Inappropriate Tesco substitute! WIBU to complain?

[tigerlady14]

tw: mention of alcoholism

100% fine with being told I’m being very silly and overreacting which I think might be likely due to the emotional circumstances surrounding this, but I need some clearheaded opinions as my knee jerk reaction tells me this is really inappropriate.
For background I am a recovering alcoholic and looking forwards to celebrating 2.5 years of sobriety this week. For a treat I decided to add a pretty expensive “premium” alcohol-free beverage to my weekly Tesco order. I drink alcohol-free drinks quite often but this one was a particularly special one to mark the significant occasion for me (this is why I think I may be BU as I might be particularly sensitive due to the nature of the purchase.)
I was therefore really surprised to see that they had substituted this with the original, alcohol equivalent when my order arrived! I of course refused the substitution and they took it away with no problems so happy to be told that I should accept this as the end of it, but I can’t help but feeling a sense that this substitution is really quite inappropriate.
I am aware that when placing the order you can select if you want substitutions or not, in this case I chose to allow substitutions as I expected to receive something similarly alcohol-free if they didn’t have the item in stock. It didn’t cross my mind that they might substitute it with alcohol, particularly as I live in Scotland and there is a clear pop up on the website indicating that alcohol cannot be purchased on orders being delivered prior to 10am (the slot was 8-9am) due to licensing laws.
Therefore I am wondering WIBU to complain about this substitution, both due to the inappropriate nature of it as well as the violation of licensing laws? I can’t imagine any situation where someone would have ordered an alcohol free drink and would be happy to receive one with alcohol, it just seems wholly unsuitable. However as I say this is obviously quite emotional for me so happy to be told I am being silly.

YANBU: complain to make them aware of the issue and so that they might take it into consideration in future
YABU: you are overreacting, no harm was done as the substitution was removed and refunded

I would make them aware.

I'm nearly 6 years sober. And while it showing up wouldn't be an issue for me, it would piss me off. It is not an appropriate sub either imo.

Let them know.
And yes, use a complaint to do it - it is their official feedback way.

It might not change anything in a short run, but there is a hope. Without people telling them, there won't be.

Congratulations on 2.5 years.

Yes definitely make them aware. Lots of people could not accept alcohol and as you say it's outside of the licensing laws too.

Substitutions are bizarrely shit. I’ve had gluten free bread substituted with regular bread. No one is buying gf bread unless they have to! And they’ve probably had to walk to a different section of the shop to get to the regular bread

Well done!

not only on your sobriety but for rejecting and standing up for the fact that such a substitution is inappropriate. You are significantly far from where you began and speaking up for yourself and others is worthwhile

I'd mention it to them.
They need to make staff aware.
Congratulations on your sobriety.

Well done.

And it’s definitely reasonable to raise it as customer feedback. It’s possible to provide feedback without it being a complaint.

Sorry but I think that your are wrong about the principle.

If Tescos have taken the pament and made the delivery they have sold the item and will process a refund. Their system should not allow the item to be included in a delivery slot which breaks the terms of their licensing. The contract was done once the delivery arrived.

The shop has an extra obligation when selling under a licence.
The picker should not be substitute items which are restricted when items which have no special conditions attached are not available. If they would not substitute can of beer for a fizzy can they should not be substitute in a licenced item for anything.

Definitely make them aware and the reasons why.

Absolutely complain. It’s common sense to not replace alcohol free with alcohol. They need to add this into shopping order system. Good on you for not having alcohol in your system.

My husband works for Asda - you can complain, but it's not the pickers who choose the substitutes.

Their hand held device that tells them what to pick updates stock levels automatically and when that item is out of stock the system picks the substitute. The pickers don't know what is a sub and what isn't. (That's how it works at Asda).

You'd be better putting in you don't want substitutes.

Yanbu - this is crap and thoughtless. I am not an alcoholic but I had the same thing with Sainsbury's; I ordered a bottle of nosecco and they sent some really cheap cava or something. I did complain because my mother was an alcoholic and I totally see how this could lead to problems

Edit to add that it isn't the pickers' fault, but they need to fix their algorithm or whatever it is that suggests the substitution

I absolutely would flag that up with them. It’s an irresponsible business decision. It would not be difficult to have a blanket ban on not substituting alcohol.

You can let them know, but there is an option to turn off substitutions or add notes for individual items you can use in future.

YABU. They had no way of knowing you were a recovering alcoholic, they took it away, no harm done 🤷‍♀️ I mean, I guess you could complain that they brought the alcohol before 10am but what would that achieve apart from spoiling your big celebration this week? Just enjoy being 2.5 years sober and forget about it.

So you’d accept wine when you’d ordered fruit juice or grapes Really?? Can’t you understand about non alcoholic products being different to alcoholic products?

Massive congratulations on your sobriety.
You definitely need to complain to Tesco.
I used to be a dot com picker and then manager and substituting alcohol for a non alcoholic product is a huge no no. Even more so in Scotland due to the licensing laws.
Also vegetarian products should never be subbed with meat, vegan not subbed with meat or vegetarian and Free From not subbed with regular. Of course mistakes can be made by over worked or inexperienced staff but the branch really needs to know that these kind of mistakes are happening.

Don't Tesco let you suggest substitution alternatives on an item by item basis? Other online deliveries do.

I would email and let them know. However I’m not sure what will change, as the ‘picker’ is given a list of substitutions to choose from when an item is out of stock. It’s on their handheld computer system.

Yeah, makes sense it's not the pickers who chooses, that would cause more chaos, not less.
However, it just means that instead of staff training, the desirable outcome is the system being configured to not replace non-alcoholic with alcoholic.

It’s not the staff who choose the substitute .. they get a list on their handheld computer device and they have to substitute with an item that is listed. The computer algorithm needs changing, as a pp mentioned.

Just wanted to say that pickers can override the suggested substitution if it’s something weird that the system throws up. They should be trained on acceptable swaps and to also use their common sense.

Not unreasonable in any way. You shouldn't even attempt to deliver alcohol to a home unless it has been specifically ordered by an adult.

Alcohol is potentially a contentious product and lots of people don't drink it, or even want it in their homes, for very good reasons - health, ethical, religious, or other personal circumstances.

It was probably a mistake rather than a deliberate sabotage; but it is a very bad and concerning mistake, and one that betrays an urgent need for training and/or lack of care on the part of the picker.

Surely the point of substitutions is that e.g. you order Heinz beans and they offer you Tesco beans; or you order whole milk and they offer you semi-skimmed; or you order sprouts and they offer you a cabbage. Reasonable alternative choices that a lot of people might well make if they were in the shop themselves.

Alcohol-free adult-targeted drinks are a very different category of product from standard alcoholic ones. In principle, they have far more in common with lemonade or Appletise than with normal wine or beer. Just like Glamorgan sausages are very different from pork sausages. If somebody ordered a product from their Free-from range, would they not stop to wonder why that clear choice may have been made and just send regular cake or bread anyway?

I don't know about the 10am rule thing but it's bloomin obvious that you don't sub a non alcoholic product with an alcoholic one.

Being a recovering alcoholic isn't even relevant, it's common sense

I think it’s the opposite of ‘in principle’. Meat instead of vegan, gluten instead of gluten free, alcohol instead on non-alcohol etc is surely the opposites.