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 🥰

Shame them on social media. Someone working at Asda is just taking the straight piss, and they probs deserve to lose their job.

@JamesMiddletonsMarshmallows

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

The shop is regularly replenished throughout the day. I've done picks where, say, all the bananas are gone, so you have to nil pick that product - Then by the time you finished that pick and started on a new one, the produce guys have put out new stock so the shelves are full again. That happened several times today! Withing a matter of about 20-30 minutes!

I regularly get moaned at because the shelves are empty but people are buying more in bulk again, which along with brexit shortages, is probably why?

That does sound bad.
I have had really good service and have been using them since last March. I do click no substitutions for most of my items though. I am quite particular about brands and ingredients and would rather do without than have something I would waste. There are usually only 1 or 2 items missing. Everything is bagged and the drivers are lovely.
It seems it is an issue in your area and you should complain.

Why do you keep shopping with ASDA when Tesco, by your own posts, are so much better?

1. You get the email as soon as your pick is done. (Last item picked)
2. Why didn't you ask to see a store manager... This reflects bad on him and obviously someone was doing their job.
3. Are you sure your local asda is the store that does does your home shopping? We have a weird postcode catchment thing going on. Sometimes you can have an Asda store within a mile but your shopping comes from 10 miles away.

I am cross with Asda too Op. I put up with in the early days as they provided free delivery unlike Tesco who charged and actually had shorter delivery slots than Tescos shielding slots.
Yet during Lockdown 2 they started charging for delivery without notice. My Asda tend not to do ridiculous subs but just rip off ones.
Eg I order something in bulk which say costs £6 for 12 units. They replace it with 3 units at £4 .
Only once requested bags and they were provided.
I now tend to alternate with Iceland. Before Christmas they were fab but the last one was shocking too. Lots of unavailable stuff and cleaning products in with fresh foods and raw meats in with chilled. Many of the paid for bags had holes in them so could not be reused and the fresh stuff was really short dated.
I am glad I can go to the supermarket as it us dh who is shielding

I do shopping at Asda online for my DM, you can request no substitutes. Last few shops I've done have been a bit hit and miss but any refund requests have always been dealt with very promptly online.
The only annoying thing is when things are on offer eg DM wanted the Kenco big tin of coffee, on offer for £4 and they subbed it for the small tin which was also £4. But aside from that, not too many grumbles about Asda.

Those substitutions are ridiculous.

We use Sainsbury’s online and they are usually pretty good but last week we ordered a Spanish tortilla and were substituted sun soaked tomatoes. They were delicious, but not an omelette.

Why not just shop at Tesco instea? ! I have used them almost exclusivley since march and they have been brilliant.

I have given up with adsa. There was always missing items or rubbish substitutions. Occasionally damage too. They make it relatively easy to get stuff refunded online which makes you think they have lots of issues, Last time I used them about 1/3 of my shopping was missing. I thought it didn’t look much, realised my 8 cartons of oat milk were missing and chases after the driver to see if he had missed a crate. He wouldn’t even double check and told me to request a refund online - leaving me with no milk. When I went through my list loads more items were missing too. I am sure he must have had another couple of crates on the van! They once me sent a piece of ginger the size of a dinner plate 😀

I order something in bulk which say costs £6 for 12 units. They replace it with 3 units at £4

This is my favourite thing about Tesco, they honour the price paid. I ordered something that was 3 for 5 and they could only supply 2 so I was charged 3.33. Even better when they only have a bigger pack so you get a 1kg of something for the price of 500g.

I haven't had any substitutions for ages though.

I used Asda during the first lockdown as there were the only slots available. Same experience as you, dreadful substitutions and took me around three calls (on hold for a good half an hour each time) to get refunds processed. They said there was something wrong with their system but it went on for weeks. At that time, their email wasn't being monitored and there was no other way of requesting a refund.

In the end I decided it wasn't worth the hassle after each shop so switched to Tesco where possible.

Initially I tried to tick which items I wanted substituted or not. Customer services then advised me to select no substitutions for all the items in my shop...and they still did substitutions. There was no escape!

I once had a substitution of a packet of 3 wooden spoons instead of a 2kg bag of ice cubes.

But my last delivery, the only substitution was a packet of 18 frozen potato waffles as a substitute for the packet of 10 that I had ordered.

@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 got a refund for my bottle of Tanqueray this week because of the security cap still being on it. Must be the 4-5th time it’s happened; they won’t come back and bring a bottle without a security cap due to the distance between the picking store and where I live (60+ mile round trip). Every other time I’ve logged it online as damaged product but this week they declined the refund but said they would pass the information back to the store. I called the 0800 number, explained and they refunded me and said to call if it happens again in future as it’s a high price item so some customer service staff may not authorise the refund!!

