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Original poster

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

239 replies

SouthWestmom · 22/12/2019 19:30

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

OP posts:
2020BetterBeBetter · 22/12/2019 20:19

I’m another one who has always been happy with Ocado home delivery but not the other supermarkets.

I’ve already decided that I’m going to make next Christmas even less stressful and get several items well in advance from Cook so they can stay in the freezer.

Ariela · 22/12/2019 20:19

I have never felt inclined to do an online Xmas shop.

I see so many people, as soon as the shopping slots are open, say 'Oh I've reserved my slot for Christmas Eve - put a case of Prosecco in my basket, but I'll just change that to what I really need nearer the time.
Is it any wonder there are substitutions when the supermarkets are all saying 'blimey , best up our supply of cases of prosecco as we've had 500 ordered in Christmas slots already' , instead of thinking they need to up their supply of Brussels or smoked salmon

Celebelly · 22/12/2019 20:25

To be fair, I've done our Christmas shop online every year for the past few years and never had any issues. The only 'issue' we had was when our small turkey crown got substituted for a massive turkey that barely fit in our oven. We were eating turkey for days Grin.

FireUnderpants · 22/12/2019 20:26

I always shop with morrisons, every Christmas I've never had any thing missing or subbed. But last year the driver did comment that I was the only customer all day that had everything. So maybe I've just been lucky. If not I'll have to send DH to face the madness that is tesco.

Celebelly · 22/12/2019 20:27

I'll also take some subs v having to go to the supermarket near Christmas. Fuck that for a game of soldiers. Last time I did that, it took us an hour to get out of the car park.

listsandbudgets · 22/12/2019 20:37

A few years ago a friend had her nut roast substituted with... a pack of walnuts. She was not amused!

nettie434 · 22/12/2019 20:42

They forget to pack some of my fridge stuff at Waitrose today and they’re too busy now to deliver it separately and have just refunded me. Even with Ocado, as others say, they can still have problems with suppliers. I wouldn’t say using Amazon would solve the problem. I’ve never had a substitution with Amazon Fresh but certain things do come up as unavailable at the time you have booked so you either have to leave them out or change your delivery time.

MonaLisaDoesntSmile · 22/12/2019 20:46

Last year we only preordered with Tesco because we wanted a goose and they sold out everywhere else. Guess what, D Day comes (24th of December), the order contains everything BUT the goose as they sold more than they had in stock. Frantic run to local supermarkets to find something else we could have for dinner... :/

DotBall · 22/12/2019 20:46

Much easier to do a very late / very early shop in store. My best ever idea was to start doing a 1am jaunt around Tesco which results in getting every item on my shopping list and the store is really quiet apart from people refilling shelves.

BacktoMA · 22/12/2019 20:49

I honestly don’t know why people bother booking delivery/click and collect slots. They won’t get a chunk if their items and will end up scrambling in the supermarket days behind Christmas like everyone else 😂! The pickers take items from the shelves so if it’s sold out in the store then it’s not getting delivered to your house either

You honestly can't understand the appeal of picking up 3-5 items from a shop vs doing the entire Christmas shop? Hmm

Also, the shop our online shop comes from isn't our local supermarket.

Original poster
SouthWestmom · 22/12/2019 20:52

There are two different things (I thought)

Christmas delivery slots - take your chances, picked from the shelves on the day

Christmas order , collect from store in a given time slot eg 10-10.30am on 22nd Dec. - assumed this was guaranteed

OP posts:
hauntedvagina · 22/12/2019 20:54

The thing with Ocado delivery slots is that yes, you reserve them in October but then can edit your order up until about 12 hours before delivery.

I would reserve a slot with an expensive item (a bottle of champagne for example) but would edit the delivery a few days before, taking out the champagne. I'd imagine this is what most people would do, there's no way the offers would be the same or the full Christmas range available in October.

This year I've not bothered and have got everything from Aldi.

francienolan · 22/12/2019 20:55

I've only had subs of a different size turkey crown or Wellington.

