Beware of online grocery shopping at Sainsburys

[Nannyelizabeth]

Be aware that if you place an online grocery order it's likely that you will not get a fair substitution if the deal has changed or the items are out of stock.
I ordered 2 packs of 24 cans of coke for £7.50 each
these were substituted for 2 packs of 18 cans at £9.50 each
Sainsbury issued a credit of £4.00 that can only be used online. Other supermarkets give an automatic instant refund…but then other supermarkets ( like Tesco) substitute for the same value or more NEVER less.
I received 12 less cans which is not compensated in the refund. On collection I asked the member of staff if this shortfall would be compensated and he assured me that it would. Other wise I would have refused to accept the substitution. When I complained the response was that I was sent an email shortly prior to the collection outlining the substitution and should have refused. I was out and did not check my emails - also I have never been shortchanged by other supermarkets so I wasn't expecting it now!

Tesco do sub less. It happens a lot to me. One of our drivers is awesome and checks every sub and refunds it if you are even slightly worse off as a result - then lets you keep it. But on the whole it happens far too often. The amount of times I’ve ordered something like an extra large chicken and it’s been subbed with one smaller - that doesn’t hell me when I need if for that days dinner.

So don’t think the grass is greener elsewhere!

You could always try going physically into a shop for the deals. Sounds like it's more trouble than it's worth.

Just untick subs. Also I have got refunds from them before for shopping that was missing. Their call centre is in India and sometimes it's a pretty long and dull process getting it sorted on the phone. I don't like Sainsbury's though. I only use it because Tesco never have any slots for about two weeks?!

Some guy accused me of stealing a 49p pastie from Sainsbury's the other week. He forced me to open my bag and show my medication and my period products. Wanker.

Yeah I’m so fed up of Sainsbury’s substitutes. I ordered a 12 pack of bacon at the weekend, which was on offer. They subbed it for one 6 pack, which cost the same. It was so annoying - surely they should have sent two of the 6 packs, and given me the cost difference in a voucher. I could then have decided whether or not to keep them. Presumably they didn’t sent me two packs because they don’t want to have to refund the difference.

Yes, I found this with Sainsbury's a few years ago. Very annoying that they only give you a voucher too, so you are forced to go back next time if you want the refund! I don't know how they get away with it.

This is why I never use them online, but occasionally I will shop in store there - they do have some good products tbf. Also they're very good on fruit and veg.

I have always used Morrisons as they used a warehouse system like Ocado but they have moved me to a store based delivery and now I have loads of subs so I think I need to move to Ocado.

You can always hand the subs back for any reason with Sainsburys - you don’t have to accept them.

I don't think ANY of the other supermarkets are any better to be honest. I agree with you that you lost out, but really the best way to deal with that is to refuse the substitutions. It's not ideal, but it's the downside of ordering online for the convenience. I get my supermarket shopping delivered from an online order, because I still prefer the convenience, even if sometimes I don't get everything I ordered.

Yes, agree with this. There’s always an email earlier on of the day of your delivery, or you can check it on the app too, and look for substitutions, so you can see if you’re happy with them or not. If not they get sent back when the delivery person arrives.
We order weekly from them so credit to the account works fine for us when that happens, as we’ll be using it the next week. Usually they have everything though, and most subs have been sensible.

Both of my children have been ‘pickers’ for Tesco and they were trained to always substitute with something better, in terms of quantity or quality.
They then price match it to the cost of the original item. It’s worked pretty well in my experience, but I suppose I might just be lucky with my local shop.
Sainsbury says it will provide a voucher to cover the difference to be used for a future shop. I think I read them describe this as a ‘good’ bit about substitutions.
When my son was a driver for Asda their policy seemed to be to sub the cheapest possible alternative.
It’s all well and good that it can be handed back for a refund - in 3-5 working days, but I assume most of us order things we actually need.

I'm the same as you. Weekly shops, so a voucher is fine. And I send back any subs which aren't a good deal.

@DiscoBob, you can arrange your Sainsbury's refund online now, you don't have to call them.

There seemed to be a definite policy change at one point - in that scenario previously I'd have received 2 x 18 pack (or 2 x 12 pack ) etc and the voucher cover the difference. Now I am very careful to keep an eye for subs like this. Though I'd prefer they bring something and I can always reject it, a pain for me if they come empty handed and it was required before I'm nearby a shop to replace. That said now that I always have a morning delivery I find subs to be unusual and I can't remember the last time I ended up having to reject because of this

I’ve always had a refund back to the card I paid with, I’ve had squashed tomatoes, the plastic lid of a yogurt was unsealed, overly bent tins etc.

And all my subs are unticked permanently. There’s never anything I desperately need, I just buy food I always use, and cook something else.

Sainsbury's are awful. just wish I could afford Ocado... they are so good

Sainsbury's are rubbish with substitutions. I untick the substitute box if the item is on offer.

My Sainsbos is pretty good. Certainly better than Tesco or Asda. I don’t particularly like Morrisons either as their pet food isn’t as good as Sainsbos (according to my fussy bunch anyway), but my bf likes them so we use them too.

I have a sainsburys delivery pass and luckily, the shop its picked from is massive, so I rarely get subs. I do think its terrible that you don't get an automatic refund though. I'm sure they used to years ago and the voucher thing is fairly new.

I've often refused subs due to them costing more or being ridiculous.

There is an option to get a refund quicker or for other items. You google sainsburys refund, type in the order number and look up the item you want a refund for. There is a drop down list- something like 'short date', 'damaged', 'unsuitable substitute' etc. I've only done this when spinach was 2 days out of date and was a rotten sludge in the bag, and also when my spring onions were subbed for daffodils!

Ah ha, thank you for that! I remember trying before and couldn't seem to do it. I just ordered from them again, for my sins! No subs. So I may get no flipping shopping! 🤣

I find it is swings and roundabouts with most of them. Sometimes you are better off, sometimes worse, but usually better off.

Always check your receipt prior to delivery/ collection so that you aren't feeling flustered and have time to work out whether or not to reject the sub.

I have used Ocado, Tesco and Sainsbury's deliveries regularly for 20 years. Over time the subs policies have changed, admittedly for the worse as there used to be a guarantee with some that you'd not be worse off.

Maybe we've been lucky but Sainsbury's is the only online delivery service that has never let us down. We've never had a bad substitution and damaged items (like leaking milk) have been refunded quickly.

We find Ocado veg is terrible and the milk is never fresh; it goes sour within a couple of days.
With Morrisons we've had a complete no-show and a 9pm delivery arrive at 11.45pm when we'd already given up and gone to bed.
We've also had a Tesco delivery, where we'd ordered 6 x 4 pint bottles of milk and they delivered the rest of our order, but no milk at all.

I think sometimes it depends where you are, but Sainsbury's is the only one we trust these days.

Sainsbury seem to have gone downhill lately. Poor subs, poor quality and rubbish refunds.

Some people may be housebound, so are dependent on online ordering.

For myself, I always ensure I uncheck the (checked by default) "Accept substitutes" checkbox. It's just more trouble than it's worth.

Annoying, as they were the best of a bad bunch.

I think it must really depend on your local store / local pickers. Ours has been consistently reliable for several years now.

Never had any problems with them and I’ve been shopping with them weekly for the past ten years.

You get an email informing you of the subs. If you don’t want them turn them down, it’s not hard.

Plus at least the substitute is a similar product, unlike Ocado who substituted my pack of custard tarts for dairylea dunkers, and my holandaise sauce for bread sauce.