On line supermarket deliveries - advice please

Waitrose are excellent and always deliver to my flat door. I am on the third floor of a block - there is a lift but one driver told me that in other blocks they actually carry the shopping up the stairs if there is no lift, which really surprised me. But their drivers are always friendly and helpful so I assume that's what they do. Waitrose have a minimum spend of £40 and have recently started charging £3 for delivery, but I think that's a small price to pay for the convenience, and you also get a free newspaper and magazine if you have one of their loyalty cards. I have used Tesco too and they are OK but once they just dumped everything in the lobby of my block of flats, leaving me to hump it up three floors, so after that I decided I would stick to Waitrose and have never been disappointed.

i have used online shopping for my groceries for something over 10 years now. i have used tesco, asda, sainsburys and morrisons in the past and ocado once or twice.
i normally tick the "no substitutions" box so don't get silly items and if something slips in and i don't want it then i just send it back.
sainsburys have flexible delivery slots as do tesco which cost less than other stores.
on some occasions i have received broken eggs and if this happens i am refunded the cost of the eggs but keep the eggs - rather good if it's only one egg which is broken.
i shop every four weeks when my pension arrives and can schedule two or three deliveries on one day.
tesco, asda and sainsburys are my usual supermarkets as no one supermarket stocks everything on my list and i have preferences for items at each supermarket (eg i like asda loo rolls but not those from tesco or sainsburys).
the shopping is delivered to my front door mat and i pack it into my bags - sometimes the delivery person will do that as i have a bad back - and all i have to do is carry the bags to the kitchen (or wherever it goes).
however things like bread and milk i buy instore and isn't too difficult to get home.
i prefer grocery shopping online and very rarely have a problem and i can always find a cheap delivery slot.

It also depends where you live I don’t have Waitrose Sainsbury’s or Ocado delivering in my area but I have used Asda and Iceland fairly successfully
I do try and go out myself as it’s a trip out I have it down to a fine art and can get £40 worth of groceries on my cycle but I walk home pushing it (before you all send an ambulance out)
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As per Kate 1989. I find Tesco deliveries excellent. I always find the drivers efficient, polite and helpful. They are also very quick to repay for items that have a short shelf life if I don't want them

I’m an Ocado fan. I’ve tried them all but always go back to Ocado. They deliver to your door in bags and refund you for the bags if you return them the next week. I’m a ‘Smart Pass’ member which means that I pay £7.99 per month and can have as many deliveries in the month as I want. Like most others the minimum spend is £40 and their customer service is second to none.

We live in a small block of flats only 1 flat per floor we live on the first floor no lift. We use Sainsbury £1 slots. I go down to the entrance door as that is where they deliver to. Only once has the delivery person, and she was a woman offered to take my bags up the one flight of stairs. What I would caution is the substitiutons can be ridiculous, you can reject them on delivery which I have done and sent back over ripe avocados which they refund to your credit card. We don't allow any substitutions now. We have had several issues with not in stock items mostly meat products but also hummus and olives, only to find I could have got them from the local Sainsbury store which was annoying! We tend to have a delivery every 2 weeks and buy milk and bread locally. But on the whole delivery is good for bulky items and tinned food.

Well done Frabern I'm sure you'll find it a big help and possibly cheaper than shopping in store. We have a delivery from ASDA about every 4 weeks, we rarely have to return any substitutions and we save money because we're not impulse buying as we walk around a store, and it would cost us more in car fuel than the delivery charge. Happy shopping!

That's great Franbern. Don't know if your daughter said - probably did but you can make a favourites list with them and use if to order then add in extras. Saves time. Drivers are usually very helpful. I do Mum's shopping like this.

I'm another fan of Ocado. Almost never get substitutions or missing items and it's really easy to get a refund if something's damaged, just go to the website and select the item and what's wrong with it. I get deliveries every 2 weeks so the order is over £40, for the second week I order Cravendale milk which has a longer BB date, and a couple of ready-to-bake loaves or bread mixes for the breadmaking machine. Not sure why but I'm never charged for delivery.

Jaxjacky
Iceland now a £40 minimum shop for free delivery .WELL worth it.

Both Tesco and Morrison's delivery driver refused to bring my shopping up 1 flight of stairs. I don't shop online anymore too worried about further nasty experiences with delivery men.

