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

Definitely talk to them. They should have replaced the item with another non alcoholic item. People don't drink for a variety of reasons including myself and this could have been dangerous.

I'd make them aware rather than complain.

You should make them aware.
Yes the picker was probably given a list of substitutes by "the system " but the system is only as good as it's programming and inputs, which are done by humans trying to do a good job, and sometimes failing.
This error is almost certainly a result of the original item being described as e.g. "Prosecco, non alcoholic" i.e. a sub-set of a list of Prosecco options, rather than "Non-Alcoholic, Prosecco" i.e. a subset of the range of non-alcoholic-versions of alcoholic drinks, (which should, if done properly be separate from regular soft drinks like juice, sodas, squashes etc.).
As an IT professional, I would totally want to know about this kind of stuff, as either it's a problem with my product, that I can correct in the next rollout, or it means the users of my product (data entry bit) aren't using it properly, and need a refresher.

The people doing the picking are on minimum wage and a schedule. They are not mind-readers and don't know why you buy 0% alcohol (except you probably like the taste of alcohol e.g. I buy 0% gin because it tastes like gin but has fewer calories and I don't get tipsy when I don't want to - so alcohol would be acceptable to me, I'd just put it away with the other stuff and go out and buy 0% as well, feeling slightly irritated but nothing more). I am not sure lemon wipes are an acceptable sub for lemon juice and I have sent back e.g. chicken livers (Lord, where did they find them? I never can if I want them!) instead of calves' liver. If you want your exact needs go shopping yourself.
OP needs to get over herself and not expect an organisation to understand her specific needs all the time. If she wants 0% alcohol then she needs to go to Tesco and buy it, not expect some other woman (and it's usually a woman in such low paid work) to slow down and consider the options when she needs to fill several people's shopping lists this hour and her feet hurt, she's tired, the kids were awkward at tea and she is doing this during night or early hours of the morning to pay the rent. My thinking she can do otherwise and not pick up the alcoholic gin which is on the next shelf to sub for my 0% gin is a luxury belief, I feel.

I think in general shitty substitutions are the clients' problem to accept or refuse, but they really shouldn't swap an unregulated product for a regulated addictive one, that's not on.

I don't think anyone expects the choice to be made by the individual minimum wage worker. I think we'd want supermarkets to make these substitutions impossible in whatever system they have.
If they replace lemons with lemon wipes there's clearly some form of automation there, not a minimum wage worked making all of it up as they go.

Surely, according to the alcohol sale laws, an intrinsic part of it must be that only adults who have actively chosen to buy alcohol (and also complied with the other regulations) can be sold it?

Considering how damaging alcohol can potentially be, it sounds a terrible state of affairs to be effectively foisting it on to people who haven't demonstrated an express wish to buy it.

> this one was a particularly special one
So why allow substitutions for it?

I don't think that you should "complain" as such but it would be a good idea to let them know that its inapropriate

Jesus!! I’ve had some stupid swaps - lemon washing up liquid for actual lemons etc but that’s dreadful!! Do make them aware, that’s really important!

Congratulations on your sobriety, OP. Keep going!

It was inappropriate.

I wouldn't "complain", but would contact to make them aware. It is likely someone has made a mistake and they can do some "re-training".

OP, I would definitely make them aware. I have the theory that most of the supermarket “picking” is done by young people so they don’t have a clue (I once had dried dill as a substitute for fresh parsley - I could have understood dried parsley!!) but alcohol as a substitute for low or no alcohol is a serious mistake. You should let the supermarket know - be nice about it, but it could be the difference between someone’s health and sobriety, and causing them to fall off the wagon.

I work dot com at tesco and I would never have done this.

On our pick handsets it automatically offers a substitution, mostly it's a sensible sub but from time to time these ridiculous options get through. We are supposed to check what the customer has ordered and use our common sense, bigger and better is the motto.

It's entirely down to whoever picked your shopping and your branch will be able to find out which picker it was and speak to them. It's important that you feed this back to your actual branch. Don't be fobbed off.

Just a note - as pickers we are on a really tight schedule, we have times per trolley, we're timed on how quickly we swap full trolleys for a new empty one and we're pulled up on availability ( which is absolutely nothing to do with us but 🤷🏼‍♀️). Pickers quite often simply scan what the device tells them without even reading what it is because were constantly told hurry up.

Not an excuse at all but you can see how it could have slipped through the net.

I accidentally clicked you are being unreasonable. But you are definitely not being unreasonable in my opinion

@tigerlady14 YANBU. I’m also surprised as the AF versions are subject to the same licensing laws in Scotland.

that aside - as a former problem drinker I’d have been upset if that happened to me when I wasn’t secure in my sobriety- I once ordered a slim line tonic in a restaurant and the waitress asked me if I wanted “a wee gin slipped into it” - I was furious at the time and said “I’m actually in recovery so no thanks” - I hope she learned from it - not in a nasty way, genuinely in recognising that alcohol should not be pushed onto people.

I’d complain to be honest - it’s poor customer service at the very least.

And congrats on your sobriety - I’m only about 9 months (I wasn’t “really bad” but it was bad enough) in but planning on being AF for the long haul - life is just soooo much better!

That could derail a recovering alcoholic so definitely complain

At tesco you can see that it's offering a sub and we can override that.

This is exactly what I thought that its picked by a computer not a person and they just pick whats on the screen which is why people get some pretty random substitutions

I think this is a completely ridiculous substitution and you did really well to refuse it. I would be telling my local Tescos because it sounds like some training is needed on the implications of this kind of substitution. There is normally a very good reason someone doesn’t want it to contain alcohol and it could be frustrating for many reasons.

You can make a note on your substitutions. Maybe, 'only substitute with non alcoholic drinks please' I agree, they should have thought it through a bit more though.

This isn't accurate. We can over ride the suggestions and use our common sense .

Congrats on your recovery! You certainly need to alert them to their error of subbing non-alcohol with alcohol, as this is negligent.

However, it's worth noting that 0% versions are not completely alcohol-free, so are probably best avoided altogether. Drinkaware.co.uk actually states:
'Alcohol-free drinks can contain a small amount of alcohol (up to 0.5% ABV). They aren't suitable if you’re alcohol dependent or in recovery, or need or want to avoid alcohol for any other reason.'

This, and it's why they are still age restricted as they do contain a small amount of alcohol

Definitely report it. You're absolutely amazing for being so strong. Congratulations on your sobriety - you've changed your life.

I think that's fair to complain about. I was in my local tesco recently and there were alcoholic ciders mixed in with the non-alcoholic ciders. I don't drink so usually opt for the non alcoholic but I didn't realise initially until I clocked it was wrong when it was in my trolley. If someone drank it without realising and then drove etc that could cause a real problem. So I flagged it with the staff who tbh I don't think really understood why I was making it an issue.