Fucking cheating bastards Sainsbury’s and their substitute price promise

[firsttimemama]

I have had Sainsbury’s delivery for years. In the last few months I have noticed they have been ripping me off, on this scheme. Anyone else notice? So I order 6 x juice carton at say £3, not in stock, they send 3 instead, cost £2, so no refund, same with dog food. I order 5 kg because it is better value than 2.5kg, they sub me with 1 x 2.5 kg, lower cost, but not cheaper IYSWIM. They used to send 2 x2 5 kg to make the ordered quantity, and give me back the price difference. Not I see this happening so often, it can only be a policy change IMO. Also not price match on alcohol, they keep that very quiet when they sent me a £22 bottle of Baileys instead a £10 one on offer. We are being squeezed all around!

They do price match on alcohol and matched on my Bailey's last week (also £10 bottle swapped for £22), but yes they do rip off on the subs where they swap for something smaller and more expensive. It really annoys me as well when you order a particular quantity or weight of something and it is swapped for a lesser amount, leaving you having to go buy the extra which costs you more. My last two vouchers have been incorrect too and I've had to contact them. Not massively incorrect and if I didn't check I wouldn't have noticed.
It's why I alternate with Ocado quite a lot these days. You do get what you pay for with online deliveries.

Omg DelilahBucket they definitely did not give me the difference, and I just called customer service to query it, and they said no. Even more annoyed now, but good for you. Yes the smaller quantity I a cheat in so many ways, I have to buy agin to get the quantity I need, I have to pay the higher twice, it is a complete ball ache, and the worse thing is they just have to substitute 2 x the item and the problem goes away. I think this is definite rip off policy change that they have put in place.

Why don't you refuse the substitution at the point of delivery or tick the box online to say you do not want the item to be substituted if it is not in stock? Unfortunately supply chain issues at the moment are leading to a lot of stock availability problems so I think subs are becoming more common. I guess this is part of shopping online, if you were in the store you would make the next best choice based on your own criteria e.g. did you make your original selection based on quality, price, convenience etc. The picker is just thinking I'll sub tomatoes with tomatoes without the knowledge of why you may have chosen those particular tomatoes in the first place. Can you try a different supermarket to see if you can get a better experience?

Asda are doing the same and it really fucks me off. I order grated cheese that is 250g. The lower fat version is the same price. But it is 200g. They regularly sub for that item too 😡. I order the quantity I need for my meals as I actually meal plan. Every bloody week without fail I have to go out and buy more of what they have subbed incorrect quantities of. It is always in their favour. Every single time. They also regularly say they didn't have a sub for things that they most definitely did have a sub for. Last time it was bread. They claimed they had no bread whatsoever in store 🤔. I've attached a screenshot of an order from a few weeks ago... yogurts - no sub. Ham - no sub. Really?!
It really drives me mad, I'm paying for a service that is subpar. I can't go grocery shopping with a big trolley as I am unable to push it due to a medical condition. With 5 of us to feed, and I have to work so can not go daily, online is literally a lifeline. But god it fucks me right off.
Oh, and my favourite is when they bring my order and tell me there are no subs, only for me to find when putting it away (or worse, only noticing when I'm mid way through cooking a meal!) that they have sent wrong items! For example in one order I've had Asda white wraps sent instead of Asda wholemeal wraps, mixed leaf lettuce rather than baby leaf, half a cucumber instead of a whole, chicken stock pots instead of veg, different flavour of juice, fresh mint instead of fresh basil. It is like they just randomly pick up whatever is near so I end up with something similar, but not what I ordered. It's happened 4 times now and each time was with a considerable amount of items. They are supposed to scan the items. I have no idea how they are managing to do it, but they are!

I just put down no subs for every item I order. So no issue with the charges!

So set your order for no substitutions

Yup- they used to match the quantity, but now they don't. So a share bag of chocolate buttons swapped with a fun size bag, 4 salmon fillets swapped for 2. It's a total pain. I don't select no substitutes because I'm happy if they bring enough of the stuff or something similar, but this now happens with the majority of substitutes. A total pain.

I just read the receipt that is emailed prior to delivery and hand back anything I don’t want to the driver to get a refund.

You're lucky to get yours before they arrive! Mine often doesn't show up. Also, it is hard to read. Mine regularly don't make sense as to what the sub is, and the quantity too!

I've stopped doing online delivery for shopping unless I'm super busy or ill, they always give short dated stuff . I use scan as you shop in store so I can pick the longer dated stuff at the back of the shelf.