I get an Asda delivery probably every 3-4 weeks and alternate it with Sainsbury’s as they each have things that the other doesn’t - Asda has a much better selection of baby/toddler meals than Sainsbury’s but I like other things from Sainsbury’s. Not really had any weird substitutions such as the OP but have had subs where the email says I’m getting one thing but another arrives (this week ordered 4x tins beans, receipt and email said 1x time being supplied; 4x arrived. Pack of 4 pots of rice pudding ordered, 4 large tins sent). There do seem times when their unavailable items don’t make sense - we’ve had the no wholemeal bread, no cheddar or no cans of coke on the list when I’m sure they have different sizes on the shelf but would cost more; also had small quantity sent because it costs the same as the bigger but cheaper brand!! We used to use Tesco delivery until they put the limits on numbers of items in lockdown 1 and I could only orders total of 5 jars of baby food - no good for twins for a week 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ And I also didn’t like the limit of 80 items per shop and counting a pack of 5 bananas as 5 items!!

Always choose no subs it makes things easier. I keep my bags for life behind the door and put the items from the crate into the bags so I can carry it more easily.

I get an Asda shop every week and I've found them to be pretty good lately - lot's of fruit is currently unavailable or in short supply which I assumed was a bit Brexity but never mind. I give subs back on the doorstep and they usually refund on the PDA with me watching. I'm sure you could say at the door "I've had problems in the past please could you refund now so I know it's done" or , alternatively, you can do it on the app/website after it's been delivered.

The only real sub issue I've occasionally had is vegetarian food being subbed with meat - surely logic dictates that an entirely meat free basket including vegetarian protein substitutes is probably going to a house full of vegetarians!

I used to use Tesco but when we moved to our current house we found the address had been blacklisted (previous occupants of the house were total dicks, to be fair!) we have now lived here for 3 and a half years and despite assorted to-ing and fro-ing on my husband's part, speaking CS, the store manager etc we have not been able to get our address reinstated. My DH is adamant he's going to get it sorted but I very much doubt I'll go back to shopping with them!

I wish Aldi/Lidl did delivery, I'd definitely use them if they did!

I think it must be local pickers as I’ve never had subs anywhere near that bad - worst one was I’d ordered fancy vanilla ice cream and they subbed for smart price! The audacity!

On the flip side, I’ve gone the click and collect and no matter how many times I say ‘no bags’ they always bag it. Probably easier to get in the lockers.

You’re of course absolutely right though, what you’re experiencing is completely unacceptable. I think you need to choose ‘no subs’ on your list if you do order from them again.

I used to get an asda delivery from my local asda ( not a superstrore) and found so many substitutions and a lot if them were ridiculous, I would hand back to the driver there and then. I thought utcwas a oicker taking the piss. I now do a click and collect at an asda superstore and have hardly any substitutions, anything I am picky about I would untick for substitution. I also get an email well in advance of my collection time of any substitutions so I can reject them straight away. Mine always comes bagged. I am never charged for it and have never ticked the box for it to be bagged. I would prefer if it wasn't so I can reuse my existing bags.

Yabu not to check your email with regard to substitutions however the substitutions you have are utterly ridiculous. Someone had been taking the piss and I would definitely tweet them. In my view you have given them many chances and for the sake of convenience I would jump ship.

Good service shouldn't be area dependent but it seems it us. I can't fault Asda as I have had good experiences but this is shoddy!

*I thought it was a picker

Try morrisons on amazon prime and they message you before any subs x

It's totally unacceptable if you pay for bags and explain that you're disabled for them not to put things in bags. Maybe quote the Equality Act to them.

Would you be able to take some wide open bags for life and tip the trays/crates into the bags for life rather than onto the floor? Or would that then be too heavy to lift?

Otherwise it sounds like Tesco/other supermarkets might be better.

I had thought about getting a Tesco delivery but needed my stuff bagged and it says online they'll only deliver in crate/tray liners- how do these work? Are they like bags?

Asda do honour pricing so if you chose a cheaper item which was unavailable and got a sub of a more expensive item, you only pay the price of the original, cheaper item - at least that's how it operates in my store!

Sorry I know it's not the response you want but I laughed at the toilet gel.

I'm not used to online shopping. I did it a few weeks ago as I was self isolating. I got roast potatoes instead of chips, smoked salmon in stead of smoked mackerel, and different types of apples than requested. Luckily I like them all so wasn't an issue.

It sounds as if who ever was doing yours had just given up trying.

I've recently given up with asda online shopping, unless I can't get a slot with tesco. Booking weekly slots way in advance with tesco now to ensure I don't get stuck with having to use asda.
They are ridiculous for the amount that's either unavailable or substituted with some random items. Makes it difficult to plan a weeks dinner menu when half of it can't be delivered and I end up having to go to my local co-op, which is more expensive, to top up what couldn't be delivered. I'd do my shopping in store more often, if I could, just to ensure I got the things I needed, but as I don't drive or live within walking distance, of a supermarket doing a week's shop is easier online. Tesco have been much more reliable, with appropriate subs.