AIBU to think Sainsbury's policy is unacceptable?

[Maskless]

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?

I would be really annoyed with this as well. I get my deliveries with Sainsburys and some of their substitutions are just bizarre. I really wish they would let you select substitutes yourself like some other supermarkets do, or even give general guidlines to help the picker decide (e.g. if a diet produce isn't available, then substitute with a diet produce of another brand, not the full fat product of the same brand).

Yanbu. We have a Tesco shop weekly and our local one is like you say order 40 and they would send enough smaller packs to cover the whole amount, they also only charge what you would have paid for what you ordered. I order the dog food and have had multiple boxes of 12 rather than the larger box of pouches should have cost a few £ more. I mean sometimes we get silly substitutions (size 0 nappies instead of size 5 ) but in general they’re quite good.

There have been cat food shortages, as a lot of people have been boycotting Purina/Felix products.

I had this happen to me kind of in reverse last year. Beginning of lockdown, the height of the great loo roll shortage. I had a normal pack of 9 on my list, they didn't have one so they sent me a massive huge pack of 36 instead.

Then the following week I forgot to edit my order in time so the 9 pack was still there and they did the same again 😂

@ifoundthebread

With our system we tell it the suggested sub isn't available and it may suggest another, if not at that point we input out own, so technically can over ride it. Can only sub with things from same department though, so couldn't sub vodka with shampoo for example.

Sainsbury's managed to sub my Dad's order of bleach for beer.

Not much good for cleaning the loo but he didn't much care after drinking the beer.

@Skysblue

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.

I've been very unimpressed with Ocado substitutions. Quite apart from anything else, they don't price match and I have been sent substitutions that cost considerably more than my first choice item. Obviously I sent them back but it was still annoying. Waitrose is much better.

@ifoundthebread

Im a picker for a supermarket, not the one op has ordered from, and can say the subs are mainly down to the picker them selves. Sometimes the subs you are told to put in are ridiculous but at the same time there isn't a substitute on par, you want carrots but there isnt any, system suggests sprouts, okay I suppose if you like sprouts but if you wanted sprouts you'd of ordered them. If we sub for a higher price product, I'm sure we credit the difference. Some pickers go In do the minimum and leave, others (like myself) do the picking as if we were shopping for our grandparents; getting the best possible at the time.

A family member of mine was a picker for Tesco at the height of the pandemic and they had to use their best judgement on the substitutions (quite a lot as you can imagine at time) so obviously the brighter staff or those who do a big shop for themselves will be better than an 18 year old who simply doesn't have the life experience to get it right every time.

People are quick to criticise but on the whole as far as I can tell food shopping online is pretty good. I don't use it myself but it's been a lifeline for relatives

Tesco always sun the same amount or more, so instead of 24 pack of coke I got 3 x 8 pack, also they never charge extra if it is, a more expensive sub. Waitrose subs are ok too and they don't charge extra either, with Waitrose they send the receipt a few hours before so you know what is coming and what the subs are

I tried online shopping for a while but the substitutions were very hit and miss (even without the 1 for 1 rule) so I often ended up going to Sainsbury's anyway. I'm not sure if it was just me but it felt like sometimes the picking was done by someone who knew how to cook and sometimes by someone who didn't. Frozen garlic instead of garlic bulbs was fine, a pack of red chillis instead of garlic had the delivery man scratching his head alongside me.

For what it's worth, ZooPlus are very good for cat food. Though I'd avoid getting cat litter there. I did it once and felt awful when the delivery man turned up and had to struggle down the driveway carrying two big bags of litter because they'd packed it in one box. I'm pretty sure it was heavier than should be allowed.

A lot is down to personal preference and unfortunately we as pickers can't be right for everyone. Cans of coke mentioned previously for example. If a crate of 30 cans of coke isn't available the system may suggest 2x 1.75litre bottles, which would be fine for myself but others may prefer to have 30 cans of another type of pop like dr pepper while some may prefer to change it to the diet coke, while others want coke zero and some would rather no sub at all. There is just no winning all the time.

Sainsbury substitutions are very odd lately. I ordered three soft toy balls for my dog, they cost 75p. I received a big, hard plastic pop up toy costing £10.

