On line supermarket deliveries - advice please

We use Sainsbury's and we live in an old converted corn mill with the front door being up a flight of old (uneven) stone steps on the side of the building. And it's not a problem for the delivery people at all - apparently they do deliver to blocks of flats which are much more difficult to access than us. They are always so helpful and prior to the pandemic they would bring it in to the kitchen if I was ever on my own

Kate1949

We've been using Tesco's since the start of the pandemic. We never had deliveries before. Tesco's have been fantastic. It can be expensive if you don't spend £40 but we usually do. We have their 'delivery saver' which we pay twice a year and saves us money. Our delivery driver told us one day that he had just delivered to a flat on the 17th floor so I don't think flats are a problem. Iceland have also been good. We tried Asda. They were hopeless.

I buy a 6 month delivery saver with my Tesco coupons as you get three times their value so for about £16 of coupons I get free delivery for 6 months

oh PS to make the minimum spend I wait to buy things like loo roll and washing up liquid until I need to increase my spend to make the minimum

I have been online grocery shopping for around 10 years now and love it. My current favourites are ocado and waitrose but I am also registered with sainsburys and tesco.

Tesco mid week delivery pass is £36 a year. Pay for it with £12 of Tesco vouchers (worth x3 when you buy this), therefore costs nothing. Even gave me 3 months free because of difficulty booking slots. Also delivery pass allows you to book slots 4 weeks in advance. It is just not worth getting the car out for a 50 mile round trip.

I've used Sainsbury's for nearly a year now but do order over £40. The drivers are brilliant. I check all fresh fruit and veg and if not fresh, I refuse it. Think I've only done this twice. Had a bag of oranges once with one going off but the others were OK. I refused the bag and driver told me to keep them and he's marked them up as damaged - I got a full refund.

I really like their substitution promise. help.sainsburys.co.uk/help/terms-and-conditions/Substitution-promise-T-Cs
My order this week had my usual 500g of sultanas(99p). They were out of stock so they substituted it for 1kg bag of better quality £3.20. I've just received my £2.21 refund difference ?. Wish I'd ordered more ?

I now do a delivery pass £30 for a once a week delivery and I can choose the hour slot but it is Tuesday to Thursday only.

kittylester

Elegran

Remember that you can add things to your order (or take them off it) up until late evening on the day before delivery. so you can start the order well in advance and keep adding things as they run out, or as they occur to you. That way you can see ahead of time if the order is likely to be less than the minimum spend, and have a good look round the store cupboard and the freezer to find things to add.

I am the only person who saves a slot with the easiest thing to get to the £40? In my case it is 4 boxes of DH's beer, which I delete when I actually do a shop. Only once I forgot to save my changes and all that appeared was 4 boxes of Fosters lager

My next door neighbour did a similar thing but she got 2 bottles of rum.

Kitty, you don’t need to put £40 in your basket to save it, I usually put in the loaf of bread I always have then go to the checkout to reserve my slot. I used to put in a bottle of gin until I had to give up alcohol with some new medication and didn’t want to forget to take it out!

My friend thought that if she went back to the basket to add something she ended up paying twice for the items already in it. It took me a while to convince her that wouldn’t happen!

No you're not the only one kitty. I reserve it with a few boxes of wine. Sometimes I take them out, sometimes I leave them in My daughter did this and ended up with a few bottles of vodka and no shopping!

Elegran

I hscoave had very few substitutions from Tesco, but my nearest branch is a large one, so perhaps it holds a wider range of items than some.

I also rarely have substitutions with Tesco but any that are unsuitable get handed back to the store immediately ( I do click and collect) and I get a refund in a few days.

I also have the delivery saver and even though I have a weekly order, as Click and Collect is cheaper than deliveries, I have just had a refund voucher for £13 as I haven’t spent all my quarterly direct debit. I love being able to book a slot for four weeks ahead rather than the three weeks other customers get. I also like the favourites section where all my purchases I’ve made over 12 months are listed in department order so I can browse through and quickly order my regular items.

I live alone but must be very extravagant on my food shopping as I always spend more than £40, in fact it’s more like £60 plus! But I do buy loads of household items as well, in fact most months I do not need to go to another shop for things.

In fact, I think I am addicted to Tesco online! I do pop into Aldi every few months for a browse round, especially before Christmas as their mince pies are delicious.

Elegran

Remember that you can add things to your order (or take them off it) up until late evening on the day before delivery. so you can start the order well in advance and keep adding things as they run out, or as they occur to you. That way you can see ahead of time if the order is likely to be less than the minimum spend, and have a good look round the store cupboard and the freezer to find things to add.

I am the only person who saves a slot with the easiest thing to get to the £40? In my case it is 4 boxes of DH's beer, which I delete when I actually do a shop. Only once I forgot to save my changes and all that appeared was 4 boxes of Fosters lager

My next door neighbour did a similar thing but she got 2 bottles of rum.

henetha

I used Tesco delivery for ages, until they increased the fee to £4.50. So now I do click and collect instead which is much cheaper.

Henetha, have you thought of using the Tesco Delivery Saver plan? For £7.99 a month I get free delivery Tuesday to Thursday which is a big saving as I have a weekly delivery. It also gives you priority access to Christmas slots, a week before they are released to everyone else.

