Asda ridiculous substitutions and they also don't log returns

[ikeptgoing]

I'm am so fed up with Asda. I'm shielding abs have relied on Asda home deliveries but they are getting more and more ridiculous

I'm disabled so bagged up is important for me or I can't move it- rarely do they bag it up despite me paying for it

This week 15 substitutions and 5 unavailable. Want to know what the substitutions were???
Toilet gel instead of quaver crisps
Caraway seeds instead of spaghetti pasta
They never put them in nags despite multiple phone calls to hq that I'm disabled and need the bags and PAY for the bags , so you have to ring customer services telephone to get those refunded.
I ended up ordering Tesco delivery as so much was missing and what a polite abs reliable difference 🥰

I once ordered halal meat for some guests who could only eat halal and they sent normal chicken instead. It's not the worst subistution in the world but it really pissed me off. In my mind it's the same as ordering meat free products and then receiving the meat ones instead.

Our Asda is great. Good/fair subs, and in bags as paid for. It doesn't come from our local Asda though but one 10 miles away which I find weird.

i’m also disabled and request bags from asda every week. hard,g ever turns up bagged. either a handful of bags in one of the crates or, as last week, the driver told me they’d ‘sold out’ which seems improbable.

i keep a few big hessian shopping bags tucked away by the front door as otherwise i end up with stuff everywhere and takes an age to get put away.

to be fair to Asda though, they’ve given me a priority pass since last April and they usually have everything i order.

*hardly ever

I’ve stopped online Asda shopping, three times I used items for refunds and didn’t get refunded. Tried customer services and nobody answered the phone. Tesco aren’t great but they do refund

We ordered a delivery from Asda which arrived last week. Most of the basic stuff like potatoes, carrots, cucumbers and other veg wasn't available. Then to add insult to injury the delivery driver said one of the beers we had ordered spilled in the crate and we asked for a refund for some of the items as the beer had ruined them and he said he couldn't do it there and then, and that we had to do it through the app as he couldn't guarantee that his manager would be in the warehouse to do it when he got back. I called customer services who said he should have done it whilst at our home and they refunded the items but it put me off ordering from them again.

@Whyusernamegone

I work for Asda and I shop at Iceland I'd rather lose the colleague discount and get a decent service. It all depends on the store you get your shopping from. If it's a smaller store like the one I work at then you will have crap product availability. If the store delivering is a larger store then the service will be better all round. Bigger budget = more pickers/section leaders and less haste in preparing your order and better availability. No bags is a common problem because it takes the pickers longer to put items in bags than to just throw into tote. The pickers have to meet pick targets or they get In to trouble so they just "chuck and go".

It's a superstore

I tick the no substitutions option when I order with Asda.

OP complain on Twitter twitter.com/AsdaServiceTeam?s=09
Companies seem to respond more when complaints are visible to the public

I currently work for Asda (although not on home shopping but have done it in the last lockdown) I also do my click and collect with asda and have found the same problem recently. This week I even had to put in 2 refund requests through the app as things were very close to sell by and squashed, they were processed very fast though.
In my experience working in the store they have recently let go many staff taken on during the first lockdown and instead hired more staff to replace them meaning there is a mixture of experienced and inexperienced pickers. The experienced ones will pick correctly including flagging in appropriate suggested substitutes and checking dates, they don't want to lose their jobs and know there are consequences for repeated issues. I'm not sure if or how the new pickers have been trained but they certainly aren't as conscious of dates and quality or appropriate substitutions, they also won't hunt for the correct item even if it's just on the next bay over. I work in fresh food production (bakery, pizza, etc) and they won't even ask me if I have an item, they'll just sub it unlike the older staff.
If you keep shopping with Asda, download the app and keep complaining until you see a difference. The experienced pickers take pride in their work, for many of the new ones it's just a job and they don't necessarily understand the importance of getting it as right as possible.

*Sirzy

Do you not get an email and text in advance to tell you what the substitutions are? Then you can just had them back to the driver.*

Don’t know about Asda but you don’t with Tesco’s you find out on the day when they hand you the receipt, I assume Asda’s is the same

I once ordered a couple of jars of lazy garlic as we mix staple shops with various things. They sent 5 tubs of dried garlic - 1 would have done. Also substituted smoked paprika for regular paprika. Except I'd already ordered regular paprika so didn't need it! The bags is a very separate issue

I ordered a bunch of bananas and got substituted one banana, not that bad really but I couldn’t help but wonder why they even bothered to send one single banana, might as well just said they weren’t available

I gave up with Asda because of forgetting whole chunks of the order, all the substitutions etc. I'm not personally a Tesco shopper in person because isn't one near me, but if I ever get an online order I always do Tesco because hardly ever any subs, if they do it's always sensible, drivers are always lovely and helpful, freshness of food is always good, and I've noticed recently they always have delivery slots available (although I've been leaving them as can get out to the shops!) so might be worth a look OP

@Eleoura

You do know you can go to the order online and request a refund for various things- 'short shelf life', 'damaged', 'unreasonable substitution,' 'missing items' etc?