The system tells them what to sub with, I’ve raised a few issues with Morrison’s before. Ordered a bag of five bananas, they had none but just listed as missing instead of giving five loose bananas.
Ordered garlic ciabattas, listed as missing instead of giving any of the other six types of garlic bread available.
You get the picture, they’re bound by their tiny little computers allowing them what they can and can not scan.

I get you @Maskless it made absolutely no sense to short-deliver. They should have packed the extra smaller denominations of cat food, and you would at least have had the choice to accept or decline.

@BikeRunSki

There have been cat food shortages, as a lot of people have been boycotting Purina/Felix products.

Why?

My cat doesn't like Felix and actually prefers the cheaper Tesco own brand, and also likes Tiger from Asda, but they have had shortages for months.

@YesItsMeIDontCare

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 ordered a 1kg or 1.5kg bag of potatoes once from Tesco and recieved a single potato.

Also had the cat food situation - all very well to say you have some food until you can get more but 12 pouches do not last long when you have three very active cats.

I'm an online shopper for Sainsburys, so I can tell you that this is absolutely not the rule for subs. We can sub for whatever we deem to be suitable (the handset suggests alternatives, but we can override). Obviously, the correct sub would have been multiple boxes of 12 to make up the amount, and you have clearly been unlucky today.
There is a possibility that there was only one box of 12 on the shelf though, I know that this sounds unlikely, but we have had MASSIVE issues with stock recently, with whole bays/aisles completely empty. In which case, one box was all there was.
However, the most likely explanation is that your shopper was simply reading the description too quickly, missed the bit that said 40 pouches (the last part of the description is often hidden by the way that the handset is laid out) and grabbed what they thought was right, then ran off to pick the next 170 items they had to grab that hour.

Oh, and on crazy Tesco substitutions, they also sent me basil instead of coriander once. No curry that night.

@screechyowl,Purina change the recipe for Felix As Good As It Looks” earlier this year. It would seem that a lot of cars who’ve been eating it for years have subsequently become significantly unwell. Purina are denying a cause, but there is a growing body of distrust with Purina products.

Echo chamber FB group here Cats Affected by Felix.

I sympathise. Getting enough of the right variety and amount of cat food from most supermarkets has been dire. But this is NOT their policy, because they've given us more than 1 sub on several occasions. Maybe it is the policy of your local Sainsbury? Or perhaps they're trying to share our out limited supplies?

@KaptainKaveman

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

Well it's lucky you are in a position to go & get other food for your pet or have a pet that happy to be fed 1/4 of its usual food!

@Maskless. I shop with Tesco, their substitutes usually make more sense! I hope it's not too much trouble for you or someone else to get the extra that you need.

Do S have a dose for you to write a note re the particular item? Tesco do and occasionally l put something like 'if sun, please sub to equivalent weight/number of pouches.

I wasn't aware of that, @BikeRunSki, though I had heard of the deaths caused by other brands. I thought it just concerned the dried stuff.

Cat likes Felix treats but maybe I will knock them on the head.

@lanthanum

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.

Tesco would charge you the price if what you ordered, not their substitution if that was more expensive.

For what it's worth, ZooPlus are very good for cat food. Though I'd avoid getting cat litter there. I did it once and felt awful when the delivery man turned up and had to struggle down the driveway carrying two big bags of litter because they'd packed it in one box. I'm pretty sure it was heavier than should be allowed

Another ZooPlus fan here. They are very good - there's an excellent range of products and you can also bulk buy to get discounts (though you have to be careful with cats because they go off a food very quickly if they think you might have got a cheap deal)

I also had the cat litter/delivery person problem but I solved that by doing smaller more frequent orders so that the packages are never too heavy.

I thought you were going to say Sainsburys driver objected to carrying 40 cat food pouches. Our Sainsburys driver once knocked on the door asking us to collect a heavy item from his van .
Um, no - read the delivery instructions, we are shielding!
Morrisons give them little trolleys for heavy stuff.

I've never had that before. I've ordered x amount of something and been subbed with the same amount. If it more I've been refunded the difference. This sounds a bit fishy to me