To ask what weird substitutions have been made with online shopping?

Nobranothanks · 13/02/2021 12:49

Ordered a vegan ready meal.....got sent a smoked haddock risotto 😂

EsquireFuss · 13/02/2021 12:53

Used to work picking items for a supermarket and the scanner would automatically offer substitutions for us to pick. I think a cucumber was given instead of custard was the worst one.

Although a friend had one requested condoms, substituted for a pregnancy test.

Username12353784 · 13/02/2021 12:57

These posts make me chuckle. I always get my shopping delivered but have never had a crazy subs - must be lucky. However, I was once given 25 bananas once as an apology after they messed up my order and didn’t turn up until 6/7 hours later. I had to give them out to people as we’d never get through them all 🤣

Northofsomewhere · 13/02/2021 13:01

I also worked for the online department for a supermarket as a student and the worst I saw was 1 build of garlic rather than 1 loose orange. Some of the new staff even did the sub before it was flagged, obviously experienced ones just skipped it and selected something more appropriate.

The thing to remember is the program offers a list of substitutes (normally somewhere between 3-5 depending non product) and they want you to select something from that list, occasionally it's appropriate to ignore that (like the garlic) but mostly they want you to stick to it as it's faster. You can and will be sacked if you don't improve, I was given 6 weeks to get up to speed.

Also, if you order 6 of the same item, say lazy garlic jars, they will also give you 6 of the replacement (fresh garlic or garlic granules) unless there's a suitable multipack. It's not always the fault of the supermarket that you've got something you wouldn't pick in store given the same choice, they have to try and best honour what you've ordered.

TSSDNCOP · 13/02/2021 13:03

I have had 2 x F25 suntan lotion as a sub for 1 x F50.

Last night I received 2 x sainsbo dark no added sugar chocolate instead of 1 x sainsbo dark chocolate.

I was going to decilne them and then didnt because it was farking freezing and i just wanted to get the door closed.

Tried them. Loved them!

sunshineandskyscrapers · 13/02/2021 13:24

In lockdown 1 I kept ordering playsand from Tesco, but they never had it. The first time they subbed a bucket and spade set which is no use at all without sand. The second time they subbed a bubble gun. I didn't accept that either because ds already had one. That didn't stop him being upset when he saw me refuse it though. After that I ticked the 'no substitutes' box and we did get sand after a few weeks.

The one that threw me was sultanas instead of satsumas. They are both fruit but surely that's down to someone misreading.

My favourite was getting first class stamps instead of second class.

SharedLife · 13/02/2021 13:26

@morninglive

I could not remember ordering an extra loaf, not least as it was 'tasty wholemeal'?? I also had another loaf sent.

Then I realised I had ordered Warburtons 50/50 bread. So they sent me one white loaf and one wholemeal loaf.

Any similar experiences?

Did you shuffle them together like two decks of cards?

Elphame · 13/02/2021 13:26

I had Martini subbed for my bananas once. Most bizarre. I hate it and would never have ordered it

toomanypillows · 13/02/2021 13:31

I did an order once on behalf of a theatre. We were hosting a community event and had been given a donation for raffle prizes and as we'd already got loads of nice stuff, we decided to spend the donation on nice sweets and chocolates as prizes.

So the whole order was boxes of chocolates and fancy sweet jars - around £100 worth.

It was stage door that took possession of the order so they just signed it. When we came to put out the prizes, they had subbed four large glass traditional Victorian boiled sweet jars for 4 tins of pineapple chunks.

It really made me laugh. An eclectic raffle table for sure.

geogteach · 13/02/2021 13:39

I got lime flavoured Doritos in place of a lime

BellaVita · 13/02/2021 13:42

A courgette instead of an aubergine.

My neighbour got mouthwash instead of sanpro 🙄

Original poster

morninglive · 13/02/2021 13:44

Completely crazy!

@SharedLife Yes, brown on the top, white on the bottom. a few raised eyebrows!

OP posts:

Morgoth · 13/02/2021 13:48

I ordered the valentines meal deal from Ocado today but they had sold out of the Rose Prosecco I had ordered so on my receipt they said they were substituting it for a much more expensive bottle of champagne.

However today when the order arrived, my Rose Prosecco was in there AND the Champagne AND they had also gifted me a bottle of Asti for the “inconvenience/mix up”

“Sorry for the inconvenience of a free bottle of Champagne, please have some more as an apology”

Whatnow321 · 13/02/2021 13:49

I’ve had a few classics
beef jerky substituted for dog chews - husband was less than impressed
A basil plant substituted for iced doughnuts - my homemade pesto plans went out the window but my kids were happy

cautiouscovidity · 13/02/2021 13:57

I've had:

a bottle of Cif instead of a lemon. Not very nice on pancakes

Nappies instead of sanitary towels

Tuna cat food instead of tuna (we didn't have a cat and DH and I didn't fancy Whiskas with our jacket potatoes )

BlackeyedSusan · 13/02/2021 14:03

Morrisons is good. We apologise because we can't send you 500g of courgettes. We have had to send you 1 kg instead.

Morrisons is more expensive than Asda but more reliable.

CoodleMoodle · 13/02/2021 14:08

We got a carton of lactose free milk instead of soured cream. That would've been nice on our fajitas.

I do order Alpro Jr for DD (who is far too old for it but still loves it), so maybe that was why... but still a bizarre choice.

andadietcoke · 13/02/2021 14:24

Bakewell tarts instead of mince pies was my Christmas Eve special. Not amused. Last week I got tea cakes instead of hot cross buns which is slightly more forgivable.

VexedofVirginiaWater · 13/02/2021 14:28

I haven't had many interesting ones myself, but I heard of someone ordering a kettle and getting a toaster.

VeganVeal · 13/02/2021 14:39

I ordered some latex gloves once they sent me condoms instead. I cut the small fingers off and TBH they fitted DH a bit better than condoms do

MumW · 13/02/2021 14:41

I gave up ordering online when they kept substituting my gluten free items for regular gluten containing products. This coupled with often including out of date items. For some reason, they didn't check the
BB dates on the freefrom sheves. I sent nearly an entire order back once.

swampytiggaa · 13/02/2021 14:43

I work as a picker. I steer the newbies away from the ridiculous subs when I can 😂😂

I tend to ask myself if I would be happy with the sub? If I think it’s ridiculous I’ll scroll through and try to put something better

Thelnebriati · 13/02/2021 14:48

I was trying to buy sauerkraut and bratwurst, I got a giant jar of Branston pickle.

BakedBeeeen · 13/02/2021 14:50

@sunshineandskyscrapers

In lockdown 1 I kept ordering playsand from Tesco, but they never had it. The first time they subbed a bucket and spade set which is no use at all without sand. The second time they subbed a bubble gun. I didn't accept that either because ds already had one. That didn't stop him being upset when he saw me refuse it though. After that I ticked the 'no substitutes' box and we did get sand after a few weeks.

The one that threw me was sultanas instead of satsumas. They are both fruit but surely that's down to someone misreading.

My favourite was getting first class stamps instead of second class.

Surely first class stamps is the logical best substitution??

Sparklesocks · 13/02/2021 14:51

We’d once ordered a pack of 12 bite size chocolate twirls where you get one stick per packet. It was out of stock so we ended up getting 12 x packets of 4 normal sized twirls!! The driver gave me a funny look as I could pulling more packets out of the crate