That's great Franbern I think on-line shopping is wonderful..I never want to go back to wandering round a supermarket searching for something. Thanks for letting us know.

Thanks to everyone who replied. My eldest daughter has used Sainsbury's deliveries for several years, so I also sent her an email asking advice.
Bless her, she phoned me last night, talked me through it all - Yes, they would bring everything right to my flat door - No, they do not use those horrible plastic bags. She talked me through the substitution system, and then insisted on sending me the money to cover the cost of a Delivery Pass for the next three months for me to give this a trial and says if it goes okayj, she will then arrange for her to pay for delivery pass on-going.
Have slowly made my way round Sainsbury site, registerd and have arranged my first delivery for next Monday morning.
Quite a relief not having to worry about driving there and back - or inthe future, going by public transport and taxi, etc.

Waitrose can also bring the shopping into your kitchen if you want them to, as bags have been stopped.
Yes recently put in a £3 charge. However if you can get this month's Waitrose Free Magazine, there is x3 £10 vouchers off for new customers, min spend £80 but you could get a mega shop in??
Also..... They have just released the Christmas slots, mine is booked, with min spend to keep it open.

Sometimes I use Sainsburys and sometimes Ocado then occasionally Waitrose.
I use online delivery because it is delivered up one flight of stairs to my door.
My knees can’t take running up and down to the car carrying bags of shopping.
I like them all but my favourite website is Ocado.

I use Sainsburys. Very pleased with them. I pick a saver slot of 4 hrs for £1 delivery and on the day they tell you which hour they will deliver. Time keeping excellent. If my order isnt over £40 I would buy more loo rolls or tea bags to get the order over £40.

We must have been lucky because we've rarely had a substitute. On the few occasions there have been substitutes, the driver will ask if you want them and take them back if you don't. They've always been very acceptable.

I used Tesco delivery for ages, until they increased the fee to £4.50. So now I do click and collect instead which is much cheaper.

We use M&S, or Ocado as it is now. The first time you set up it can be a faff but after that it's a breeze. Great idea.

Not in a flat but my flat dwelling son says his Ocado delivery guy brings the things up to his door.

I hscoave had very few substitutions from Tesco, but my nearest branch is a large one, so perhaps it holds a wider range of items than some.

Remember that you can add things to your order (or take them off it) up until late evening on the day before delivery. so you can start the order well in advance and keep adding things as they run out, or as they occur to you. That way you can see ahead of time if the order is likely to be less than the minimum spend, and have a good look round the store cupboard and the freezer to find things to add.

Some supermarkets will only deliver loose goods (without bags) but all the ones my daughter uses in london bring them up 3 flights of stairs to her flat front door.

I pay for carrier bags as it's easier but I give them back the next delivery and they refund you (Ocado).

I like ocado best as their search engine lets you search "price per". This means you can (say) compare 350g raspberries with 150g or 325g and they will organise in your list by cost per kg.

Morrisons is pretty good.

I don't like Sainsbury's as can't do with their return/refund system which is annoying (and now they are no bags as well).

Morrisons also has a phone line by the way if you struggle to get out/manage an online order and you can order over the phone. There's a fee for this - think it's gone up to £3 including delivery but the minimum order is about a fiver I think. My mother-in-law uses this and loves it.

Waitrose is also charging for delivery in our area - it didn't do this in the past.

Asda and Tesco are poor options in my area as too many substitutes.
One of my other daughters uses Tesco sucessfully.

I haven't tried Iceland but they have introductory offers.

Good luck.

I’m a Tesco fan too. I used to have a monthly delivery of basics then switched to a weekly delivery when the pandemic started. You can book several weeks ahead and I have just this morning booked a slot on 2 November so the next four weeks are booked now.
I use their delivery saver plan like Kate, which gives me free delivery Tues to Thurs and also early access to the Christmas slots. They are very good in my experience, and yes they do deliver to your door even in a block of flats.
My daughter in law used to use Sainsbury’s but eventually gave up with them as she said their fruit and veg often wasn’t fresh, in fact she had received mouldy items.
Don’t forget that you don’t have to buy only groceries should you use Tesco. You can buy all sorts of things to have delivered with your groceries such as books of stamps (second mortgage time there!), stationery, household goods if there are other items you need which would take your basket up to £40. Or do a fortnightly shop and just top up fresh food as necessary the second week, though I find that if I have accidentally over-ordered veg it lasts well over a week as it’s so fresh. Also their own brand sliced bread lasts longer than any other I’ve bought.
I won’t be going back from online shopping!

I’ve been using Ocado for well over ten years now. I suppose that isn’t strictly speaking a supermarket delivery, since they don’t have shops. They have quite a lot of Marks and Spencer’s food, plus their own and other brands. I find them brilliant. They are always on time (one hour slots) and bring my shopping into the kitchen, so I don’t have to deal with heavy bags. I live in a first floor flat. My delivery is midweek and free, minimum order £40. You can always buy non-food items to make up the price if you don’t need that much food.

I use Sainsburys and try to shop once a fortnight using the £1 saver slots. I found out in lockdown you can freeze milk and bread so I don't need to shop every week and I can get my bill up to over £40.
I disagree about the substitutions. I think most of the shopping online is done in the early hours and stacked in the vans. Your deadline for adding/changing stuff is 11pm. You can always refuse substitutions anyway.