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!

I was unpacking a delivery that included a decent bottle of wine that I hadn't ordered so I told the driver. He checked my shopping on his device and said I'd not been charged for it and he didn't know who it did belong to, so the best thing to do would be pretend he hadn't seen it and told me to enjoy drinking it!

I would never dream of an on line order for an event - things happen
Just go to the shop

I’ve been using Sainsbury’s delivery for about 15 years and they’ve always been fantastic. On the rare occasion the driver has been 5 mins outside the time slot they’ve called me.

I've been quite pleased with the service generally. In all the years I've ordered form them online they've only cancelled once due to heavy snow which was understandable. They've only been late a few times and each time I've had a call from my local store to explain. Maybe its area dependent?

There is definitely a technique to online grocery shopping and you can't rely on specific items because you don't know if they will be in stock or not. If I need something desperately I'll order two different brands to make sure at least one will come.

Since living alone (empty nester) I treat myself to Ocado, never had any missing or substituted items or any other issues. Only annoying thing was the Christmas slots. I went online as soon as I got a notification but the 19th was the latest available date, the Christmas dinner items weren’t available till the 20th so had to cancel. I haven’t used Sainsbury’s delivery for years as I found Tesco to be better.

I had a very similar issue with Sainsburys at Easter and the after service was shocking. No explanation for the failed delivery and the same disinterested ‘we’ll refund you in five working days’. I did ask why it was that they could take payment instantly but it took five days to pay it back but again, totally disinterested. For many people that delay would mean they have no money to do any more shopping. I switched to Morrisons. They’re reliable, the sell by dates are good and the drivers very helpful. They’ve also recently launched ‘Morrisons Now’ which is like Tesco Whoosh twenty minute deliveries but without the inflated prices.

Sainsbury’s did this to us before too-no warning, little apology. However, locally it’s still the best supermarket with very fresh fruit and veg and a good range. So I still use them.

Sorry you've had this issue op but I expect there will be similar stories relating the other supermarkets too. I've had a shop delivered every week from Sainsbury's for over 10 years and have never had a delivery not show up.

Ive had sainsburys deliveries for a decade with no issue.

I would say that though that late night orders are much more likely to have missing stuff/substitutions imho.

I also wouldnt rely on a delivery for a party etc. I would get everything a couple of days before.

I agree. I was a big Sainsbury’s shopper. Almost £700 a month.

I tried to book a delivery saver after third child was born. It wouldn’t work over and over again online, my slot would never confirm. I rang customer service 3 times. In the end they said they could just refund me the delivery save £50 and I could choose another supermarket.

i went to Tesco. Who’s never let me down. And we spend £800 a month now and Sainsbury’s lost that money… almost 5 years of business with them down the drain and they couldn’t have been worse at retaining my custom

To be honest I’ve been let down by them too many times though click and collect party food rather than delivery so I use Waitrose now

Me too. I just said in my recent post I never get subs or missing items. I’m a relatively new customer though, only started regular orders (about two a month) earlier this year, but so far very happy with it.

I had a very similar experience with Sainsbury’s. Ordered sandwiches well in advance for a buffet and on the actual day they got in touch to say they couldn’t deliver them after all.

Don’t do deliveries but did use SmartShop which worked perfectly… except now we have to use the Sainsburys app which is not as good and not as reliable … grrrr. We have a big Tescos half a mile away so I’m using them now

Very true, let’s shut down every discussion except the ones about illness and death.

Yes you’re being ridiculously unreasonable to tell the whole of MN not to use Sainsbury’s because of one bad experience.

All you do is get a load of people who probably work for Ocado or Morrisons saying everyone should switch to them. I just got a delivery from Sainsbury’s and they were really good. Maybe everyone should switch from Morrisons and use them. Their beef bourguignon was absolutely delicious.

Are you being unreasonable for telling us to boycott a massive grocery store company because your poor planning and an isolated incident ruined your dinner... Honestly YABU

I have been using Ocado since before the pandemic lockdowns. I used to use them to supplement my Sainsbury's big shop but then Sainsbury's gave up stocking many of the allergy friendly brands that I use so I now get most things from Ocado in a weekly delivery. I can honestly say that despite living in an awkward location they have never missed a delivery. On one snowy occasion the driver rang to ask if I could meet him at the point nearest to my house that he could reach. I took the big 4x4 and just loaded everything into that.
Occasionally there are missing/substituted items but nothing major. I have stopped ordering chicken from them after 2 were still in date but unusable but that is the only real.problem
A friend did have several bags delivered that shouldn't have been in her order
She rang CS immediately and told them but they told her to keep it all. I'm not sure what the other customer did without their order though.

I haven’t had to ask for a refund for a while.

That's really annoying OP.

TBH I use Sainsburys regularly and never had a problem, not found them any worse than any of the other big supermarkets - actually find them better than Asda and Tesco.

The other day they were meant to deliver between 8-9pm and we got a text message saying really sorry but we'll be with you by 9:06pm! (And they were).

So that was quite good really, almost felt unnecessarily communicative over a few minutes delay.

I won't stop using sainsbury's because you had a failed delivery. They refunded you in full with no pushback which is good. Although the delivery charge is a voucher it is still money back to spend. I wouldn't have risked a late delivery for an event the day before with anyone. Even if a delivery come there is a risk a vital item is out of stock so needed a shop run.

I've used sainsbury's delivery many of times, mostly just go to the store now as it is close to home. Never had any issues, order with them as I have always had very good expiry dates on everything, heard many of complaints from family about dates from other stores. Once the meatballs had a 2 days expiry date which they told me about by email and in person. I said I wanted them for the weekend so rather a refund and they refunded me and said just have them for free and put them in the freezer.

Who should you use instead? No company, or person, is error proof 100% of the time so take your pick

We get our weekly shop delivered by Sainsbury, think for the last 10 years now. Only once the shopping didn’t turn up because the driver got ill but they called us and re scheduled for the following day. If milk leaks, they refund on the spot, i agree to substitution and get vouchers when it happens.

I had a Similar issue with Sainsbury’s about 20 years ago. I never used their online service again.

Op, people aren't allowed going to boycott Sainsbury's just because of your experience