I have done a little online shopping in the last year or so, but never for grocery. I prefer to go out and buy food stuff. I am lucky that I live near two good farm shops and a couple of good supermarkets that are not huge so easy to get around. I did read that all the online slots for Christmas are already booked out for most supermarkets. I have a few friends who do online and are amazed at the substitutes they get when an item is not available. One friend asked for tomato ketchup and got pasata instead. another asked for cherries and got a bottle of Croft Sherry instead of the cherries.

Sorry Daisyend1 I must have misread something ?

Tesco are not releasing their Christmas delivery dates until November 16th for those with a delivery pass, 23rd for those without.

I, too, prefer Sainsburies. Can you get together with a neighbour to make it £40 +

Thanks for the tip Floradora. I didn't know that. I will have a look.

I did my first shop with Amazon Fresh/Morrisons yesterday and what a revelation. All of the food had a decent use-by date- satsumas were the proper size, not resembling marbles.

A 2-hour slot and mine arrived within the first 30 minutes of it. It had to be an "attended" delivery because I had ordered one bottle of wine so I had to give my date of birth. The driver and I laughed over that as it was fairly obvious I was marginally over 21.

No substitutions because I had only ordered the previous day.
One item was not available or "on the shelves" and that was semi-skimmed long-life milk.

Some brands I did not recognise and the mushrooms came from Ireland.

The minimum order was £40 and I paid zilch for delivery because I am a Prime member. For a fee a minimum of £25 of goods would be delivered.

Everything arrived in 4 thick recyclable paper bags.

I think they have a new customer for life.

I use Sainsbury’s £1 del good value and Morrison’s buy their delivery package up front great offer also Morrison’s refund plastic bags when you give back. Tesco’s rip off delivery .

I have used home delivery every week since Tesco first started 'Tesco Direct' back in 1996 which was then by telephone and a catalogue and I have never looked back.
I have a regular slot every Friday morning which was great throughout the pandemic and my husband was shielding. It's definitely the way to go with all the heavy, non perishable, items like washing powder, toilet rolls, bottles etc.
It is so much easier than walking up and down aisles, putting things into the basket, taking them out and putting them on the conveyer belt, putting them into shopping bags, pushing the trolley out to the car, putting them into the boot and then getting them out again at home. I can buy fresh meat/vegetables if I want to be able to choose them myself, but I would never do a 'big shop' in a supermarket again.

My next door neighbour uses Iceland and I'm pretty sure it's free if the order is £40. She is very frugal so would certainly not pay much ( in her 80s) and never used delivery until Lockdown but has been very pleased with it. Don;t know re flats!
I use Click and collect, alternating between Sainsburys and Asda; They do charge, but obviously much less. I know that when I C&C at Asda usually between 10 and 11am, the charge is just 50p ; can't remember what Sainsbugs charge. But that's useless information if you don't have a car!

\PS. I didn't allow substitutes for ages becasue I thought I might be given more expensive products. It took me ages to find out that if you are given a substitute you are only charged the price of whatever it was you ordered. That's just been proved to me, as I collected an order from Asda today, and have been given a 470g chicken and leek pie instead of the 200g one I ordered, but have only paid the price of the smaller one - £2!

Yes they do that rowyn. We have had a couple of bargains from Tesco!

Still no info. on flats. I am hoping to move from a listed cottage in a village to a new flat in the nearest market town. I have serious arthritis and can no longer drive. Because I live opposite a well stocked village store, I have relied on this, but even crossing the road carrying a bag is gettng beyond me. I have never lived in a flat and would need one with a lift. In London one needs a code even to enter the ground floor lobby. What happens there regarding home deliveries ?

The people in the flat above me (a young couple) have Tesco delivery, and the shopping is taken up to their door.
We have an intercom system, so that when someone buzzes your number, you speak to them before pressing a button to let them in.

I don’t know why people grumble about delivery charges. Before. Lockdown I used to get the Dial a Ride to town £4 then hire a scooter £4. The majority do not live in walking distance of shops so there is the cost of fares or petrol.
I used Sainsburys a few years ago after an operation. and since lockdown started have used them once a fortnight and been satisfied to pay £4. If you are not satisfied with any item you can refuse it. I did try Waitrose but some things were not available but I learned that they sourced from a small store whilst Sainsburys were from a superstore.. Orders can be amended up to midnight before delivery day.
Goods are unpacked on to my kitchen table and frozen and cold stuff placed separately. This means it is easy for me to have a break before putting everything away. I can order practically every thing I need not just food items. Cleaning stuff, Vitamins, make up, magazines etc.