Online Delivery Substitutes - Have You Had Bad Ones?
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Had a Tesco delivery today. We have 2 or 3 a month. Always great service. But, today we received a silly substitute. We were subbed gin when we ordered vodka. My email to customer services was.. 'would you substitute beef for chicken' Do you think I was being unreasonable or do you think the Tesco picker was right, to choose this as a sub? All views appreciated.
It appears that no thought has gone into substitutions. I have received full sugar Coke instead Diet Coke in the past. My OH is diabetic so this substitute was not acceptable. I don’t think you are being unreasonable. Would they give you oranges if you had requested bananas? A little common sense is needed...but as a former colleague used to say, “common sense is not so common”.
Yes, you are right BlueEyesX, Many of today's society seem to lack basic common sense. Like mothers with Push chairs on the phone while crossing the road. That's another topic altogether!
Today's youth think the Green cross road man is a political party,
Nearer than many I have heard of...I was annoyed to get coffee whiteners when I had ordered milk powder for my dad for extra protein,but I guess they think it's worth a try rather than lose money...we also got strawberry milkshake for him once instead of chocolate which he did not like..
Ages back I ordered "Rocket Fuel" high caffeine strong coffee and got decaf instead. Most of the time they do get it right and I often do quite well out of the substitutions where what they give me is more than what I ordered - but at the lower price. At least you can just decline the goods when they deliver. As for staff using common sense - I dont suppose they get long to do each persons shopping so its probably a very quick decision!
Understand that logic, but how many other vodka brands were right next to that empty section?
I did refuse the gin by the way and am confident of getting a refund. Forgot to to add that to my original post.
I haven’t shipped online for a long time but I remember getting substitutes was random things. I used to click the no substitute on my order.
It seems they don’t know the difference between vodka and gin!
I nearly had the hump with Tesco this week.
I had a code for some free blackcurrant Jaffa Cakes, but they substituted them for passion fruit ones and charged me the full price, even though substitutions were off.
Was just about to have a moan to CS when I noticed that I'd been given 4x6 bottles of water instead of 2x12 and had only been charged for 1x6 bottles. So I basically ended up with free Jaffa cakes and a £1.30 profit 
I have ordered frozen prawns in the past and they were substituted with frozen mozzarella sticks.
I'd like to know who actually picks my order - is it the same person each time? Are they just have a laugh??
I did get one really good substitution once. I ordered 1L Southern comfort and because they didn't have any of the 1L bottles left I was given TWO bottles of 70cls. Result 
I know some supermarket sites have a no substitutions tick box, it’s easy to miss but well worth a look next time you order.
I used to get subs all the time. I think you should get what your clearly order and pay for and if they dont have it in then they should notify you before you pay so you can decide if you want to order something else instead.
I’ve had some really annoying substitutions - I have food allergies and the number of times they send multiple items I can’t eat as a substitution, then tell me “If you don’t keep the item it has to go in the bin so please don’t create unnecessary waste” is ridiculous. I can’t eat the item so it’s no use to me, and they’re just trying to get money out of me. I’m ticking the “no Substitutions box” too, but they do it anyway.
My friend ordered 24 eggs and got sent 24 crayons though. I’d say that’s probably the weirdest substitute I’ve ever heard of.
Not unreasonable as its a different product, substituting for same product different brand I can forgive
Thank you. Makes me feel less guilty. Trust Tesco online all the way. Have had a delivery pass for 5 years+ as I don't own a car. Big shops are impossible without one. Means I can stock up on heavy things once or twice a month when they are on special offer.
Not unreasonable at all. Most of the time any substitutions we get are okay, but we have had some that I wasn't happy with, like being sent dog food as a substitute for the cat food we ordered.
davey184 That's the one I always think of first when I think about the substitutions we've had, as it is an odd choice. If what we ordered was unavailable, then surely there must have been something else in the cat food category they could have picked instead of resorting to dog food!
Can you reject and refuse to pay for substitutions? Or does that only apply to certain supermarkets?
Yes you can. You can hand back to the driver or return in-store with your receipt for a full refund.
Always check the card you used to order with. It can take up to 5 working days to appear. If not contact the supermarkets customer service.
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