Tesco Delivery Service - Poor Experiences

shayg1971

I tried the Tesco delivery service for the 1st (and last) time last week. 25% of the order simply did not show up (just not on the truck). Apparently this is a fairly common experience around here (service ex Navan). Unfortunately I did not hear my neighbour's tale of woe until after I ordered.

Of course the 'Tesco' help line is a call center operation in Edinburgh (probably Sykes or Stream or similar) working from the script. They have a ridiculous defence of the service charge, refusing a refund on the grounds that a 'service was provided'. Some service when I had to get in my car and go shop for the missing items.

If you live in a rural area and expect to pay €7 or €8 in lieu of a trip to the supermarket, forget it. You'll have to do both, and as far as tesco is concerned you can lump it.

I followed up with a complaint via the call center and via email. I let youse know what comes of that.

Any similar experiences?

deisemum

I've only ever had good service any time I've used it, same goes for my friends who use it. It sounds like it's down to local management. The quality is always very good, the service is always on time, the delivery men have always been very helpful and I've only ever had a delivery where only 1 or 2 items where unavailable.

Last week, the only time that I'd been charged for 2 loaves of bread but only got 1 which I only noticed when putting the food away (which was a large christmas shopping) I phoned the contact number and while I was on the phone to a lady in Edinburgh she refunded my credit card.

JimmySmith

I used to use them until October. Always on time and apart from at least one horrible substituted (eg tesco Ketchup instead of Chef) item in every order very good service.
Then starting at the end of september the deliveries started being late and missing stuff. This happened every week for 4 weeks. On 2 occasions i had to wait 3 days to get the missing crates.
At first i saiod, since they have been good up til now i'll give them the benefit, but 4 times in a row was too much.
If there is even the chance of me missing stuff at all its not viable, so i stopped useing them.
Pity really, as they showed promise.

John R

I only use them occasionally, about every 2-3 months but I get lots in each order.

I don't think there has been one order without at least one item not available.

I now tick the do not substitute box for everything because I have ended up with things that i did not want too many times, even still they occasionally still substitute.

One order was completely lost off their system. They suggested I re-order, I suggested they splurge for some back-up equipment while I went off to shop elsewhere.

The descriptions on the website are often poor and inconsistent, similar products are described completely differently and some different products have identical descriptions. Just to make things extra confusing the listing on the delivery receipt is totally different from that on the website.

They also tend to give you the oldest stock, i've often got items that are just before their sell-by dates wheras if I had gone into the shop I'd get stuff a week or two newer. I won't order fresh fruit or veg from them because of that.

The delivery itself has been mostly good, all but one were on time. Another system f-up apparently, got the delivery a day late.

I think that I will try Superquinn instead although I reckon they are a bit more expensive.

shayg1971

>> "I don't think there has been one order without at least one item not available."

I don't actually have a problem with stuff that's unavailable. Within reason, that's fair enough. It's when stuff is not listed as unavailable, but just simply is not there. That's just slapdash at the packing end. If they are going to extract the service charge regardless of quality of service, I'd like to think they could at least hire a bunch of people who can follow a packing list.

Tom Dunne

Out of sheer frustration, we have switched back to Superquinn click and collect.

I have never encountered a service so beset with problems. From the truck driver crashing, to driving off with our frozen food and only realising it 3 hours later to stupid substitutions (washing powder for dishwasher salt anyone?). And as shayg1971 said, try ringing them and looking for what you have ordered. Not a hope. On one particular occasion, we got a delivery at 8:30pm on a Saturday night after ordering for 9:00am-11:00am.

Sheer and utter incompetence.

flickyflack

I had a bad experience with them,too,also ex Navan.

I had a few items which were sell by the previous day and the frozen food had completely defrosted. This was probably because the van they were in wasn't a refrigerated one.

I have complained before to no avail :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

Good luck with your complaint,Shay.

RuggieBear

John R wrote:

I only use them occasionally, about every 2-3 months but I get lots in each order.

I don't think there has been one order without at least one item not available.

I now tick the do not substitute box for everything because I have ended up with things that i did not want too many times, even still they occasionally still substitute.

One order was completely lost off their system. They suggested I re-order, I suggested they splurge for some back-up equipment while I went off to shop elsewhere.

The descriptions on the website are often poor and inconsistent, similar products are described completely differently and some different products have identical descriptions. Just to make things extra confusing the listing on the delivery receipt is totally different from that on the website.

They also tend to give you the oldest stock, i've often got items that are just before their sell-by dates wheras if I had gone into the shop I'd get stuff a week or two newer. I won't order fresh fruit or veg from them because of that.

The delivery itself has been mostly good, all but one were on time. Another system f-up apparently, got the delivery a day late.

I think that I will try Superquinn instead although I reckon they are a bit more expensive.

I have to agree with most of this as it's been my experience too.

I refuse to order fresh stuff from them anymore. I'm sick of getting everything with an expiry date for the day after delivery. It defeats the point of doing my weekly shopping if all the meat, sauagaes, fruit, vegetables milk and bread goes off the next day:rolleyes:

Otherwise, i've found the delivery times to be very accurate.

Tom Dunne

RuggieBear wrote:

I'm sick of getting everything with an expiry date for the day after delivery. It defeats the point of doing my weekly shopping if all the meat, sauagaes, fruit, vegetables milk and bread goes off the next day.

Actually, now that you mention it, that's another thing I used to get a lot of. On one occasion, there were two red peppers that were mouldy. I pointed them out to the driver (who didn't really understand English, I must admit) and he said he would get something done about them. Despite several phone calls, nothing was ever done about them.

