Home Delivery Questions

A question about : Home Delivery Questions

I am moving house soon and will no longer have the convenience of having a supermarket within walking distance, so I am looking into the possibility of using the home delivery service. If you could answer a couple of questions for me that'd be great, as my searches seem to be throwing up contradictory information. From what I know, there is an Asda, Tesco and Sainbury's within delivery range.

1. I know that products will occasionally be substituted, but do you get charged the difference in price?

2. I was looking at the 'delivery passes' offered by Asda and Sainbury's, but I doubt I'd have the Ј40 minimum spend, so are there supermarkets who have lower minimum spends?

3. What is the quality of the fresh foods that get delivered? I'm hoping to pick up my own fresh foods, but just in case I need a back-up.

4. I know this will be personal opinions, but which of the three supermarkets do you think give the best home delivery service?

Best answers:

• Answer to question 1 and 3: Tesco and i think most others don't charge the difference in price. You pay the price of the item you ordered. If they send you something you don't want you can send it back and get a refund
  You'll get sent the best date in store, as a picker we find the best dates we can, I always say we have the same choice as you would in store. If it's tomorrows date we yellow bag it so you know and can send it back, or sub it if it's that days date. We try our best! Well, we do in my store anyway lol
• I use Tesco but have tried Sainsbury's, Asda and Ocado. Tesco works best for us - best range, best prices for the things we buy and the delivery service is excellent. However, the delivery service does vary between stores so I think it's worth trying all of the ones you have access to before setting up a delivery pass in case you have a rubbish Tesco but an excellent Asda or something.
  Tesco only charges you the price of the item you ordered which usually works to your advantage, but do check weights/sizes. Sometimes you will order 10 sausages for Ј2 and they'll send 5 sausages that were Ј2.50 instead, so you'll only pay the Ј2 but you end up with half of the product. It's rare and substitutes are clearly marked so just remember to check them. Also, if the product page allows you to select different sizes e.g. small, medium or large chicken, they don't always send the right one but it isn't classed as a substitute so you get charged more than you expected. It isn't marked on the receipt so you might not notice till you unpack. I often order a small chicken for Ј5 and end up paying Ј9 when they send a large instead. If you need a small one, it's better to find an item with no options e.g. go for the 'Small chicken' with no weight to choose, instead of a 'Chicken' that allows a choice of size. The same is true to a certain extent with fresh fruit and veg where it's charged by weight, but you don't tend to notice 5p more on bananas. I hope that makes some sense!
  The Tesco minimum delivery pass spend is Ј25 which is okay. If you just need a few things you can order mid-week and top up with things you know you will need next week to meet the minimum.
  I find the fresh stuff is normally good. The only thing I ever really have trouble with is strawberries but that's usually when I'm ordering out of season. I imagine all the ones in store look a bit manky - you probably wouldn't pick up any if you shopped for yourself but they have to send something! A quick email to customer services usually results in a refund if they're too bad to use.
• 1. You have the choice when ordering of specifying no substitutions.
  2. With Tesco Delivery Saver minimum order is Ј25
  3. I prefer to buy fresh foods in store but those occasionally delivered by
  Tesco have been OK. On one occasion milk was delivered with less than the 3 days' life remaining that they promised and I got a full refund.
  4. I don't think any company gives the same service to all its customers. I think a lot depends on where the deliveries are coming from. Depending on where you live some deliver from a local store others from large depots where stock levels are easier to predict than when competing against in-store shoppers. If from a local store a lot depends on how well that store is stocked and managed.
• Thanks for the replies.
  I've looked into it a it more and from what I can see Sainsbury's will charge for the substitures, whereas Asda don't. I couldn't seem to find anything definitive on Tesco's website.
  I think I'll give Asda a go initially and see how they fare. Thanks again for the replies.