This year we didn't do an order as we're not having something that runs out so we did a normal shop. I was pleasantly surprised though because I noticed lots of sizes of turkeys, all the right veg etc.

Celebelly · 22/12/2019 20:55

It depends on the order. I don't know about other supermarkets, but some do festive food that you specifically order by a certain date a good while before delivery date and that you can't then remove from basket after that point as it's been ordered specifically for you. But the other stuff that isn't ordered can be subbed as any normal order.

BacktoMA · 22/12/2019 20:56

@Noeuf they are 2 different things but essentially the same thing (if that makes sense?!). For us the picking is done at a store 20 miles away but click and collect is done from a nearer store about 10 miles away, but they're both just normal supermarkets picked at similar times. A lot of people will have their shop picked from the same shelves for delivery and click and collect so you're literally just getting it delivered as the change, I suppose the benefit to click and collect is you can pop in if you don't like the subs.

Celebelly · 22/12/2019 20:57

So for example for Tesco, I had to have my 'festive food to order' section done by the 13th (which includes the turkey I chose plus veg and sides, dessert etc.) even though delivery isn't until the 23rd. When I look at my order now, I can't remove those items as it says they have been ordered. But I can add and remove normal items as usual until midnight tonight.

Original poster
SouthWestmom · 22/12/2019 20:59

Thanks back I think I just assumed it was somehow protected. Gave up doing delivery slots ages ago.

OP posts:
SunshineCake · 22/12/2019 21:02

I've got a delivery coming soon and I'm not impressed with how many things are substituted given I gave them three weeks notice. Fuck knows who is doing the picking as some of the substitutes are fucking stupid as well as being thoughtless. Won't do this again.

mynameiscalypso · 22/12/2019 21:04

I think M&S had major problems today - our main item wasn't delivered to the store and the manager had been ringing round other stores to try and find it. He said it was happening a lot today and they hadn't got the right deliveries from the central depot - this was the Christmas Food to Order thing too. It worked out okay and the store could not have been more helpful but it does rather defeat the point of ordering online and paying a deposit!

Butterymuffin · 22/12/2019 21:04

For the turkey or other joint, I would either do a specific pre order at M&S, or go to a supermarket at a quiet time (7am or midnight work well). I wouldn't rely on an online supermarket delivery.

Jenasaurus · 22/12/2019 21:12

Festive collection from M&S you mean? I am collecting my order tomorrow, I assumed as these were items from a specific range and paid in advance they put them by for you, I will be upset if its not the case

pumpandthump · 22/12/2019 21:13

M&S order for Christmas stuff I wouldn't expect substitutions, and I'll be really pissed off if there are any when we collect it.

A regular food shop but delivery at Christmas then yeah I'd expect subs, probably more than usual.

Last year Asda completely fucked up our order, made it so we couldn't make any amendments and then cancelled the delivery so DH had to go, Christmas Eve afternoon with kids!

BeyondMyWits · 22/12/2019 21:14

Our Tesco delivery came yesterday. Everything we ordered, good dates on perishables and rang to say we'll come an hour early if you are available.

Settled in for Christmas now.Xmas Smile

Harrysmummy246 · 22/12/2019 21:15

We had 'oh we just didn't get any of that delivered to us in store at all' for our ordered well in advance Christmas food from M and S order last year.

We'll find out what has gone awry (other than my failure to order a ham) when I collect it on tuesday

Turkey sizes are only ever approximate though as you basically have to put them into ranges and they do a best fit

Lougle · 22/12/2019 21:16

We order for the 22nd so it gives 2 days to sort out any wrinkles. This year we got everything ordered from Ocado except the meat (ordered from a wholesaler) and they subbed unsmoked lardons for smoked. Not a big deal, but we want smoked so they refunded us for the lardons and we got them elsewhere.

The wholesaler, though, had no details of our pre-order, despite assuring us that it was all ordered a couple of weeks ago. Fortunately I decided to double check that they had our order yesterday, ready for collection today. They had enough stock that they could sort it out easily.

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