AIBU to think Sainsbury's policy is unacceptable?

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I have one supermarket delivery a month. I always order 40 cat food pouches.

Delivery due later today, received email this morning saying they did not have a box of 40 so are sending instead one box of 12.

I would have expected 3 boxes of 12 (= 36 pouches) as a sub (or even 4, making 48). So I phoned them and asked why they had not sent more than one box of 12. Their answer astonished me: they only sub "one for one", regardless of how many individual items the customer ordered.

So if a customer ordered a box of 36 Coca-Colas, they could sub that with one can of Coke.

AIBU to think that they ought to send as many packs as needed to fulfill as closely as possible what the customer ordered?

It’s a bit daft but whichever way around they do it some people would be unhappy. It’s not really a huge deal, is it?

It's hard to get worked up about this tbh.

It is a huge deal if the main reason you get the delivery is because of the weight of the box of pouches.

I would not be happy either, and would ring again and ask for more

They do try to do that. Sometimes they make a mistake. We got 2 packets of four yesterday instead of an eight pack (Tunnocks, vital).

It's daft and illogical.
But I expect you're after compensation and some freebs, so try Twitter.

Last week I ordered a 12 pack of mini cheddars. Sainsburys did not have the 12 pack in stock so they provided two 6 packs. They have also given me a credit for the higher cost.
So it would appear that they are not consistent with their substitution policy

I had this. I ordered a 4 pint bottle of milk and they apparently didn’t have any left for that brand, so instead of giving me four individual pint bottles from the brand I ordered, or 4 pints of a different brand, they substituted me a single pint from a different brand. It was click and collect. I then had to walk into the supermarket, collect three other pints of milk from the shelves and buy those separately while the rest of my shopping sat in the hot car.

I think we’re spoiled by the awesome IT used by some other services like Ocado. Sainsburys IT doesn’t work in quite the same way.

Agree it doesn’t make sense. Some of their other substitutions I’ve had were very odd.

You need to send your cat in to have a word. No-one can argue (or even reason) with a hungry cat.

Tesco seem to do much better with subbing, they let you decide what your subs should be. Also, if you amend your order the evening before it's due they'll let you know if something's not available and give you the chance to pick something you'd be happy with instead. It's not foolproof, but is the best system I've come across.

I am coeliac so order 2 packets of gluten free granola each week on my order, they are 300g and cost £1.50. For the past 3 weeks they have apparently been unavailable so they have been subbing it for a different packet of gluten free granola but it is £3 for one packet (still 300g) so they only send one. I send it back every single time as refuse to pay that (one packet lasts 3 days). I work in the asda my shop comes from so every Saturday when I get to work I have to go buy the cereal they tell me they didn’t have 🙄
I have spoke to many of the home shoppers and they all say they would send 2 packets but clearly somebody isn’t

I also think you are getting a bit overheated over a modest inconvenience. You have some cat food, you therefore have time to source some from elsewhere.

There are shortages of all sorts of things (many thanks to all who voted for Brexit and of course, special thanks to the lying shits who led the Brexit camapign) so we are going to see more of it.

Well I use Sainsbury’s and last week ordered a large box of strawberries and got 2 small boxes, so they don’t always follow that policy. I am sure it has happened many times in the past with different orders, but that’s the only one I can bring to mind right now as it was in the last shop. I think it has happened with sparkling water as well, among other things.

There have been problems with cat food stock for a while now. I wonder if they just didn't have enough boxes and didn't want to tell you that?

Sainsburys ignore pack size - we've been told they try to match cost, followed by quantity ordered. But that leads to stupidity like ordering a 1kg bag of onions and them subbing one single onion, or getting 3 passata instead of the 6 ordered because they swapped own brand for napolina at twice the price.

Particularly fun when you're ordering snack for 50 kids and a change in product size is the difference between having enough and having a serious shortage. Packs with 10 croissants being swapped for packs with 2 (but they're the luxury ones so that's ok then )

By contrast, we ordered a big box of washing powder from our supermarket delivery, and as it was out of stock they sent two of the more expensive smaller boxes. Even if I couldn't wait another week, I wasn't going to want more than one at the higher price.

It's difficult to get the substitution algorithms right. Without looking in detail at your ordering history, they might reasonably assume that 12 pouches would be enough to see you through to your next delivery, and that you would rather order a box of 40 again next time than pay over the odds for another 24.

Order from ZooPlus or Amazon instead

Should have said "our local sainsburys " as i know it's not consistent

@KaptainKaveman

It's hard to get worked up about this tbh.

I disagree. The OP doesn't say how many cats she has but they need at least 3 pouches a day dependent on the cat's weight. 12 pouches will last no time at all meaning that either OP will have to make a special trip to get some, or she'll have to do another order just for the punches probably incurring a fee.

It would seem to me to be obvious that if you have ordered 40 pouches, they should send the nearest available multiple if the 40 pack is unavailable - i.e. 36 pouches as 3 x 12.

Asda do this with cat food too.
I get it subscribe and save from Amazon now with the litter.

It is annoying . I ordered a double pack of tissues last week and they delivered 1 , don't know why i couldn't have got two separate boxes unless that was literally the last one.

I had a classic version of this. I ordered the largest size of lamb leg (2-3kg) for roasting later the same day. They sent me one half leg as a substitute (500g). Wouldn't have minded if they'd sent four of them.

i get its annoying, if you order online, you pay the delivery charge and want it to include all the heavy stuff you can't get from the local place easily.

So now you have to order AGAIN and pay another delivery charge, which could have been easily avoided.

I used to use Sainsburys but the subs pissed me off so much I switched to Ocado. I got a Smartpass and the costs are that much more than Sainsburys and tbh there's a great deal less food waste so it's worth the change.

Are not that much more than sainsburys ...

Tweet them, they'll sort it out