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!

Wow. Imagine if you were really low on baby formula and unable to get to a shop (eg just had a CS and unable to drive) or imagine if you had a recovering alcoholic in the house....

I'd have been the same, but my youngest likely would have cried too! What a rubbish sub though!

The other week, I ordered strong wholemeal bread flour from Asda and instead received a chocolate sponge cake 🤣🤣 I do wonder what planet the pickers are on sometimes!

for future op you can click that you don’t want substitutions. But I agree the thought process behind some subs is crazy- my tampons got subbed for cling film once 🤢

My niece had tampons substituted for mushrooms a while ago. Not sure what they were expecting the mushrooms to do! 🧐

Seems a common theme with tampons. Just pick anything else out and hope for the best it seems!😳

I ordered a loaf of bread and received a tinsel Halloween spider as a sub. I’m still trying to work that one out…

Oh this may be my favourite 🤣

My favourite substitute was when i ordered JIF squeezy lemon juice and they substituted CIF lemon floor cleaner!

Happy Birthday @Tillow4ever

A song for you!

Have a lovely Dinner with your Family. 🎁 🎂 🎈

WTH! 😆 Try putting that on your pancakes!

I'd say close.... but only if you had wanted to bake a cake 😂

I deliberately left subs on as I thought if it wasn't available they'd just pick a different cake!

I have gross images now - especially with the previous poster saying about getting cling film instead?!

I’m a regular online shopper and always will be because I hate doing the big food shop but this does annoy me. Recently I got told there were no suitable substitutions for the pizza I had ordered and I’m left wondering if Sainsburys honestly expect me to believe there wasn’t a single other pizza of any variety or size available?

YANBU Op - I think expecting a vanilla sponge with white chocolate is a bit much but a birthday cake or at least a flipping cake of any kind shouldn’t be a problem

Not even remotely logical!

Thank you.... love the song choice 😂😂😂

I completely agrees I absolutely wasn't expecting an alternate white chocolate cake. But an actual cake I didn't think would be too much to ask for!

I’m glad there have been a couple of posters explaining that the pickers have barely anytime on these orders to pick the items and also it’s the handset that throws up the substitutions, the pickers don’t have time to hand select the best possible substitutions for your personal shopping basket. Also if you think along the lines that you don’t believe that there was no alternative product that was similar nearby, like a chilled pizza, that could mean the whole refrigeration cabinet has broken and all the stock is out the back, they wouldn’t have the time to go and find it or an alternative for you, they would get in huge trouble and possibly even lose their jobs. Some supermarket pickers have to even do deliveroo type orders as and when they come in, which is more pressure and those that do the picking in the day have customers asking questions also. It’s hard work in a supermarket, but many think those that work there are all thick and potter about, just not true. Lots of us wanted other careers but not everyone can get the opportunities and someone has to do this work and everyone has bills to pay.

Just want you all to know that they are not wandering about with a list with ‘Mr and Mrs Wilcox’s shopping’ written at the top whilst carrying a wicker basket and pondering, I wonder if mrs Wilcox would mind the lemon sponge instead? They are generally treated awfully, I remember it well, shudder!

Some subs just show no thought OP.

A couple of years ago Sainsbury's decded to provide me with a dozen uncooked seabass (still with heads and tails) in place of 3 large packs of smoked salmon. I was no amused.. not what I had in mind for Christmas breakfast..

About five years ago we didn't have an Easter egg hunt.. oh no we had a wispa bar hunt because after all who orders half a dozen easter eggs and actually wanted a couple of multi packs of Whispas?

A packet of toothbrushes once morphed into a pack of razors ..

It's so irritating

Would you have made that substitution though?

my nephew piks for sainsburys i asked about subs he said he ant overridde what it says to sub with seems ridiculous

The 3am starts were a nightmare and I absolutely hated it. I was always getting told off because we were supposed to pick 220 items and hour and mine was never above 190.
I did try to make sure the subs were sensible but honestly didn't have time sometimes. I will never go back to that job.

Probably not, but as a previous poster put, you have very little time to sub an alternative. There are an awful lot of young pickers who are just trying to do their job and it probably wouldn't occur to them that a computer suggestion could be wrong, and it does suggest some very odd subs. I personally care less about whether I achieve my pick rate and more about whether my customer gets roughly what they want.

I spent ages putting my substitutions in "gluten free only" and THEY STILL sent me wheat bread I mean WHY! 😂

Anyway happy birthday 🎂