an additional cost of £17

I think the Waitrose policy is that if they substitute a higher value item, then they charge the lower price. Got to say that if a friend was paying for my shopping, I would not have accepted the higher cost cutlery.

Presumably the friend didn't realise OP would be charged more though. Afaik Sainsbury's are the only ones who do this when they sub. And I agree that a voucher is cheeky. You have to shop with them again in order to use it and also if you've gone through the transaction process for a certain amount of money then you want to spend that amount, not more.

Nightmare

Yeah, I thought it was lame that Sainsbury's "refund" the difference as a voucher rather than directly.

Also, I'll take note of what's been mentioned that for some items they'll charge the higher price with no refund! Seems sneaky.

Tbh Sainsbury's are expensive anyway. I only use them if I've got a discount coupon, otherwise it's Tesco or Lidl for us.

I would take the cutlery set back and get a refund in store op.

poorstudent - I complained to them several times - not rudely - it's not within the power of the person at the other end of the phone to make/ change the rules - but often enough that I got an e-mail saying that they would check my shopping and ensure that everything had "good dates". I replied thanking them, but that they should be doing that for ALL of their customers. I pointed out that many people had deliveries because they physically were unable to get to the shops, and therefore they couldn't even take poor quality food back if they wanted to.

I didn't get a reply to that one.

I had exactly this issue a few weeks ago - only instead of a £10 (on offer) Tefal frying pan, they sent one that cost 3 times as much. As if that wasn't bad enough, they also replaced a £15 Tefal wok with one that also cost 3 times as much. I tried to give them back to the delivery driver and he said that they would be included in their deal where they give you the difference back in vouchers. They didn't. I ended up having to go to a store and get my money back - I was pretty cross as the whole reason I did an online shop was because I didn't want to go the the store! So annoying that the staff think something that is 3 times as expensive is an OK substitution.

So annoying that the staff think something that is 3 times as expensive is an OK substitution. The online shoppers get picked up when they make a "zero substitute" and are encouraged to sub for anything. I worked there very briefly when waiting for checks for my current job to be completed - they would rather any sub was made and to have it turned away at the door than nothing no sub made at all. I used to do my very, very best to choose sensible and price - equivalent subs but occasionally used to have to sub something that I knew I'd think was daft were it my own shop being delivered.

having no sub made - not nothing!!

I do get that @RidgedPerfection, but, even so, when the delivery driver then wouldn't take it away again, I was very put out and extremely annoyed because, it wasn't a cheap sub, it was massively expensive compared to the thing I'd wanted in the first place.
I know the online shopper was only doing their job, but, when it results in me having to then go to the shop (something I try to avoid doing if at all possible), then it is annoying!

Yes, absolutely the driver should have taken it if you had refused it!