The best and the worst so far

Our local garden centre has been brilliant as have the butchers and the milkman.

Only problem has been some online purchases taking longer than usual. Sainsbury’s and Tesco online orders have been great - apart from the hassle of trying to get a delivery slot when you need one!

I have had excellent service from Sainsbury, Ocado, Amazon, Moonpig, Riverford, More Milk, the local Baker, the GP, Boots added to the postman, refuse collectors and a local garden centre.
So far not had any bad service.

Asda with click and collect. Local store rearranged their system to accommodate more customers. Moonpig for cards and Amazon for gifts and goods.

Excellence was Argos who delivered a new kettle the day after I ordered with a timed slot at no extra cost. Only bad experience has been plants that arrived dead from Thompson and Morgan, although to be fair they had been stuck in the post for 17 days as my local postal office had a couple of Covid 19 scares and refused to work. So maybe I should be complaining about Royal Mail.

We've found Waitrose particularly helpful. They even emailed me to say I was a priority customer, so getting delivery slots has been easier. I would also like to praise Morrison's. I've found it relatively easy to get a delivery slot and their substitutions have been appropriate. I even tried one of their grocery boxes when the lockdown started and that was a godsend. I have found it impossible to get slots at Asda, Sainsbury's or Tesco. I would like to give a last word of praise to our local Co-op - after the first week they have been really organised and well-stocked.

Well gillybob, I won’t shop where they don’t have arrows on the floor. People seem to think that once they’re inside a supermarket that they are immune from the germs.

Nothing really to get overly excited about.

The worst was last year when Nat West gave me the run around and fobbed me off after I'd applied for money ( PPI ) which was clearly mine. Excuses galore.

Every service we have used has been first class; hats off to Waitrose who have delivered every week, our local market traders are out with fruit and veg, fish, poultry and meat, Amazon who have delivered craft items, and our fantastic local newsagent who has never missed a beat in spite of his business trebling - and is offering to deliver anything from his shop along with the newspapers.

Amazon hands down the best! Always cheerful and courteous.
Postal workers
Refuse collectors
Fabulous.x

Full marks to Cote at home, gourmet meals delivered to your home in insulated boxes, containers arrived in pristine condition.
Full marks to Waitrose too who delivered wine in less than 48 hours but it is the service I would expect when paying the price of a holiday for a case of wine
We had tried the Morrison's meal boxes and they arrived with cellophane loose and contents oozing out, the food was not that exciting either so no to a repeat of that experience.
One of the fastest deliveries we have had has been from an online pharmacy where we bought face masks, they were about four times more expensive than normal but they did deliver. Amazon were quoting June or even July for some deliveries.

Our local shop/ post office has been brilliant they will try to get anything you want.
Postmen have been excellent always cheery.
GP surgery and local hospital very efficient.

Now the not so good.
Morrison's online dreadful
Love holidays switching off phones email addresses and refusing mail!

I'd like to shout out to my veg box company and milkman. Probably sounds selfish but initially they both decided to limit sales to existing customers. They have since opened up to new customers but a restricted number at a time, making sure they can cope with those before taking on more.

Boo to Sainsburys as I havent been able to get a delivery or even a click and collect. However DS has just had "the letter" (we were already acting on the basis that he should have had it anyway) so we can register and hopefully get priority slots.

Our local high street has definitely benefited from the 'crisis and deserves to get the business once we are back to normal although once everybody gets busy again we may go back to all in one shop for speed.

Positives: local One Stop, Tesco and Amazon

Negatives: Morrisons Worse than useless, Hermes,

Morrison’s have been reported to the police in my area south east. There social distancing is non existent they’ve no markings on the floors the staff are not adhering to any of the rules and they are letting people flood in, in there droves. Customers are now boycotting it.
However, my local large garden centre went above and beyond ( before they opened Wednesday) to deal with questions and emailed there customers to offer delivery service of gardening plants equipment etc. All very professional, non contact,thumbs up to them.