But it not the products that are being subbed that is the problem, it’s the quantity they send. They send less than I ordered at a higher unit cost. They could easily send 2 x 2.5 kg to make up the 5kg I wanted. This is what used to happen. Now all too often they send a lesser amount therefore it doesn’t trigger a refund. Really underhand IMO I think it must be deliberate. If I said no subs I would get any dog biscuits, or many things would be missing so that is not a solution, especially now, when I haven’t been able to get UHT milk for three weeks and the l had about 20 items subbed last week. Also I have a delivery pass so I am tied in to Sainsbury’s. I don’t always have the time to go through the receipt in the morning, and often I am not there when the delivery comes. My main point is that this never used to happen. It seems to be a deliberate policy to extort more money from customers. I’m sure they think they are being clever and no one will notice. As if Sainsbury’s doesn’t make enough money already!

Tesco are the same these days. Last order I ordered 15 cheap eggs, substituted for 6 much higher priced ones.

Luckily the drivers have often refunded the substitution when it's been ridiculous and let us keep the item anyway (I assume a lot of the substitutions get binned back at store as they have been off the shelves too long).

Yes you can complain about unreasonable stuff to the driver (if you happen to be there). We once had a malt loaf delivered that was so squashed it looked like it had been run over. Driver bleeped it with his magic machine, got a refund and kept the product.

Substitutions are bloody annoying though!!!! I also refuse substitutions on certain things or hand them back.

At least with Asda you can instantly request a refund on the app. Sainsburys are an absolute pain as you have to call them to refund, and speak to two departments if you actually want your money back, rather than just get credit from your next order. That, coupled with the time the driver left the bloody crates in my front garden and it took me ten days to get them picked back up, has put me right off them.

I no longer use sainsburys.they substituted a £15 bottle if scotch for a £38.iasked at the collection point if I would pay the lesser rate and was assured yes.i have never received a refund as customer services on the phone say alcohol isn't included.that along with a few other quite cheeky swaps has ment I now go elsewhere.

You don't have to accept them. It's dissapointing when you don't get what you expect but the packers are doing their best. They don't know us all individually and can't read our minds about what we prioritise in terms of item, weight or brand. I ordered a family size 1kg bag of dried macaroni but would have accepted a subsitution of any other dried pasta but instead I got a teeny, one portion box of instant kraft style mac and cheese. Next time I ordered macaroni plus another dried pasta to ensure I would at least get one of them and can return the other.

They’re just putting their profits first as usual. Agree go no substitutions and write a strongly worded letter to customer service letting them know why.
can you go through the shop when you get it and hand back the stuff you aren’t happy with? I would make it clear if the quantity is wrong you’re giving it back. They’ll relay that to the picker.

its a massive pain though: I’m in france and we have the same here, but more things like cat food not available. Obviously then have to go out and buy just that!

why don’t they just charge you the real price of the product they are giving you as the substitution? I agree what they’re doing in your case is essentially robbery! X

You “not having time” to check a receipt in the morning or not being there to refuse certain subs are not their problem.

These are issues you need to face by saying no subs if you’re not happy with what they’re sending.

Of course it’s isn’t a deliberate policy. The stock just isn’t there in the plentiful amounts it used to be to give you exactly what you want.

It’s possible that its store specific. I’ve never had any issues with them, although i did have to chuckle the other day when I saw a leg of lamb on offer for £14.62 was £13.68. 😂.

But my subs have always been fine, and if they’ve realy not been I’ve jst sent them back.

I had loads of substitutions the other week from Sainsbury’s, I sent them back, including the rotten damaged peppers. Some of the stuff had boxes that were squashed too. Sick of complaining to them now, they don’t change. It’s all very well sending customers surveys, but you’re not going to do anything about it.

Also it’s worth bearing in mind that we’re all looking at offers these days.

Twice now they’ve had a large whole chicken on offer, but when I’ve selected it they’ve replaced with a smaller one. I just assume that everyone has wanted that offer and I’ve just been unlucky.

If you went into the store to buy the items, and they didn’t have the larger cheaper quantities on the shelf, what would you do? If the items are not available, what alternative would you expect?

If you went in store and they didn’t have the £15 bottle, would you expect them to give you a £38 bottle for the cheaper price?

@firsttimemama They do issue a voucher in relation to more expensive substitutions, I got this email from them on Monday. I did have to email them (rather than phoning) months ago and they sorted it out and even backdated the vouchers. Here’s the link to the policy help.sainsburys.co.uk/help/website/3791-grocery-subs-promise

Sorry, but it could well be a deliberate policy. These supermarkets aren't stupid, they employ people to analyse all their operational decisions to the nth degree because have profit margins and shareholders to look after.