• I have had deliveries from Sainsbury's, Tesco, ASDA, Waitrose, Abel & Cole, Foodari, Riverford, Iceland and Ocado. No-one beats Ocado although Abel & Cole and Waitrose come close.
  Some small franchise stores locally deliver eg Costcutter/Nisa, Budgens for me- maybe some of yours would for fresh produce ? If you're lucky maybe you can do big orders from a supermarket and smaller orders locally ? My local Nisa does free delivery on orders over Ј25.
  Some dairies deliver quite a range of stuff if you order in advance as well. I don't think mine charges for delivery.
  I think the minimum order for Abel & Cole and Riverford both is 12.50 with delivery charge under Ј2
• I've had deliveries from Asda, Sainsburys and Tesco.
  I gave up on Asda as they always delivered late (10.30pm on one occasion when it was booked for 7pm!) Sainsburys I only ordered once to use a Ј15 off a Ј60 shop voucher when they had a good offer on cat food.
  I have delivery saver with Tesco which now costs Ј6 per quarter and means you can have any slot you like including the more expensive weekend ones provided you spend over Ј25. It also gives you early dibs on the Christmas slots.
  They price match any substitutions so you never pay more than you would have.
• I've tried asda and sainsburys for deliveries. Asda don't charge extra for substitutions and will refund any you think are unsuitable. I wasn't informed of substitutions when they delivered and they were late. Sainsburys charge for the substituted item, but will tell you what's been substituted, so you can send it back if you don't want it. We have an anytime pass with sainsburys, but we always spend a lot more than Ј40 on the shopping.
• I have used both Tesco and ASDA and Tesco has given the better service especially in the quality of the items selected.
  I have globally turned off substitutions at Tesco as I frequently found I didn't like what I was getting. Occasionally I will set a substitution for specific items but with explicit instructions of what is suitable and if that can't be met then no substitution. So far that has worked well.
  Refunds for poor quality fresh produce are usually dealty with promptly. I only had to complain once in over 4 years for a late delivery and received a Ј5 voucher.
• I have used Tesco and Asda (ages ago) and more recently Sainsburys (when I had a money off voucher) and Morrisons. I don't think they deliver everywhere yet but Morrisons was my favourite. They don't really have substitutions as everything is picked by a computer at the central warehouse (so if it's not in stock it tells you) I did once get a missing item but was told by text before the delivery. It seems to be a better system and I had no problems with bruised fruit etc - the bananas come in their own bubble wrap bag
  I'm not using it currently as trying to save money on groceries and I have lots of supermarkets nearby (including Aldi). I do like the convenience of having it delivered though (2 young kids )
• I've tried Tesco, Sainsburys & Ocado, and my favourite by far has been Ocado. When you order, the website will tell you what is out of stock at the time which makes it easier on substitutions, although this could of course change I suppose if you order a week or so in advance. I like the way they email you the receipt the day your delivery is coming, and the receipt is laid out by best before dates on the products, which makes it easy for you to plan what to eat when! When I've had issues with things, such as a bag of flour leaking slightly, they have been very apologetic & refunded for the product promptly. They sell both Waitrose & Ocado own brand products, and despite presumptions, are competitively priced. I've also had very good offers from them in the past-on my last shop the Waitrose whole chickens said online they were half price at around Ј2.40 each, when they came I had only been charged Ј1.23 per chicken with a long expiry, absolute bargain!
  Tesco I found good for substitutions-I had ordered a pack of 50p frozen chicken livers, which they did not have, and they substituted for a Ј3-4 bag of frozen chicken breasts, but only charged me the 50p.
  I'd suggest you give the ones you want to a go, they often have good offers for new customers-Ocado often has deals on groupon or similar websites, I've seen some for Ј30 which includes Ј25 voucher for food & a free delivery pass, seemed really good value but as I was already a customer and I think they say 1 account per household I sadly couldnt use it!
• Tesco delivery saver also gets you free delivery on Tesco Direct items over Ј10. I know TD is often dear, but if you keep an eye out for sales and offers it can be cheaper.