To think pre-ordered Xmas collections won't be substituted

[SouthWestmom]

Genuinely interested - I always knew the delivery services from supermarkets were just slots near Xmas and picked on the day so no guarantee of the products being delivered.

This year though I did two Christmas collect (different stores) ore -order things and both times was made aware on collection of substitutes.

Genuinely thought it was a way to guarantee the stuff you wanted

If the store doesnt have the stuff in, then dont have it in.

Do you mean like Click and Collect?

No, you get substitutions just the same as home delivery.

I always order from Ocado so it's picked from a warehouse, not a store, and technically everything should be reserved for me... But with both deliveries and collections, usually it tends to be supplier issues when something isn't available, or they've made a mistake with stock numbers at some point of the process.

Only if you order from somewhere like Ocado or Morrison’s which deliver straight from a warehouse rather than a store.
You’re much less likely to get substitutions then but not impossible.

If it’s from a shop it’s as much a gamble as just going in to see what’s on the shelves yourselves as items are taken from the shelves, not removed directly from the delivery lorry before the rest goes on the shelves for other customers.

It's massively annoying. They should take account of the pre orders. I ordered mine from sainsbo 10 days ago, logged on today, and oh look, no stuffing no crackers no this no that. Swap your gluten free yule log for some mini logs - no thanks, I ordered a dessert for someone who likes yule logs and I want that one, not a bloody kids' party mini roll.

It is not beyond the wit of humanity to create an automated system that guarantees the order you have made. Grrrr!

I wouldn't expect them to substitute anything big, eg a pre ordered turkey but stuff just off the shelves is a different matter.

Right so I assumed they had some sort of computerised system to ensure items were held back or available somehow.
Just seems weird there isn't a way to make sure you don't have to go out again to get something - that's what you're avoiding?
Haven't tried Ocado

To be honest I'd have thought the same.
I don't do my grocery shop online so id never even consider the prospect of replacement items.

That's shitty.

Next time trust Amazon!

Oh it's actually groceries? I thought you meant like games or books...

Sadly not. There is no guarantee you’ll get everything you’ve ordered with no subs.

My local tesco click and collect is woeful. They dont have half stuff on shelves to be picked by the staff and substitutions are often ridiculous. So no your items are not reserved your paying for someone to basically shop off the shelves for you and then for you to collect.

If it's regular online shopping they just pick it off the shelves that day so you're probably better getting in early yourself. With m&s food to order it's more or less guaranteed but they don't have the full range there as far as I remember and you need to collect.

Well Marks were lovely and said swapping turkeys was easier than my swap so I assume that does happen.
Didn't realise it didn't come with a sort of preference thing from the warehouses. I assumed that they would send everything and then have some that didn't go on shelves.

M&S failed to supply one item today that was ordered in October. And the food collection was a clusterfuck, God help anyone collecting tomorrow or Tuesday.

They do have a system but it could be something like Producer A was only able to provide 80 of a product when the supermarket had ordered 90, or a delivery from Supplier B to the supermarket warehouse was delayed so those items are not in the right place at the right time for you. Lots of things can go wrong, it's such a complicated process.

There was a year where we hardly got any of the veg we ordered. And every item of missing veg was replaced with a tin of carrots. In hindsight now it was hilarious. At the time it was very annoying.

Regular online shopping I get. This was the 'order now to collect for Christmas' stuff

The year of carrot soup?

So Ocado does work like this with their Xmas pre-orders. I once had a faff with them trying to change the type of turkey I wanted last minute and they told me that would be tricky as they order stock to fulfil the special Xmas order slots. This only applies to those special Ocado £10 slots that have an early cut off point.

don't often do food shop online, but useful to know that Ocado likely to be more reliable because not from a store.

I remember a few years ago a friend having a turkey crown substituted for a chicken 😂

we got subbed a turkey crown half a kg larger last year.

My Ocado order had no flippin sprouts in it today!! So I now have to do battle at the supermarket... the one thing that is an Xmas essential..and they failed 😡

I have never had an issue with any Ocado Xmas order, and very low subs on the normal orders too. But Ocado are different as they were not a supermarket that has added delivery to their offering. The Xmas slots go really quick though.

Morrisons use the same delivery service as Ocado and I've used both regularly depending on how well off I am or how many vouchers I have. It's true that there are very rarely substitutions and if there are they are almost like for like I.e. a bigger pack of something or a different brand. Not a plastic hula hoop for a bag of hula hoops or suchlike.