To think Tesco are becoming hellish to shop with?

[LiveIngSun]

I tried to go back to in store shopping after constant late deliveries and a rude driver (‘can’t find your fucking house’, it’s on an A road and we’ll marked…), but they removed so many checkouts. There’s a big self serve block, but they are crap. Always weighting wrong, poorly configured compared to elsewhere and not enough staff. Really slow to use. The few manned tills have queues to the middle aisle. Staff are demoralised, the store is functioning badly and understaffed. It takes forever.

Gave delivery a last shot and it’s even worse. First week the guy was late, then stood by the van flicking through the phone after dumping it all on the doorstep. Called out politely to him about the receipt/ substitutes and got blanked. Next week they are three hours late after 11pm, no updates for this. Said hello to the driver and got a dead eye glare back. This week didn’t arrive at all. Fair enough it snowed, but the slot was before it fell. The app didn’t update, no calls. They didn’t let anyone know they weren’t coming, and I saw other vans pass so it was possible they’d come. Roads were okish.

Today I queried the lack of info and was told that stores no longer give drivers phones or use the app updates. Said I may as well cancel the delivery pass if they are going to always be late and never let me know if and when they’ll arrive. They just cancelled the pass mid billing period and replied no further.

Do they not want customers? Is it just my local store? It’s borderline bizarre levels of shit service. I’m obviously a creature of habit to try this far, but I have re-ordered elsewhere.

I have deliveries from Tesco and have never had a problem, the drivers are so friendly, bring my goods into the kitchen and help me unload the crates. One even carried a case of cola into my hall cupboard when he realised where I was going to store it. I have mobility problems which are obvious so I guess they are extra helpful for me.

Last month I ordered 6 bottles of wine with a 25% discount but had clicked on red wine instead of the Pinot. I thought I would have to keep them but the driver just got out a machine and scanned each bottle to get the refund immediately.

I cannot walk around a store so rely on deliveries, easier for me than click and collect, and Tesco are my favourite shop to use. I think the selection of goods they supply online is a bit less than some other shops but I seem to manage and I’ve been able to buy some bedding, camping goods and toys as Christmas presents.

It really must depend on your local store, I live near a huge Extra so guess I’m lucky.

I stopped using Tesco delivery a while ago as every experience was rubbish!

I use Asda at the moment not had any issues so far

It’s actually really really easy. Very short stretch of A road, with about 5 houses on it in a major city. The first one on the road and numbered as such. The postcode only applies to 5 houses, which are not spaced out.
Its also the main road, which is the same road only 1.5 miles from the delivery centre in a straight line, no turn offs.
The instructions describe the house well, there is nothing to block the view of the house from the road and it is clearly marled too.
I think due to the layout of the area also every van drives past the house, and I’ve been told it usually used as the starting point for routes.

The only way you couldn’t find it is if you didn’t read the address at all. He was looking on a road with an entirely different name and postcode.

I gave up once the Clubcard prices appeared. Not worth shopping there if you don't have one.

I find tesco very expensive, but not had a problem when i used their delivery during covid.
I use asda now and they are brilliant.

My local tesco (glastonbury) is great. I always shop thete. Never had a problem.

They're all shit in their different ways imo.

Tesco has poor online choice and the clubcard price thing is a pisstake. No I'm not going to sell my data to get reasonably priced ok standard food.

Sainsbury in-store never mans tills and online you don't get refunds when out of stock (which let's face it is v common now) plus again limited range compared to in-store.

Morrisons for delivery I think depends on if it's local store or warehouse. Ours is local store, shifted about three years ago and is shit now. Instore was v expensive compared to others of similar quality but have calmed down a bit now.

Asda is substitution hell for me, I've stopped ordering online from them because they never have what I need.

Really supermarket shopping in general now I just feel ripped off and dissatisfied most of the time, and it's difficult to keep track of prices. I never thought I'd have to put effort into supermarket shopping. It's like being in Russia in the 1990s but, by all accounts I have read, a whole lot less fun.

I changed from Ocado to Tesco two years ago to save money. I am still grieving.

Sounds like an issue with your local store. I've recently gone back to Tesco deliveries (it really does make it easier to budget) and always on time, no substitutes and the same drivers who are always friendly. My local store has had some of the same staff for years now and they're always very active in the community too.

Use Ocado. So much better. Proper stock management, so rare to have subs or missing items. Refund anything poor quality without quibbling/ hassle. Polite drivers, very rarely late. The whole point of online shopping to me is to reduce hassle so it has to actually work.

If your orders don't show up on time or a good chunk of them are missing then it's completely pointless. And it clearly is possible for companies to put a system in place that works, so people need to vote with their feet tbh.

As for going to physical supermarkets, bleeeurrrgh! 🤣

But very worth while shopping there if you do have one - and you can get one at no cost still, don’t have to opt for the monthly fee.

I recently got a very good deal on wine, instead of £8 a bottle, they were £6 with a club card and then got 25% off for buying 6 bottles! I save a lot each month buying club card products - only if on my shopping list obviously! I also get enough club card points ( have a Tesco credit card as well) each year to pay for my annual RAC membership and a couple of bottles of gin.

£10 without handing over your data via the Clubcard or £5 with it.

£4 in other shops for everyone - no data handover needed.

f Tesco

It’s hard to comment as I don’t get groceries delivered, whereas that seems to be where the majority of your issues occur.

