I’d love to meet the person that picks my supermarket order ?

At the beginning of the lock down, I had rice on my order and instead received three tins of winter vegetable soup...

I just accept the substitutions and am v grateful for the delivery.

I have never ticked the substitute box since receiving what one pickers idea was as a substitute for a certain brand of marmalade. Peanut butter which I wouldn't eat under any circumstances is not quite the same.

My one sprout - absolutely my fault cos it was the first time I'd ordered online and, to be fair it was a Beautiful sprout
DS and I love our greens and I cooked it perfectly, al dente with a scattering of almonds(fished out of my Christmas mixed nuts bag) over.
All these years later, we still refer to The Year of The Sprout

mrshat

At the beginning of lockdown I did my last shop and wanted anii-bacteral soap or spray or wipes. Nothing in Sainsbury's so I bought a bottle of baby sterilising solution. I'm 70+ .

My best sub was when I ordered a packet of printer paper, and got two paper table cloths instead!!!! Go figure! And no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't get those table cloths in the paper tray of my printer... (I jest of course - I got a refund on them!)

@Grannygrumps1 I totally agree with you. People don’t appreciate how hard these pickers are having to work right now. It’s easy to be critical or have a laugh when people on the front line are doing their best under very difficult circumstances. We should be supporting them, not criticising. It’s shameful.

Am I getting this right? I
'm a novice internet supermarket shopper. Am only at the Click and Collect level as I've failed to find anyone who will take me on for deliveries so far.
In fact, I've only had one C&C order as yet, but am getting quite excited as I have my 2nd one due on Monday.
Last time I ticked the 'NO substitutions' box. I assumed I would have to pay the cost of whatever was substituted . Your posts seem to imply that you only pay the cost of what you ordered for whatever is chosen instead. Is that right? And what if the substitute costs less than whatever was ordered in that case?
I should ad that my C&C is with Asda - not where I shop normally but the only one I could get , and I was pleasantly surprised.

I think it depends on the supermarket rowyn. I've been online shopping with Tesco since it first started getting in for 20 years ago. If anything is substituted and is more expensive, you don't pay any extra & I think you get a refund if it's cheaper but it rarely is so I can't remember. I thought all supermarkets did the same but DDIL has recently used both Morrison's & Sainsburys & said she'd been shocked when the latter had sent some very expensive steak instead of the frying steak she'd ordered and she'd had to pay the not insignificant difference &, unlike Tesco, she wasn't allowed to refuse it - with Tesco, if you're not happy with the substitution, you just tell the driver & he takes it away. Actually, thinking about it, he might not, given current circumstances. I understand any extra has to also be paid for Morrison's dearer substitutions. My sister is a Waitrose shopper & there seem to be a lot of perks so I'm sure they wouldn't charge for dearer substitutions!

@mrshat - Milton IS baby bottle sterilising fluid. I know, because it turns out that both my elder daughter and I are allergic to them...

I love my tescos picker. Eminently sensible substitutions, when they happen, which is rarely.

My online order included a bag of onions and a bag of shallots. The shallots were substituted with..... another bag of onions.

Anyone like some onions?

I use soya milk in tea and dislike the chalky taste of the type that comes from the chiller. I get the long life, own brand, cheap one. It's much nicer. So, on my first ever online order from Asda, I had three cartons of their long life soya milk on the list. I really enjoy Oatly oat milk (milking all those oats must be a painstaking procedure) so also ordered two cartons of the chilled one, which is really nice. For those, they substituted two cartons of....you guessed it, chalky soya milk. Five litres of soya milk was a bit excessive! I also ordered flora original and they sent a low fat spread. I wanted it for baking so that, and the horrible soya milk went back. The courgettes they sent instead of an aubergine were acceptable although not for the meal I'd planned, which was inconvenient but beggars can't be choosers.

