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AIBU?

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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:
ilovesooty · 23/12/2019 10:12

Asda order arrived. Christmas pudding mince pies and pate unavailable.

rainypuddles · 23/12/2019 10:19

At the weekend, Asda substituted my entire vegan party food supply for Boxing Day with duck pancakes, a meat and potato pie, ham, beef...even simple vegetarian things like vegetable spring rolls were meat ones.

The driver just looked at me strangely when I explained why I sent back the majority of my order.

Butterymuffin · 23/12/2019 10:24

Just got back from my local M&S where there was a queue to get into the food hall itself, even if like me you were just getting items from off the shelves. The pre orders counter looked insane. Have all our main things now and will pick up any final bits tomorrow.

ElfAndSafety1 · 23/12/2019 11:22

Picked up my m&s order no problems, in and out within 5 minutes Grin

Milsplus3 · 23/12/2019 11:28

You’d think by now they’d find a way to avoid running out, they’ve had a year to plan for Christmas stock after all. What annoyed me was ordering an Asda shop and the most basic things being missing. I then sucked up the courage to go there myself and all the items were on the shelf (Running low so not restocked but definitely there) so they clearly couldn’t be bothered to do it properly. If I had a big enough car I would do it myself but it’s a pain having to go out for missing bits anyway.

SweetpeaMidnight · 23/12/2019 11:38

I had no subs for my tesco order which came this morning. I didn't dare to log in last night and add my forgotten stuffing though, if it's not in stock when you log in they remove it from your basket, even though it will probably be back on the shelf by the time it's picked the next morning.

viccat · 23/12/2019 11:48

Just got my Ocado receipt for today's delivery. 2 items missing (Christmas nut mix, and Feminax painkillers) but otherwise everything is there and no subs. I'm happy with that as the missing items are not essential at all (surprised they didn't sub for other ibuprofen and other nuts actually but anyway).

SunshineCake · 23/12/2019 13:00

I went today to look for the six substitutes I rejected and get what I wanted. I came away with three so am just missing two types of crisps and one box of biscuits so nothing vital.

Psychologika · 23/12/2019 13:04

We've been subbed a duck twice the size, so I'm actually quite happy

Chardonnay73 · 23/12/2019 13:07

It’s official. There is a sprout shortage in my area. Nothing in Waitrose or M&S. Will try Aldi on my way home.
I’ve just had a row in M&S as I am 30 mins early to collect my food order and they won’t let me have it ffs 😡 So I have to stand here waiting for half an hour. 🤦‍♀️

AhoyMrBeaver · 23/12/2019 13:12

My Ocado came this morning - they'd swapped my nice cranberry sauce for two jars of Colman's (no thanks), and they had no lemons at all to send me Xmas Confused. Plus my bread was squashed.

I'm not going to bother with them in future. Obviously it's not a disaster that they didn't bring everything I wanted, but these were items that have been on my list for more than a month, and I paid a lot for delivery to save myself the bother of going to a supermarket today or tomorrow.

DilysMoon · 23/12/2019 13:19

Morrisons are usually fine, almost never have substitutes as it comes from a warehouse not the shop floor. My Christmas order is coming tonight and they've substituted 1 item, croissants. Lots of things have been out of stock online for this date for ages so I assumed if they had enough stock allocated to order there wouldn't be substitutes. Never mind.

Original poster
SouthWestmom · 23/12/2019 13:20

@ElfAndSafety1 I'm so glad!

Can't believe the slot times are so rigid - marks is 30 mins isn't it ?

OP posts:
DoSomethingBob · 23/12/2019 13:20

I’m a Tesco Dot Com picker. The Festive Food is ordered in specially and is waiting, all packaged up with your name on it when we come to pick your order. A lot of the more popular items, turkeys, stuffing, selection boxes, mince pies, cheese boards etc. they try to estimate how many will be wanted and keep a stock of them off the shop floor for the delivery orders. Everything else we have to pick from the shop floor.

I started at 5am today and the peeled sprouts were fully stocked, by 6am the whole lot had gone, same with semi skimmed milk. The warehouse people are restocking as fast as they can but as we have a pretty short window to pick a trolley full if it’s not on the shelf at that moment it has to be subbed, even if it will be restocked fairly soon. The vans are waiting to be loaded and the delivery slots need to be adhered to.
We are very aware that people are relying in this for presents and Christmas food and do try really hard to give sensible substitutions and where possible something slightly nicer.

InsertFunnyUsername · 23/12/2019 13:31

I gave up having a an online shop this year. Always guaranteed to miss something, Tis life unfortunately.

I went food shopping this morning, was not that busy at all. Had all checkouts open and I was only behind one other person. No fighting in the aisles for Turkey either, the shelves were packed.

Olliephaunt4eyes · 23/12/2019 13:33

Every time I've done an online order for Xmas I've had something important missing. Now I just brave the shops.

PowerslidePanda · 23/12/2019 13:40

Quite a few of the fresh items are required for specific dates (beyond Christmas day), so we may still end up having to reject some items if they don't come with a long enough shelf life. Will update!

Only had to reject 2 items due to the dates on them - not bad. This was my first year booking a Christmas delivery slot with Sainsbury's and I'd do it again.

CarrotBarrot · 23/12/2019 13:42

Sainsbury's always send an email first thing on delivery day (presumably once packed up) to say if anything is missing. I planned big delivery for today knowing I'd still have time to get missing items if necessary - knowing the bulk of stuff has arrived and don't have to drag a trolley around.

Beautiful3 · 23/12/2019 13:48

My croissants were missing from my morrisons shop. So I quickly nipped down the local shop and bought some. Now I've realised I forgot to get twiglets🙄

Pfefferkuchen · 23/12/2019 13:59

I don't believe earlier orders have any priorities over last-minute one.

I booked my slot when they opened for Christmas, and made my order yesterday evening. Got no subs at all when it turned up this morning! Saw a few groans on my local groups about things people were missing since though!

FlamingoAndJohn · 23/12/2019 14:20

Talking about people bagging their slot with some champagne, wasn’t their someone a couple of years ago who had done just that, forgot to change it but fortunately got a call from Ocado a couple of days before to check?

Sotiredofthislife · 23/12/2019 14:26

My order is due this evening. On tenterhooks as I’ve usually received an email by now which advises of any substitutes. Nothing so far...

Originalyellowbelly · 23/12/2019 14:29

Collected my M&S order, all complete and no waiting, perfect!

Pfefferkuchen · 23/12/2019 14:39

FlamingoAndJohn
apparently that happens quite a lot!

BeyondMyWits · 23/12/2019 14:53

Now I've realised I forgot to get twiglets

no one needs the "little yeasty twigs of dooooom" as my DD17 calls them - she says that you know you are at the end of the Christmas stash when you pop that top....