Sainsbury’s shopping fury

[Quit4me]

I usually shop at Tesco’s and get a delivery, but obviously at the moment it’s tricky to get a slot so a couple of times I have ordered with Sainsbury’s.
We are a family of 5 (3 kids all older than 7) and get through a fair amount of food esp in lockdown- around £130 a week.
Last night we had a delivery booked at 8-9pm. We live in an area that yesterday, only had a dusting of snow.
Waited until 10pm with no delivery and no email or text to say where the delivery was.
Spoke to customer services via online chat- our delivery had been cancelled due to bad weather. No text or email.
My money should be refunded in 3-5 working days! They advised rebooking a slot of click and collect.
Great. So no fresh food for the kids today. Not enough milk or bread. Too late in the evening to drive and get something.
Am I just supposed to fork out another £130 before the money has come back (possibly not until next Monday?)
I asked why I wasn’t informed earlier and had to find out myself, got no response back.
AIBU to think this is shocking service?
I know we are in a pandemic and there has been some snow- but it’s really not snowed heavily here.
The other think that has annoyed me is previous deliveries I have had from them, things just haven’t been in the shopping at all. When questioned, they give me a credit note against a future order?
Why? If I pay for something that doesn’t turn up, I expect the money back in my bank, not a voucher?
Tesco always refunds. I hadn’t realised Sainsbury’s were so crap?

It's the opposite here - I've been let down by Tesco, who just didn't deliver with no explanation due to weather.
Sainsbury's do sub with more expensive, and charge you extra on the day - but then they refund the difference with coupons off the next order.
I'd take Sainsbury's over Tesco any day.
I'd take Tesco over Morrison's any day (but that's a whole other thread!)
Hope you get your refund soon OP.

when they have to sub something more expensive for what you've ordered, they charge you the extra

They don't, but equally they often substitute a smaller branded item for a larger own-brand product. This is where the price guarantee falls down IMO.
e.g. if I order 4l of regular milk and they substitute 2l of organic milk, of course it will be cheaper but (a) too small and (b) more expensive per litre.

This is why I do my own shopping. DH and I both work, we have a DD and I shop for my DM too so it’s a pain at times, but I honestly couldn’t be bothered with the drama!

They did this to me but I had to call to find out what was going on, I got the email telling me it had been cancelled the day after it had been due! It was a time when I had no food and I am shielding so I was so so upset. I also had to call to get refunded. They've given me a £10 voucher but will only consider going back there if we have a heatwave lol.

They must waste so much food.

This is why I almost always order from Tesco now. Sainsbury's are crap on delivery and also really annoying with not having products in stock and substituting with something more expensive.

I am a SB customer and find their food instore and VFM second to none.However the few times I have tried to order online ,have been very poor .The website is dire .I still have £9.00 credit from non delivery of loo roll from my first and last order! I prefer to shop myself, and can check del dates and substitute my own choices .However I realise not everyone can do this .

Oh god just ordered for the first time fro Sainsburys! Can't wait till shopping goes back to normal.

It's unfortunate and annoying but hopefully just a one off.

If you are really stuck, Morrison's are still doing their boxes of basics or "5 family meals" which you can get delivered quickly, without having to wait for a delivery slot.

I get a veg box now and everything else on an online shop so hopefully even if one doesn't turn up, the other will. Plus the veg man will also bring bread, milk and eggs next day if needed.

@BoyTree

"a. If we offer a substitute costing more than the grocery item you ordered and you keep it then we’ll give you a voucher (up to a maximum voucher value of £99.99 per order) for the difference to be used against a future Sainsbury’s online grocery order."

But they do charge you extra. The fact that they give you a voucher for the difference is not the same as reducing the price of the substitution. It doesn't help if there are a few subs and the extra takes you over budget. Or if you weren't planning to shop with Sainsburys again any time soon.

I never clocked the voucher thing, mind you I last used them for delivery in 2015

and anyway as you correctly say, there is a difference between eventually getting the money back under v specific circumstances, vs not taking it in the first place. £5-£10 can make the difference between someone's shopping payment or other necessary scheduled debit being declined. I have zero time for companies or individuals who don't understand that this is a lot of people's reality.

YANBU.
I've tried them all (except Waitrose or Iceland)
Sainsburys I found expensive and didn't like the expensive substitution system. Poor customer service.
Tesco were good but always seemed to give me short shelf life. Sometimes random substitutions. Hard to get a slot at the moment
Ocado- Expensive but generally very reliable but I haven't shopped with them since they turned the app off, binned off Waitrose and ramped up the prices of their deliveries.
Asda - fairly reliable, good value price, sometimes short shelf life, often a lot of substitutions and missing items
Morrisons - currently my favourite. Lots of slot availability, find their own brand stuff is usually excellent quality, not too many substitutions, good customer service.

@Beeeees

Sainsbury's vans are the worst in snow apparently, they were all stuck the other day. Ocado vans are supposed to be the best for snow. Agree they should at least ring and refund straight away.