Maybe its your local store, because my subs have never been too ridiculous. Worst was a Indian goard instead of frozen spring rolls! but at least it was food!

My last order had the security tags still attached to the wine bottles! I went online, and their website has a specific section on this, so it must happen quite often.

I have found they are refusing online refunds now, even for missing items. I keep having to ring the call centre to complain.

@Givemeabreak88

*Sirzy

Do you not get an email and text in advance to tell you what the substitutions are? Then you can just had them back to the driver.*

Don’t know about Asda but you don’t with Tesco’s you find out on the day when they hand you the receipt, I assume Asda’s is the same

I have a recurring slot with Asda, that is 8am- 9am, and when I wake up on that day, I usually have an email that outlines what was unavailable or substituted (never actually checked what time they send the mail ). The driver tends to ask if I've had time to check the subs and do I want to hand them back.

Have to say, I sometimes eyeroll at the 'no wholemeal bread available' thing, but I've never had substitutes as bizarre as the OPs! They are baffling

OP can I ask why you're still using Asda with all these issues? Why not have switched to Tesco before since it sounds like you're familiar with them?

What stupid substitutions. Toilet gel isn't even anywhere near snacks in the any shop. I thought Sainsbury's was bad substituting a gluten free item for a nut free item, but Asda wins.

@Givemeabreak88

I ordered a bunch of bananas and got substituted one banana, not that bad really but I couldn’t help but wonder why they even bothered to send one single banana, might as well just said they weren’t available

I read that someone got a delivery of one sprout around Christmas time.

I do click and collect and it always says leave any unwanted items in the locker for an automatic refund and I've never received a refund doing that. I leave it 24 hours then have to go into the app and request it. But this week for the first time they rejected my refund request so ill have to contact them. I hope that isn't a regular thing now because I don't want to be calling every week! They must lose so much money having the refund request in the app though. I imagine people take the piss

@Imgonnadance

I do click and collect and it always says leave any unwanted items in the locker for an automatic refund and I've never received a refund doing that. I leave it 24 hours then have to go into the app and request it. But this week for the first time they rejected my refund request so ill have to contact them. I hope that isn't a regular thing now because I don't want to be calling every week! They must lose so much money having the refund request in the app though. I imagine people take the piss

That's probably why it's been refused. Continuous requests for refund gets the account flagged and then they put a marker against your name which in theory is a good thing because they are then supposed to check your whole shopping before it gets sent out/collected but in practice it never gets done but marked as done so when a refund is requested they see that the shopping was checked so it is rejected. I can't understand why people carry on shopping somewhere where the service is crap. It only took me 1 really bad shop and I jumped ship.

@Staffy1

What stupid substitutions. Toilet gel isn't even anywhere near snacks in the any shop. I thought Sainsbury's was bad substituting a gluten free item for a nut free item, but Asda wins.

It does Latest Asda shop nothing like that has got to be a wild picker - they've employed new staff for lockdown 3

All the delivery drivers are saying Asda pickers claim there no bags abs that we ought report them as there are bags
It's a hole thing about newly employed pickers & I could tell that as no normal picker seeds would say toilet gel nor seess are what this lady orders foe crisps or pasta
And meh the rest of the stuff

Those subs are ridiculous. You should. Email the ceo with this so he can see what's going on he's names Rodger Burnley and he will get someone higher up to look in to it

[email protected] this is he's email address

YANBU that's taking the piss.

I gave up on Asda last lockdown for similar reasons. What opened my eyes was that I had a delivery booked one afternoon, and got an email that morning with about 12 substitutions and 8 unavailable items. I know that they tend to do the shop a few hours before they put everything in the truck. I was actually in Asda when I opened the email as I needed a prescription for emergency meds and my nearest pharmacy is Asda. The prescription was gonna be 20 minutes so I went for a wander and every single thing they said they didn't have was on the shelves, and loads of it too. I think it's highly unlikely everything was put in the shelves after the did my shop, more likely overworked staff only having time to do half a job

I do online picking for Asda and the handgun suggests substitutes automatically- and those sub items are nowhere near tje probably ordered items so I can't actually see how it's possible to sub items that way? The pickets would be randomly dashing all over the shop to input those substitutes which would affect their puck times. Quite bizarre!