Oh no I've over spent massively

[Greensleevevssnotnose]

I feel such an idiot

A few weeks ago with our Tesco order we got the preorder food catalogue.

It looked yummy and so I picked out what I liked the look of and put it in my basket for the Christmas delivery. I have been asking my oh to go through it and make the choice, which trifle. Which cake. Which meat etc for a few days and now he's finished work he sat down to do it last night

Only to find out it can't be changed as it has already been ordered. The cost is horrendous but the waste is awful. There are two of us, no guests and we have several trifles, logs, cakes cheeseboards. Party food, joints of meat, all 8 portions! The intention was to choose one of each.

I felt ill when he told me, luckily he was calm about it. Christmas is gonna last into February at this rate. Please tell me I'm not the only one?

I'm sure if you contact M&S customer services and ask very very nicely and you do it today you'll be able to cancel.

They might initially say that you can't cancel because they won't be able to resell it because all the slots have gone, so you might have to plead poverty or invent a close relative who died last night and you've got to get a fight to some far flung place asap but I'm sure it's possible.

I've started using toilet rolls to hold delivery slots since I had a delivery that mostly contained a bottle of champagne.

Sainsbury’s just accept back anything you no longer want. Refund comes through a couple of days later. Check the website, I’d be surprised if you can’t do this at Tesco.

So?? Rather lose the slot than over spend so much and have potential waste!?

The sooner you ring customer services the better.
Id imagine they will remove the items for you if you say today.

If not, cancel the order.

Yes, you’ll lose the slot, but that’s the consequence of the mess up. If you can’t cancel a few items, you face a choice of a big bill or losing the slot…your choice. However, you can avoid the huge cost by cancelling so you’re not doomed to pay it if you choose to cancel.

Good luck. Let us know what they say when you ring. You really won’t be the only one calling who has done this.

Although I am thinking that if it was part of a special range and you handed in your order to the store, it would be the same scenario, you couldn't cancel.

I didn't realise at first that it was part of a special party/festive range. That explains the problem. I think it's a choice of ask Tesco to take pity on you and if not, freeze what you can and give away the rest.

And it is better to ring than to simply wait until the day with a plan to return stuff to driver. Fair enough if it’s subs you don’t want or a genuine one item error, but this stuff that’s returned at that point will be binned. It might not cost you, but it costs Tesco and therefore all of us and is a terrible waste. All of that can be avoided in all liklihood by just ringing and telling them your error, apologising and asking if they can remove the stuff. They probably will if you do it ASAP.

@Needmorelego

no, usually you can add/delete stuff or cancel the order up to 11:46

BUT THE SPECIAL CHRISTMAS. PRE ORDER items you can't as they've ordered them in for you!!

however, customer services at Tesco are brilliant, they may be able to help!!

@Greensleevevssnotnose check all your unwanted stuff is pre order, you may have a mix then can delete the other stuff. Try customer services. Ask friends/family/neighbours, as lots of people will still have stuff to buy & it won't matter if it doesn't arrive until Christmas Eve if they know it's coming.

I think if I do this I will add toilet rolls AND champagne, as I can use both (though probably not at the same time )

I appreciate that you don’t want to lose your slot or your own Christmas treats.
In your shoes I would directly contact the local food bank or a local church or local Age UK branch or similar charity and explain and see if someone will collect the surplus items after delivery so they can drop to someone/people in need.

I would cancel the whole lot if they'll let you

@MrsMontyD That's an excellent idea, I'm stealing that! I usually hold my slots with wine and gin

Just want to say I did the same during 2020, for me it worked out as I portioned it all and gave it as Christmas presents to my family, but we still had loads to eat.

I use Tesco delivery. They sent a reminder by text on Wednesday advising that we should ensure any 'Festive To Order' items we wanted were in the basket by 11:45pm. Other items can be amended/added up until 11:45pm on the day prior to delivery.

For those suggesting just handing stuff back to the driver .... would you be happy for your husband/partner at 4/5pm on Christmas Eve to be hanging about whilst someone went through their order to reject masses of items? Doubt it.

Hopefully, customer services will be able to assist given it's been an obvious and genuine error by OP/OP husband.

That might be the best plan

If it helps you I've done this before (not at Xmas time) where I've booked an Ocado delivery with a bottle of Bollinger to meet the minimum spend, asked DH to update basket as it was his turn to do the food shop and guess what the lovely Ocado man turned up with...yep, just the one bottle of Bolly.

M&S customer services are great but even their powers don’t extend to cancelling a Tesco order

We accidentally did exactly this a few years ago, with about £150 of pre order festive items (DH had just added things he liked the look of with the intention of whittling it down nearer the time)

We phoned up Tesco customer services & were super apologetic - they happily amended the order so we kept only 2 of the pre order things, didn't have to lose the slot at all. Definitely call them - they were very nice about it!

Cake freezes surprisingly well. Our wedding cake maker told us that and we dined on cake for months.

Options for you, OP:

• Figure out what you can afford to give away, and get in touch with a food bank to ensure no waste/you can share what you can with other families
• Do you have nice neighbours? A neighbourhood WhatsApp group? Throw a spontaneous Twixtmas get-together – invite everyone, even that wanker at No.92!
• Message everyone you know, put it on FB, etc. Plenty of people haven’t got organised for Christmas yet and would buy off you. At uni a friend once did an online shop and got her g/kg mixed up and received more or less a WHEEL of Parmesan. She took orders and we all bought some from her, cut to price on a little kitchen scale.
• Chest freezer as planned and just live like kings for 2023! But also throw a few parties.

How wasteful, what happens to the returned food? I bet it doesn’t get put back on the shelf, probably gets dumped. You seem to think it’s really funny to waste everyone’s time and waste food. I think the delivery drivers do know you, and probably have a not very flattering nickname for you too.

Given how many people reserve a slot with premium alcohol, it would make sense for the supermarkets to design this in with an expensive 'bookmark bottle'. That way, staff would know that any orders with this item still in the basket hadn't been finalised.

Is this a Click & Collect (I didn't think Tesco deliver on Christmas Eve?). I'm sure you can hand items back at collection and get a refund.

@Greensleevevssnotnose Don't worry I've done the same with my weekly shop orders, and the supermarkets must get this kind of mistake all the time you surely can't be the only one! The good thing is you've realised now and you still have a week til delivery, I honestly think Tesco would understand if you just call them and explain. Do it asap and hopefully they will remove some of the items for you, I know the food is ordered specifically for you but surely it can still get re-sold somehow? Even if not they probably give things to staff as freebies or to food banks? Just grovel a bit and see what they say

I would sort out which bits you want to keep and then ring them up about cancelling the rest