Short Dated and Stale Items in Tesco

foggy_lad

I got my shopping delivered earlier and all looked fine until I was putting some of it away and noticed several items had very short dates, tiger bread is dated best before 24th, poppy seed rolls Best before 24th, doughnuts best before 24th. Also the main lk was over a week old! Cream fields 3l dated use by 01st march.

Last Friday morning bought milk in aldi which was dated 06th march!

There was also Tesco carrots 600g which were only 500g and marked 500g!

Customer care were absolutely useless, they tell me there is no fresher milk in the Carlow store or in any tesco store and just because aldi milk is at least a week fresher the tesco milk has a shelf life of 4 days so is acceptable to them, and that the bread is not stale even though you could use it as a cricket bat it is so hard!

Has anyone else had issues with short dates in tesco? Or any other supermarket?

L1011

Tesco: yes, constantly. Have to check every single perishable before buying it to the point that I just don't anymore - milkman, Lidl for fresh bread every day I want some and greengrocer/butcher for veg/meat I know aren't old.

hfallada

foggy_lad wrote: »

I got my shopping delivered earlier and all looked fine until I was putting some of it away and noticed several items had very short dates, tiger bread is dated best before 24th, poppy seed rolls Best before 24th, doughnuts best before 24th. Also the main lk was over a week old! Cream fields 3l dated use by 01st march.

Last Friday morning bought milk in aldi which was dated 06th march!

There was also Tesco carrots 600g which were only 500g and marked 500g!

Customer care were absolutely useless, they tell me there is no fresher milk in the Carlow store or in any tesco store and just because aldi milk is at least a week fresher the tesco milk has a shelf life of 4 days so is acceptable to them, and that the bread is not stale even though you could use it as a cricket bat it is so hard!

Has anyone else had issues with short dates in tesco? Or any other supermarket?

My mother stop using tesco delivery service as most of the goods werent that fresh. They were generally a few days from being out of date. Plus their substituting of an out of stock item was ridiculous. You might order a particular razor blade as its the only one that fits your razor. But tesco would substitute it for some blade twice the price and useless for the razor. Or you would get chocolate yogurts instead of plain.

It just wasn't worth using in the end.

foggy_lad

hfallada wrote: »

My mother stop using tesco delivery service as most of the goods werent that fresh. They were generally a few days from being out of date. Plus their substituting of an out of stock item was ridiculous. You might order a particular razor blade as its the only one that fits your razor. But tesco would substitute it for some blade twice the price and useless for the razor. Or you would get chocolate yogurts instead of plain.

It just wasn't worth using in the end.

The driver told me he had delivered to someone who had bananas substituted with Turnips!, Why would staff not pick bananas instead and why would a supermarket be out of stock of all bananas!

They used to be a lot better but now seem to be all about poor staff and worse management as well as stale and old perishable items! The best part of the tesco online experience is the excellent drivers!

ABajaninCork

I haven't used Tesco's delivery service here, but have done in London. I'm not surprised that much of the stuff delivered is almost OOD/stale. It's the same in the stores, if you look. And they're none too clean either...

All of the supermarkets there (with the exception of Ocado/Waitrose) are much of a muchness - i.e. useless! All I ever used them for was delivery of ambient items/cat food/cleaning stuff where the dates didn't matter. And left a note that if an item was out of stock, then no substitutes were to be sent and just left off the list. If they did send a substituted item, then I just used to call the store and ask for my card to be credited as I did not ask for it. Nine times out of 10, I'd offer to return, but was usually told to keep the items!

Are you not able to leave a note asking for items not to be substituted here?

foggy_lad

ABajaninCork wrote: »

I haven't used Tesco's delivery service here, but have done in London. I'm not surprised that much of the stuff delivered is almost OOD/stale. It's the same in the stores, if you look. And they're none too clean either...

All of the supermarkets there (with the exception of Ocado/Waitrose) are much of a muchness - i.e. useless! All I ever used them for was delivery of ambient items/cat food/cleaning stuff where the dates didn't matter. And left a note that if an item was out of stock, then no substitutes were to be sent and just left off the list. If they did send a substituted item, then I just used to call the store and ask for my card to be credited as I did not ask for it. Nine times out of 10, I'd offer to return, but was usually told to keep the items!

Are you not able to leave a note asking for items not to be substituted here?

Yes you can "turn off" substitutions but are likely to negate all the benefits of shopping online when you only get half your shopping.

ABajaninCork

So what is the issue then? Either accept the services with all its limitations, or just don't use it!

dudara

I do use Tesco online shopping, but I've never tried it for perishables. It's nothing to do with Tesco, I just want to pick those items for myself. However, it is flipping great for getting mass deliveries of toilet paper, washing detergent etc.

One thing that's probably worth trying is to write a letter of complaint to the store manager (I know my orders are serviced from Nutgrove) and cc to HQ in Dun Laoghaire.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

If you order online you can expect perishable goods to be as close to BBB as they can get them. They're not doing anything different to having them sitting on the shelves for you or I to pick up with our shopping. I would never have somebody else pick perishables for me as I always go through the shelves of bread, sausages etc to get items with the longest dates possible.
Fruit and veg, chicken etc I don't buy in a supermarket anyway.

ash23

Can't say I've ever had that issue. I placed an order which was delivered today. Milk is dated March 5th, mince is March 1st, chicken is Feb 28th, ham is March 18th, yogurts are March 8th. No substitutions.

I guess it depends on the store. But I've only once gotten something that was short date and the driver brought it to my attention and I returned it with the driver and had a refund within the next day or two.

foggy_lad

ash23 wrote: »

Can't say I've ever had that issue. I placed an order which was delivered today. Milk is dated March 5th, mince is March 1st, chicken is Feb 28th, ham is March 18th, yogurts are March 8th. No substitutions.

