To think a birthday cake should only be substituted with another birthday cake

[Tillow4ever]

And of the same type of cake?

It's my birthday later in the week and my son is home from uni this weekend, going back today. It was a bit of a last minute decision, so I decided to put a birthday cake on the Tesco home shop for us to have before he goes back.

I've just seen that they've substituted a white chocolate birthday cake (vanilla cake with raspberry jam and a white chocolate frosting) with 3 chocolate bombes instead. Not exactly sure what they are til they arrive, but they don't sound like any form of birthday cake, they don't sound like vanilla sponge (which is my favourite and why I picked that cake) and they aren't even white chocolate, which might have been more understandable had that been the sub.

Obviously I'll send them back and get a refund later in the week, but my local Tesco is a small one and doesn't stock that cake, and I haven't got time to nip out to buy one as I'm cooking a big roast dinner to try to get served up before the shopping gets delivered! There won't be time after the delivery as my son is due to leave not long after (depending on the time of the delivery of course).

Not exactly the biggest of problems in the world, but I never usually bother to do anything to celebrate my birthday, no one ever thinks to sort a cake out for me (I organise for everyone else's birthday in the house to make sure there's a cake they like) and I've not been having a great time lately so this has just really disappointed me.

Is it really too much to expect that if you order a birthday cake, if the shop is substituting it, another birthday cake should be selected? And it should be the same type/flavour of sponge that you were originally ordering, even if the decoration has to be different?

Sorry for the moan - please cheer me up with stories of your shitty home shopping substitutes or just general home shopping failures!

Luckily we were an omnivorous, family but seriously?!

I’ve stopped shopping online, I decided it don’t save me any time at all! My dd has a severe dairy allergy and we were constantly getting the dairy versions as subs! If I’m spending three times the price on vegan Philly I want the vegan one! If I could get the 33p cream cheese I would!

Another victim of same brand substitution. And really don't think it needed a specific note telling them not to do this
Order Tropicana orange juice. It was for a recipe.
They tried to substitute with Tropicana pineapple juice. Not Tesco own, not fresh, nor long life. Seriously not any of the 6 other cartons of orange juice they did. Just Tropicana picked as the vital part! 🍊🍍

And just managed to post this on a thread about a builder somehow!! 🤣

Yea the pickers do make weird subs and you'd think surely Tesco had some kind of proper cake!
I once had no eggs delivered because they couldn't come up with a substitution for organic eggs. I don't even know how I managed to order organic as I never had before. And no it wasn't covid or a holiday or anything.

Not an acceptable substitution. Complain.

I've done a search on "Chocolate Bomb" on the Tesco website and this is what that search returned:
\https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/260645645?_gl=11m7v0mt_upMQ.._gaMTIzODg5NDgxMS4xNzMwMDM5NTUw_ga_33B19D36CY*MTczMDAzOTU0OS4xLjAuMTczMDAzOTU0OS4wLjAuMTM3MDc2MTc1NA..

Not at all like a birthday cake and a lot like a Christmas Pudding instead.

Think you have to spend £40 though, so that’s an awful lot of makeweight items to add

Sorry OP, but YABU in one of two ways:

1. To have a DH who is capable of going out shopping and spending more than 30 mins on the task (forgiven if you live very remotely)
2. Not to have already told us about DH's own substitution, WITH PICTURES.

😀

I was dumbfounded when Asda substituted little beef Wellington pastry parcels, for the pigs in blankets that I'd ordered for our Christmas dinner a few years ago.
Sacrilege, I tell you!
Our delivery driver was also outraged, bless him! 😂
Luckily, I was able to find some in our local Co-Op otherwise I suspect there would have been a mutiny at the dinner table that year!

Once had a can of mens deodorant substituted with a swede. Not another brand, or even a woman’s deodorant. A fricking swede.

So yeah, I think you should have been given a celebration cake of some sort…

@Mostlyoblivious we don't have anything like Deliveroo or Uber Eats in this area. The only thing on there is if local takeaways that other own deliveries are registered with them! We are in a very small town sadly.

No Whoosh unfortunately.

Husband found a half and half cake - half chocolate, half vanilla with jam and white chocolate frosting! That should keep everyone happy!

That's not good at all - frustrating when it's supposed to be something that saves you time.

He may have been stretching the truth but a friend said he once had Ben and Jerry's Phish food ice cream substituted with actual fish food. What a disappointment!

You really do have to wonder how they choose the important element.

LMAO to posting on a thread about a builder though!

I had a look as well after I had a hunch and searched to see if "my" cake was available in the store they pick from. Definitely looks to be part of their Christmas range, so I don't understand how or why they picked it! Especially as it serves 2... so 3 of them serves 6, and I think the cake was served 14 or more!

I think this is the problem:

but I never usually bother to do anything to celebrate my birthday, no one ever thinks to sort a cake out for me (I organise for everyone else's birthday in the house to make sure there's a cake they like) and I've not been having a great time lately so this has just really disappointed me.

Why can't a DC sort your cake for you? Why don't you celebrate tort birthday? What would you like your birthday to look like? All things to think about.

And why are you cooking a massive roast when you're stressed? Does that make you happy?

Be kind to yourself. And happy birthday.

I used to work on home shopping at Asda and some of the subs were weird. They can override it but often don't.
A family member had a great sub though, dog food instead of cat food. I struggle to believe there wasn't a single tin of cat food in the shop!

Good points. He has been out, and has picked up THREE cakes for me 😂😂😂

One is a half and half chocolate and white chocolate cake, the white chocolate side essentially being the same as the cake I ordered but only half of it. One is a vanilla cake where it spells happy birthday on the squares you cut, and one is a small, round vanilla and jam cake with fondant icing.

I think my son might be taking cake cake back to uni with him!

I agree there probably was something better that they could have subbed with but having done some online picking myself I know the pressure the pickers are under. The targets give you approximately 20 seconds per item to locate it, scan and pack securely in the tote box, if its unavailable you need to find a sub, and scan that within that 20 seconds. Consistently failing your speed targets results in a talk with the manager. Factoring in things like the best flavours of cake to sub with sounds nice but the reality is getting the orders out on time and not delaying the departure time of the van your order is due on is what will be uppermost in your pickers mind.

You do have to wonder!

I mean there are no words for that one! I can't even see a remote link - at least with mine the word chocolate was there still!

Ugh that would be the worst type of disappointment.

My delivery driver told me he once delivered condoms as a substitute for a pregnancy test... the recipient pointed out it was a bit like closing the stable door after the horse had bolted.

Not the same but you can do a nice microwave sponge and jazz it up a bit with frosting/icing/whipped cream.

Thank you!

I love cooking (and eating) a roast - doing that doesn't stress me at all, and no-one else here is going to get my roast potatoes quite right so I just do it myself. Husband does help by preparing the veg.

My birthday I just hate being centre of attention. I don't know what it stems from, but I just hate it. Yet I love to make other peoples birthdays feel special.

My youngest child is a bit too young to go by himself to buy a cake (and the supermarket is about a 40/50 min round trip walking). I'm sure middle or eldest would have gone if I had asked them. My husband asked me if I wanted cake and then went and got some. He said after I only needed to ask - but this is the point, why do I always need to ask? Why not think for themselves?