I think stores are okay but I don’t like Tesco’s offerings as opposed to others. I think the clubcard exclusive prices are a bit of a joke. Can’t quite boycott Tesco though as they’re bloody everywhere where I live.

To be honest, I genuinely don’t care if Tesco has my data or not. They’re not discovering the inner workings of my mind or harvesting private information by recording my meal deal purchases.

pretty much every retailer gathers analytics on buyer’s habits, this has happened for decades. It’s why stores are laid out in a certain way, with products and tills being placed in strategic areas to maximise sales. The club card is nothing novel

Asda for me is the shit one.drivers knobs.store I just want to run out screaming.costomer service line for store run by 2 sorry to say it classic mean girl bitches( drivers openly call them this too!)
Tesco great.drivers always want to no how certain family member was who was critical ill.store manager even phoned as hasn't heard from them in a while and the lads on delivery were getting worried.

I agree with this, so shifted as much of my shopping as possible away from supermarkets during the pandemic. I never went back.

Never tried their delivery but totally recognise your description of the store. Awful. Slow. Long queues. I don't do a big shop there but I would if it wasn't so shite. Aldi are way better. I do shop around and my local Sainsbury's and Waitrose are lovely. Asda not bad either.

You're not in West Yorks, are you, @LiveIngSun ? My sister is & ALL supermarkets are awful there for deliveries, they just don't seem to care. :-(

I'm pretty happy with Tesco delivery. I've been using them for a couple of years, since I switched to deliveries during Covid and it's worked out well. We've had a few occasions with very late deliveries, one incident of a delivery not turning up, and a handful of times we've had missing groceries (usually an entire crate, and always refunded without issues). Drivers are pleasant enough, not very chatty but always pass the receipt and comment on missing items/subs. Quality could sometimes be better, have had fresh fruit/veg in poor condition, and it's not easy to raise a complaint about things (you have to call them during certain hours and I'd rather just upload a photo).

I'd never go back to in-store shopping as we're a family of 5 with no car. I wish I could order online from Aldi/Lidl for their prices/quality but I won't shop with them unless it could be delivered. I keep meaning to try out other online grocery shops but I'm a bit lazy, it's easier to keep getting the same Tesco shop every week. I don't care much about the data/Clubcard prices thing. I do find it expensive these days, but I assume it's similar with most shops.

I shop with Ocado and Tesco, almost always online/delivery. The store near us has a very low turnover of staff and I've seen the same friendly faces around for over 10 years. They're always great, to be honest. My only issues are the loss of the deli counter, and not all products online, which is annoying.

Sainsbury's are crap because they don't price match (the inevitability higher priced, always) substitutions, so I never shop with them.

YANBU but then I don’t like having to bag my own shopping, it seems to be a thing now even in places like boots when you’ve only bought a few things. You ask for a bag then they just stare at you fumbling around with it!

Our local store is Tesco but I’ve always shopped at Morrisons or Asda using Tesco for midweek top ups.

i did a full shop there on Friday and was pleasantly surprised. Maybe it’s your store or maybe I got lucky.

ours is also a low turnover store, many of the staff have been there years. It’s that kind of town.

This isn’t our experience of Tesco at all. I have a delivery every week from them and have done for many years. They’ve very occasionally been late, like 10 minutes but they’ve called or text to let us know. They sometimes ask if they can deliver early. The delivery drivers are always lovely, we seem to get the same few. We had a £400 shop delivered in preparation for Xmas this week with only 2 substitutions.

We have a local Tesco express and a bigger Tesco a few miles away that are good but I don’t use them often or for big shops. I like the self service tills but there’s always some manned tills. Same with Morrison’s, we have deliveries from there too.

That's why I use Ocado - 3 inches of snow this morning, they turned up on time with the driver having a driver's mate to help. You'll be lucky if any other supermarket turns up in 1cm of snow.

Asda turned up for us yesterday on time, and there was a considerable amount of snow. I had online deliveries from Tesco, since it first started. I gave up during Covid. The last straw was not being able to get a slot anywhere near Christmas! I’d used Asda’s delivery a few times; and tried them. I got a slot for something like December 21st, which was fine. I did my whole Christmas shop with Asda. They offered me a delivery pass. I asked Tesco if I could have a delivery pass (two members of the family weren’t classified as CEV, but were at high risk), and they said no availability!

Ever since then, I get my Asda delivery weekly at a time of my choosing. No hanging onto the website from 11.30 pm until maybe 12.30 am to get a delivery slot as I had to with Tesco, which was tiring with a grown up disabled DC to look after the next day! The Asda website imo, is way better than Tesco - my shopping is automatically sorted into departments, so I can review my trolley and see what I’ve missed out easily!

I never shopped online, always went to Morrisons, which was great. Good value, excellent pies..long term knowledgable staff.
Then it got sold to another company (not sure who) and its UTTER shit. They got rid of almost all the checkouts, most of the staff left or got let go, there's barely anyone working there so the numerous self checkouts that don't work are always in chaos.
Its dirtier, more expensive and the selection of products has gone way down hill.
I think most supermarkets treat their customers (and their staff) with total contempt now. Basically, they put most local shops out of business, made a mint in the pandemic and now think they have no competition, so the veneer of customer service is no longer needed. I try to avoid them where I can, and go to markets and local shops if possible.