I guess it depends on the store. But I've only once gotten something that was short date and the driver brought it to my attention and I returned it with the driver and had a refund within the next day or two.

I got milk in Aldi on friday evening that was dated 6th March!

What I find hard to swallow is being told that the freshest milk they had in store(Carlow) was dated 1st March when they would have got a delivery of milk today or on Saturday with a date of at least 6th March.

What tesco told me today is that their creamfields milk is always going to be a lot less fresh/older than the comparable Aldi milk.

brian_t

foggy_lad wrote: »

What tesco told me today is that their creamfields milk is always going to be a lot less fresh/older than the comparable Aldi milk.

On the Tesco shelves I usually find that the 'best before' date of the tesco branded milk is one day later then the Creamfields milk

TerrorFirmer

It is quite annoying actually, more than once I've gotten chicken that was dated on the day it was delivered or the following day. I suppose it's a limitation of online shopping, though I suppose you could trying making a comment in the comment box at the end of the checkout requesting certain perishables to be dated as far ahead as possible? Worth a try.

athtrasna

I always type "long expiry date in the box beside any perishables, always works for me. I very rarely allow substitutions either. Next to no problems.

foggy_lad

athtrasna wrote: »

I always type "long expiry date in the box beside any perishables, always works for me. I very rarely allow substitutions either. Next to no problems.

Customers should be getting the freshest goods without having to jump through those hoops considering the added cost of shopping in tesco.

ThisRegard

hfallada wrote: »

Plus their substituting of an out of stock item was ridiculous. You might order a particular razor blade as its the only one that fits your razor. But tesco would substitute it for some blade twice the price and useless for the razor. Or you would get chocolate yogurts instead of plain.

It just wasn't worth using in the end.

So why don't you just say no substitutes ?

wmpdd3

The bakery goods you ordered have 1 day shelf life, baked at 6 am, best before 12 am that night.

Not sure about the milk though there's usually 5 days on the Tesco milk, not sure about the creamfields milk. We go through a 2l each day.

endofrainbow

have had a few items delivered that were short life date, called Customer Service and was refunded.

with regard to substitutions, I once had dog food delivered instead of cat food.....that was woof

JimsAlterEgo

athtrasna wrote: »

I always type "long expiry date in the box beside any perishables, always works for me. I very rarely allow substitutions either. Next to no problems.

I do same, generic note to say all perishables to have as long a date as possible.

foggy_lad

JimsAlterEgo wrote: »

I do same, generic note to say all perishables to have as long a date as possible.

Tesco customer care told me they rang the Carlow store and that the store had no milk fresher than use by 1st march although last Friday aldi milk had a use by date of 6th march, so they are stating that tesco creamfields milk is at least a week old when you get it!

ThisRegard

foggy_lad wrote: »

so they are stating that tesco creamfields milk is at least a week old when you get it!

Or that it just has a shorter shelf life most likely.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

foggy_lad wrote: »

Tesco customer care told me they rang the Carlow store and that the store had no milk fresher than use by 1st march although last Friday aldi milk had a use by date of 6th march, so they are stating that tesco creamfields milk is at least a week old when you get it!

Perhaps the short date is why the cream fields is so cheap. Its not a matter of being a week older than the others, it's a production process. Cheap milk means cheaper production.

As an aside, I don't know why people shop in Tesco when they seem to do nothing but complain about the place. I shop elsewhere, having shopping previously for years in Tesco, and now have no problems with stocks, pricing, BB dates etc.

foggy_lad

ThisRegard wrote: »

Or that it just has a shorter shelf life most likely.

Was it from special cows that produce milk that goes off faster?

foggy_lad

Benson Uptight Strikeout wrote: »

Perhaps the short date is why the cream fields is so cheap. Its not a matter of being a week older than the others, it's a production process. Cheap milk means cheaper production.

As an aside, I don't know why people shop in Tesco when they seem to do nothing but complain about the place. I shop elsewhere, having shopping previously for years in Tesco, and now have no problems with stocks, pricing, BB dates etc.

Same price as Aldi, Lidl and Supervalu own brand milk, remember creamfields is a tesco owned brand!

wmpdd3

Have you ever tried super Quinn home delivery? They do carlow right?

foggy_lad

wmpdd3 wrote: »

Have you ever tried super Quinn home delivery? They do carlow right?

Yes, used them a few times and going to stick with them from now on. SuperValu shopping comes from Tullow which can be hit and miss at times but SuperquinnValu comes from Kilkenny which is better.

ThisRegard

foggy_lad wrote: »

Was it from special cows that produce milk that goes off faster?

You do know that milk is processed once taken from cows don't you ? I think UHT is the only milk for you.

ash23

foggy_lad wrote: »

I got milk in Aldi on friday evening that was dated 6th March!

What I find hard to swallow is being told that the freshest milk they had in store(Carlow) was dated 1st March when they would have got a delivery of milk today or on Saturday with a date of at least 6th March.

What tesco told me today is that their creamfields milk is always going to be a lot less fresh/older than the comparable Aldi milk.

I'm not sure I'd be keen on milk that has a shelf life of longer than 10 days to be honest. Realistically, what kind of shelf life are you looking for with the items you mention?

Bakery items have a shelf life of less than a day. So they are meant to be eaten the day they are baked. Milk, I would think a week to ten days is relatively lengthy.

gallag

All the breads in the op only have 1 days date Inc the donuts.

snubbleste

The Creamfields milk goes off earlier than the stated BB date.
I now avoid it completely.

Kenjataimu

ThisRegard wrote: »

You do know that milk is processed once taken from cows don't you ? I think UHT is the only milk for you.

but there's no demand for that because it's shite...