Excellent service from our local farm shop - we've had their fresh produce delivered for years and it's always good. Ditto our milkman, who brings milk from a farm within our county and also (very fresh) free-range eggs.

Ocado and Amazon have been fabulous.

The delivery from Iceland was disappointing and honestly, I only used them because I was lucky to get a slot. The fresh stuff like lettuce and tomatoes were past their best. I just used them up quickly. And the wine didn’t come. Boo !
Morrisons delivery due on Monday. A lot of things out of stock, but more reliable for vegetables.
We don’t have a butcher or a greengrocer in Town but people have offered to shop for folks. Individuals, local Community Groups , Mosques and the Islamic Association have all been delivering groceries and things from the Chemist. If you put your name down in good time you can have a hot Asian meal and just pay what you can. A lot of people have run out of cash so that’s taken into consideration and you wouldn’t have to go without.
I ventured to Morrison’s once. Never again. I left. Queue to get in and then madness inside.
It’s been heartening to see such kindness locally. People have really pulled together.

It took me a long time to get sorted out with Ocado...several two hour waits...but now I am on their priority list it is working really well.
I have booked weekly slots up to June 10th, which is very reassuring!
The only slight problem is having to place an order to reserve a slot, and trying to predict what we will need a month ahead, though it's easy now to edit.
I also find myself hunting for things I thought I had ordered, but had in fact ordered for next week...or the week after...or....
But no complaints now.

The Greenhouse People delivered us a greenhouse on time. Kept someone in work, and also my other half busy putting it together.

We had a lodge booked for next week with Landal Parks. I wish we had booked direct with Landal as they seemed to treat customers fairly.

As it turns out, our booking was through Hoseasons and they famously tried it on with all their customers, so that they had to be chased by the Marketing Authority. It is only through the hard work and frustration of the people booked for earlier slots that I am aware of my rights when I eventually manage to get in touch. No one who has been refused refunds with them will ever book with them again.

Only poor service from local garden centres, plants poor quality and a couple already look like they've given up the ghost. Another gdn centre delivered a part order about 2 weeks ago and still waiting for the remainder asked for refund as centres now open but no reply.

Agree with everyone else. So many companies - nationals and locals - have risen to the challenge. Enormous hats off to them. My daughter works in a local Spar shop and they have been amazing- looking “ outside the box” to help local people. Thanks also to Moonpig and Funky Pigeon who i have used for years and have clearly been inundated with extra orders Also to “Notonthehighstreet” An Aladdins cave of artisan cards, gifts etc . Beautiful things. Great service. Just love them. I think in these unprecedented times its amazing so much has gone so well TBH, though I’m only too aware this sadly isnt everyone’s experience. ?

Heads up to Amazon. As a non driver I use them all the time, regardless of whether or not there is a pandemic. I would be lost without them. I was angry with Morrisons at the beginning of all this. As a regular home delivery user I was upset that we had been forgotten and couldn't get a slot but things have improved and I can now get a delivery within a very few days. But my favourite discovery has been J Parker plants. I ordered some and they were so tiny when they arrived (but not plug plants) I never thought they would survive, but they are thriving. I ordered three Bleeding Hearts and got what looked like a bag of dead roots. But even they are shooting up. My friend told me they would have been dormant. I guess she was right. Waiting for some more to arrive in the next few days

Ordered plants from Thompson and Morgan inMarch,promised delivery end of April, still not arrived and impossible to contact them. Last time I order from them
Wonderful service from Taylor of Doncaster for clematis, delivered as promised in time slot

Bad experience must be with AEG. My oven stopped working and when we called for repairs, the young man on the phone was so keen to sign us up for maintenance insurance, that he forgot to action the repair notification. We have since waited two weeks for a it was finally repaired yesterday.
Their customer service, however were very good and they did offer compensation.
Just didn’t need this whilst on lockdown and not being able rto get out for food shopping!