I drove for Ocado for three years. Vans brilliant in snow, they put Winter tyres on. My first two Winters had quite a lot of snow, only got stuck once and that was sorted in a few minutes

My experience is the opposite. Tesco are crap (plus poor quality). You can choose not to have subs if you don't want them. I can't imagine you'd get enough subs to take you 'easily ten pounds' over what you've budgeted - a couple of quid maybe.

They tell you in advance anyway so you can just give them back if you don't want them.

In any event, I'm sorry the OP's shopping didn't turn up - that is very frustrating.

I swapped my click and collect from Sainsbury to Tesco recently.
I was having to wait up to 1/2hr at the collect point at Sainsbury's which just wasn't acceptable when I'm squeezing it in between everything else.

I only wait 5 mins at Tesco.

Iceland. TONS of next day delivery slots for me, from 06:00 to 22:00. Free delivery over £35. My delivery was between 8-10, they texted me at 07:00 to remind me, had emailed me at 04:00 to say my order had been packed, but the mayonnaise was out of stock so they'd refund me, etc. Entire city was deserted because of snow, so I expected them to cancel delivery.

Lovely smiley nice delivery driver man turned up at 09:00 - and it's SO much cheaper than the other supermarkets. Not quite as massive a range obviously, but for a basic shop, I was really impressed. I always forget they do fresh fruit & veg too.

Sainsbury's are a bit cheeky anyway with various things eg charging customers in shops for bags to put loose veg in but still having everything organic wrapped in 5 million layers of plastic.

Sainsbury's have the worst customer services out of all the supermarkets.

Asda are the best especially when the person answering the phone sent someone around the store to hand pick food to put on the next van coming out our way. She knew we had a disabled adult in the house but I still think that went above and beyond.

Currently using Tesco because of Covid and touch wood please don't let me jinx it but they have been amazing. A year on and hardly any substitutes or food not available. I shall be sticking with them.

Haven't used Sainsbos in 5 years and never will again. I can't wait until Tesco get their rightful spot back as King of Supermarkets.

I am still waiting on a delivery from Sainsbury’s that was supposed to arrive at 8.30 this morning. They did call to be fair, to say it would be delayed as they have a shortage of drivers, and I can understand that, but I have absolutely no idea what time they are planning on delivering so can’t take the kids out sledging.
I have had issues with them in the past where orders haven’t turned up and they said “we did try to contact you”, which intrigued me, because I hadn’t had any missed calls, texts or emails, so quite how they “tried to contact me” I have no idea. Telepathy? They tried to pick up the phone but then just gave up? This happened at least twice, with the same ridiculous response.

The voucher system is completely ridiculous. Round our way, it's pretty difficult to get a Sainsbury's slot, so a voucher is no use if I can't shop with them for weeks or months at a time. They will refund missing or faulty items, but only if you call and they put you through to their banking department, which means 10 minutes of hold music. This is presumably to put people off insisting on their money back, rather than a voucher which may never be redeemed.

I needed a refund because they'd sent me very obviously mouldy cheese (you could see the green through the packaging). Their ridiculous system meant I'm not shopping with them again.

Ocado are expensive, but reliable. Waitrose are good, but I can never get a slot.

Generally I prefer Sainsburys and always used them, I prefer the food. But during the pandemic they were absolutely hopeless. So I started using Tesco and they have been brilliant. Always on time, food always fresh. I haven't had one single substitution in the last six weekly deliveries.

One time they had a problem at the picking depot and couldn't get the food out (apparently the lift was broken) and they texted me to say it wasn't coming and texted me several times until I got a delivery the next day. Also if they are late or early they will ring. They really have got it sorted. Sainsbury's are miles behind IMHO.

@MadameButterface

yang, I don't order from Sainsbury's any more. what did it for me is, when they have to sub something more expensive for what you've ordered, they charge you the extra, whereas Tesco's don't. it felt like I was being upsold things constantly. some people have to work their shopping out down to the last pound and it felt like they have zero awareness of that.

*@MadameButterface* No they definitely don't. They actually give you a voucher for the difference so that you end up getting the more expensive item for the same price as the cheaper item that you ordered. We have a weekly delivery and the voucher is always available in time to be deducted from the cost of the next weeks shop.

We've had some lovely more expensive alternatives this way at a cost to Sainsburys, not us.

@Summerdayshaze

Or you could leave delivery slots for the elderly and CEV.

There are loads of slots available in my area. I can always get one within a couple of days, usually the next day. Getting slots is really not the problem it was six months ago.

Which is why it now comes down to customer service, and some supermarkets (Tesco IMHO) are doing a lot better than others because they have got their act together and invested.

I can't imagine you'd get enough subs to take you 'easily ten pounds' over what you've budgeted - a couple of quid maybe.

whether something does or does not happen irl is not concomitant with your ability to imagine it. I have a hard time imagining people who don't get how many people live absolutely hand to mouth, and yet here we are.

I can't understand why the refund takes so long? They could easily do same pay payment to your account? 🤔

They are crap, Tesco's is the best of all of them by far. I use Sainsburys, but only because I can get a slot there more easily than Tesco's.

We had about 10 inches of snow yesterday and Waitrose still delivered. They even walked it down the roughly 125m long drive as there was too much snow to bring the van down. Unbelievably good service.