Stuff them, I have found Superquinn to be just as cheap for basic food shopping.

Sponge Bob

did not realise until now that Tesco policy is that the onliners get the stuff nearest the sell by date . would not make it to my house in summer without spoiling as they do not refrigerate.

shayg1971

shayg1971 wrote:

I followed up with a complaint via the call center and via email. I let youse know what comes of that.

So I did call. I did e-mail. Basically I asserted that if I did not get a refund on the service charge I would take my entire business elsewhere on general principle. I included my clubcard number so they could tell my business is worth an average €100/week to them. Assuming 7% margin, they have lost the equivalent of their delivery charge for every week I stay away.

I got a reply from Customer Services email on the 23rd to say that my query had been passed to the on-line dept. Nothing from them, nor do I expect anything. I feel strongly that I have been defrauded by Tesco. No doubt their Ts&Cs say somewhere that they reserve the right to shaft on-line customers like this without recompense, but a simple token of good faith would be appreciated. But at this stage, not expected.

Tom Dunne

It is interesting how diametrically opposite Superquinn are. If there is the slightest problem, they ring you just to clarify. If they mess something up, there is a cake/bottle of wine/voucher. When I used to get their deliveries, there were on time (i.e. within the 2 hour window) 95% of the time. If they weren't, they let you know and made a token gesture. If there was a problem with an item (see Tesco experience above), they replaced it.

I actually remember one time the manager rang me to apologise for something daft. Now that is customer service. And that is why I have gone back to them.

Sponge Bob

tom dunne wrote:

I actually remember one time the manager rang me to apologise for something daft. Now that is customer service. And that is why I have gone back to them.

The golden rule of CS , tell the customer there is a problem before they tell you. It always works .

Red Alert

yep, there's in fact a new guy in charge in Ballinteer (one of SQ's online hubs) and if the improvement in CS in the store is anything to go by the delivery service must have improved too.

i haven't set foot in a tesco shop in over three months, superquinn are more or less the same price and they're irish too. tesco's delivery service is probably powered by their EPOS system - in which case i'm not surprised it doesn't work.

shayg1971

Never one to let something like this die....

After 2 Auto Responses to separate e-mails, but no call back, I picked up the phone to Tesco Customer Services (as opposed to on-line services) today and spoke to someone who sounded both competent and helpful. Her name was Nichola. Based in Ireland, rather than the UK. And actually a Tesco employee I think.

I outlined my case, and experiences with Tesco to date. Including the fact that I've not darkened their doors since. I was polite about it, explaining that it is simply that I have no interest in giving custom to an organization that shows such blatent disregard and lack of responsiveness to issues raised by their customers.

So Nichola is going to to follow this up with the On-line service, and, it sounds like, locally here in Navan as well.

1st Tesco person I've spoken with so far who has not been more interested in defending thier fee gainst refund than dealing with a valid issue. (Or completely unresponsive).

Now, of course, at this stage my efforts far outweigh the value of a refund, etc., but there is a principle at stake. We shall await and see...

shayg1971

Just to round this one off. Tesco sent me a €20 gift voucher. A moral victory of sorts. No explaination, no apology, no defence. Just a €20 voucher pinned to a comp. slip. Not even a name signed to it.

Ah well, one last trip to Tesco to cash it in. Thank God Dunnes have opened in Ashbourn.

colm_mcm

Tesco.ie really annoyed me today!

did the online shopping sunday morning 29th (as you do!), not a thing in the house, of course. got a delivery time of 7pm to 9pm tuesday 31st.
"Fine", i thought, "we can do without stuff till then"
This afternoon, Tesco Crumlin rang to say that they wouldn't be delivering my shopping and that I'd have to order my shopping from Lucan (which is farther away!) After waiting since Sunday, you can imagine I'm dissapointed, to put it mildly!.
Apparently where I live is outside their catchment area (4 miles from the shop) yet when i put my adress in, the site told me that Crumlin was my nearest store. The main problem I had with this was that 1 month ago, the girl I live with got her shopping delivered to the same adress from the same store!
Rang Tesco's customer care line to ask them what I do next, I was told that there shouldn't really be any problem getting my shopping as i was well within their area. The representitive couldn't think of any reason why they didn't want to deliver my shopping. She told me I should wait until 9pm, and if my shopping didn't arrive, then ring her again.
5 minutes later, and I'm getting a little impaitent, I ring Crumlin to ask them if they're doing any deliveries this evening, was told that they weren't doing any after 7.30 - back on to Tesco customer care to figure out what exactly is going on.
A very helpful chap checked my address on the map and agreed that crumlin was easily the closest to me. but came to the conclusion that Maynooth would be able to deliver my shopping instead of Crumlin (Maynooth being 20 miles away and in a different county.....) but unfortunately my shopping wouldn't get to me until at least Thursday night (or 5 days after I ordered it..) ...................

Dunnes Stores was nice and straight forward tonight.....

gubfunckel

Hi, I have been waiting for 4 days for a next day delivery, a £150 order which qualified for free delivery.
I have heard nothing about why there are delays in arriving, when it is to arrive so I phone in. I get told they don't use the regular courier but an external one for my delivery and that they don't confirm time of delivery.
Today being the fifth day since the order I have been offered a £10 compensation for the inconvenience suffered,
I think the best solution is don't order on line:

mad:

dudara

Please don't resurrect old threads.

Thread closed

dudara