AIBU to tell you all to avoid Sainsbury's?

[Theresalotgoingon]

I am so frustrated and feel so powerless to do anything about the shocking service I received from Sainsbury's so just want to spread the word and tell you all to avoid Sainsbury's grocery delivery if you have any alternative options!

We have a family party today and I booked a £150 grocery delivery to arrive last night between 10-11pm with all the fresh food and drinks for the weekend. 11pm came and went with no communication and their help lines were closed. I waited up until midnight but no delivery.

This morning I rang at 8am as soon as their lines were open - their automated response line asked for my order number which they then told me had been delivered and I had to route through several options to actually speak to someone. Finally getting through to someone and they offer no explanation or apology for the totally missed order and said they'd refund £146 to my card in 5 working days! The delivery fee would have to be a gift voucher! So not even a full refund! I have pushed back on this but now have to wait 72 hours for another team to call me to process the £4 delivery fee. They have offered me a £5 voucher good will voucher for the poor service.

I know that issues happen - drivers get sick, they may run out of time etc but the total lack of communication and understanding from the store / company makes me so frustrated. Anyway I went out this morning at 7am to go and buy everything else and will just have to put it behind me. Who else should I use going forward because I'll never book with Sainsbury's again!

We had always shopped at Sainsburys but in Covid they wouldn't deliver to us although we should have been on the priority list, I think it was because we had always shopped in store before but being at high risk we couldn't go in. Although we had rarely used Tesco they were happy to put us on their list and we have rarely used Sainsburys since.

That’s a really risky delivery time as others have said - you could have had substitutions or missing items even if it had been delivered, with not much time to spare.

I never go into Sainsbury’s if I can help it; all of their stores seem grotty to me.

I always use Ocado, they have almost no issues ever.

This thread is a great advert for going and doing your shopping in person 😆

Sainsbury’s are shit, there was another post on here recently about their customer service

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5582783-to-think-this-is-terrible-of-the-supermarket?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=app_share

This is the reason I stopped using Ocado, too many missed deliveries. I’ve not had that problem with Waitrose, they even call if they’re going to be 10 minutes late.

I occasionally use Tesco and not had any issues with them.

Sorry OP, that's really shit. But personally I always do a physical shop for something important like a party. And if I couldn't, I would never cut the delivery slot so fine as the night before. Hope you've managed to sort something out for today.

That’s terrible customer service. I’ve been using Tesco every week for many years and never had a delivery not turn up.

I would not have left it for the night before delivery. That wasn’t well planned. I would have done it for Thursday night in case I needed to get something last minute on Friday.

Just want to put a good word in for Ocado! Been using them since 2013 and never once had an issue. Also have never once had more than 3 missing items, 99 times out of 100, it’s all there.

Morrisons however, I did a massive £200 order for Christmas Eve, only for a bag to be handed to me with 2 items in at 5pm Christmas Eve. I had to race round to the nearest supermarket and do an entire Christmas shop within 30 mins before they closed. No meat, no Christmas pudding, no stuffing, all the good stuff had sold out, it completely ruined Christmas dinner. Never again

That’s so weird, I’ve never had a single missed delivery in the 13 years I’ve used them.

Oh that sounds terrible, Sainsbury's used to be very reliable but they have become so working class coded lately, I wouldn't go anywhere less than Ocado these days.

😂

They have to tell you 5 working days for card refunds. Mine are always next day from Sainsbury's though, when I've sent a sub back.

I rarely have any issues with them but, as a PP said, there will obviously be a % of deliveries which go wrong for whatever reason. You can't expect there not to be really (though I appreciate it's a bugger when you're one of the affected ones).

I find their customer service on X is great. I've not had to ring them for ages (the last time was when I'd forgotten to cancel an order so had to ring to stop it being delivered! 😳).

I've heard all sorts of horror stories on here about every supermarket which offers delivery, to be honest. No supermarket will have 100% perfect deliveries. I've particularly heard awful stories about Asda's customer service (or lack thereof).

Oh, and to the PP who got a frozen turkey on 23 December, none of what you order is reserved for you from most supermarkets (though I believe Waitrose may ensure your turkey is delivered, as it has a cut off period for order change a few days before 'normal' shopping items). If you want a guaranteed turkey, you're better off doing a food to order booking where it is reserved. Plus, you get your turkey out on the evening of 23 Dec to defrost anyway!

Sorry it happened, I can imagine the inconvenience. I had a delivery not turn up once from them, but the van had broken down. They sent a £15 voucher that I absolutely wasn't expecting (I hadn't complained, they left a voicemail explaining), although I did have to ring a few times the following day to re-arrange. They have a lot of deliveries, and in the grand scheme of rubbish to sort in my life it was small fry 😆 If I've an event coming up I tend to spread bet (I don't have a car so rely on deliveries for heavy/bulky). If they have nectar offers on regular use things I find them very good.

Ive never had an issue with sainsburys and any errors have always been resolved fairly and quickly. I usually get an earlier delivery slot than needed in case anything I desperately need is out of stock and I will need to do a quick food shop run in person myself for last bits.

We’ve had this twice with Tesco and they could not have given two hoots both times

I have had excellent service from Sainsbury’s - once I send my delivery to my in-laws instead of me (we sometimes do an online shop for them). The delivery person took the the whole lot back and they refunded without question.

Yes, sometimes items have been missing and you need to check against your order but a quick call and it is refunded - but this is what should happen, rather than it being excellent.

You don't even need to call, you know? They have an online refund service now. If you Google Sainsbury's refund online, it'll take you to the page. You just have to wait a few hours after delivery, as it needs to be marked as delivered by the store (which I assume is when the driver gets back to base).

Well I once used Morrisons for a whoosh type of delivery and they didn’t show. No communication, just no show. When I called the next day they said there was probably no taxi available to deliver it so they cancelled the order.

I don’t have a problem with there being no one to deliver but surely you would tell the customer. It was still showing on my account as pending delivery. Never again!!

This has happened to me about 5 times in the last few months with Tesco. I was most irritated that the advisor on WhatsApp (because that's the only way you can speak to anyone), insinuated it was because I hadn't answered the door. I have a ring doorbell and look out for them anyway as I have to put the dog out the back before answering.

I pointed out, when I eventually got through to a manager, possibly someone in this situation might not have enough to cover more shopping and really they should offer an immediate credit on the account and at least try and make another delivery slot available asap. I don't think he was bothered. I've now cancelled my delivery saver with Tesco and have been using Asda. Unfortunately no Ocado in my area!

YABU to tell other people not to shop somewhere because you had bad service once.

I’ve used Sainsbury’s home delivery for nearly a decade and they’ve been a godsend through the baby years, single parenting and now cancer treatment.

I use Ocado and they are really precise on delivery time and I have never had any substitutions.

Very frustrating for you. But I’m not sure you are being entirely reasonable in suggesting everyone stop using Sainsbury’s because you have had one dreadful experience!

For the future, you might find it helpful to know that the most reliable delivery service is Ocado. They use a (patented, I believe) system which “checks out” stock in real time as you order, so there are very rarely substitutions or omissions. I have been using them once or twice a week for about 6 years and in all that time I have only had two late deliveries (and zero no-shows). And on the rare occasion something has not been up to scratch, their customer service has been excellent.