On line supermarket deliveries - advice please

Sainsbury have a delivery service that costs £1 if you don’t mind an open delivery time of usually about 4 hours. I sometimes use this because I couldn’t take my car there for that price I think the minimum spend is £40
No experience of deliveries to flats but their customer service is quite good sure they would advise

Hi Fran, I have been using Sainsbury’s for a few years now with few problems.
For a shop under £40 you will be paying £7 delivery so why not have a delivery every two weeks and pick up bread and fresh stuff the week in between.
They now do a saver slot for £1 which I use as I am seldom out.
You pick a 4 hour slot and early on the chosen day you are emailed with a one hour slot.
They are very good at timekeeping from my local store but I can’t answer your question about the flat.
Before Covid they carried it through to my kitchen but now I have to unload the boxes in my porch.
I hope the former situation soon returns.

Crossed posts there with Rosie

Franbern I too don’t know about flats, I use Tesco mostly. I take carrier bags to the front door, when one is full, I carry it through, the delivery person packs the next one and so on. Having a delivery every other week is a good idea, those weeks with washing powder/pods and other household items bump the price up. You can buy quite a few non food items too.

Sainsbury's say they will always deliver to the door of your house or flat:

help.sainsburys.co.uk/help/delivery-collection/delivery-service-information

Ordinarily, I do not shop in supermarkets but I did use Sainsbury's a few times at the start of lockdown as I was deemed ECV at the time.

Delivery charges depend on the time of day. I soon realised that the cheaper slots were cheaper for a reason. All of my orders were missing several key items. I asked the driver why and he said the timing of my delivery (midday) meant that my order was being picked and packed in the early hours of the morning when the fresh food shelves were empty and awaiting replenishment, so do take that into account. That may vary from store to store.

Waitrose have a minimum delivery of £40, but it is free. I don't find them more expensive than others, especially for the basics. I suppose the best thing would be to phone the branch of whichever supermarket you choose and ask the, about your particular delivery. Would be easier getting it from the main entrance than going to the store, IMHO

Daisymae Waitrose started charging earlier this year for the first time, the only supermarket that’s free now is Iceland over £35 order.

Waitrose is no longer free. Iceland is free if you spend over £40 and is next day but they charge for carrier bags which is about 80p. Very easy to book a delivery too.

I find click and collect easier than a door step delivery but I appreciate that not everyone has a car. When I collect my weekly order, i pack my own bags at my car then put them straight in the boot. Due to mobility problems, I struggle to carry heavy bags so packing for myself means I can distribute items across several bags to keep the weight down. Once home, I use a shopping trolly to put the bags in to wheel through to my kitchen. I’m lucky in that the supermarket I use has a large canopy to park under while packing so you don’t get wet when it rains!

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 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.

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’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!

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.

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 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.

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 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 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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.