I'm utterly fed up with half the items being in stock at the point I ordered and out of stock a week later which is the first available delivery slot. I'm a front line health worker working crazy hours, and I live miles away from a decent sized supermarket. Plus I'm a Coeliac so I must admit that I do wonder what is going through the head of the picker when I get non coeliac substitutes for obviously Gluten Free products??

Part baked white bread replaced by gluten-free bread. I’m sure it’s perfectly nice (not tried it yet) but what about the person who can only eat that. I wonder if they end up with all the take and bake loaves?

Grannynise, I too use Ocado and have done for many years. I have never had a problem with any of their substitutions, of which there have been very few.

Is it because the picking is done in a warehouse rather than from the store, which, I understand, some of the other supermarkets do?

I love the one sprout too. Maybe the picker thought you had a small family and it was a small cabbage?

Not to do with 'substitutes' but while on the issue of online orders/deliveries has any one else like myself received a recent email appearing? to be from Tesco CEO Dave Lewis concerning an increase in deliveries and asking ' Can you shop in store leaving slots for the 'vulnerable''??Do I need to provide Tesco with my B Cert,a list of my prescribed medication that when the need to increase says ,do not drive, then I do not drive staying at home not just for my safety but other road users.
No I cannot stand outside Tesco waiting to be told when to enter.My family live abroad my neighbours are elderly so no help there.Any one else in similar circumstances find this message uncalled for.

I was told by the Asda delivery man that the computer suggests the next best thing hence I got limes when I ordered lemons even though I had already ordered limes too. Maybe it depends on the picker if they have time or inclination to go with the computer.

Sarahellen - I too received the email from Tesco CEO. It didn’t imply that those of us who are vulnerable/shielded should not order on line, it was simply encouraging those who COULD get to the shop to do so. I was pleased to see the message and thought that if it prompted some to not use slots thereby leaving them for others in need, then it was an excellent thing!

Maybe you might see me as Robin Hood because I was given extra mushrooms and bagels which I didn't order. But before anyone shouts thief I give them away.

Hmm I would certainly like to meet mine, when my ordered Sauvignon Blanc was out of stock ..they substituted it with .....NOTHING. Arrrggghhh, Noooooo, what? They hadn't one other type of white wine anywhere in the shop or warehouse ?!!!

Ordering vegetable squash and getting a bottle of orange squash.

That annoys me too rocketstop. If it's an easily substituted item.

Half of my delivery was missed last week. It never did arrive, not even later. Unfortunately, it was all the fresh stuff so we've had no fruit or veg all week.

A friend had cotton buds substituted for tampons.

This is a very interesting thread as I've just started working as an online picker at Sainsbury's as my partner and I both unable to work due to Covid 19. He's been made redundant & after running my own business as a childminder with a very healthy turnover for 28 years I've been forced to close for the forseeable future. This was my first interview in all that time and count myself lucky to get a job to help with the bills. Did my first 4 shifts this week. I'm up at 2am, cycle to work for 3am-8am shift. It is really hard graft. Very physical and fast, lots of items not available and little to substitute with.
I can barely walk after 5 hours of racing around, trying to get to the shelves while copious amounts of other pickers, shelf stackers, boxes and crates get in my way. Little social distancing here. It's complete chaos. Then miraculously, just before 7.30am, order is restored and the store appears calm and collected ready for the vulnerable and key worker shoppers.
I'm on a rolling 4 week contract and so might not be doing this too long but I have renewed admiration for all these hidden jobs. A lot of the female staff tell me that they go home, not to bed, but to home school their children. My partner is starting with them next week as a delivery driver.
I've worked consistently since I was 13 and am almost 59 now so has been such a strange few weeks and my house has never been so quiet without all my little mindees. It's all very surreal how much has changed in just a few weeks, working for someone else, after being self employed for so long and wear8a uniform and name badge.

A delivery man told me that the substitutions are made by computer. Could explain a lot.

Where are you folk that you cant get to the supermarket yourselves?