online grocery delivery

[dulwichgirl2]

Hello, can anyone recommend (or suggest against) using any of Ocado, Tesco and Sainsburys? Many thanks

[hellosailor]

We use sainsburys but not sure why as pretty much all the fresh food they deliver to you has an expiry date within 48 hours, as if they think you are going to eat 12 meals in 2 days or throw them away. I understand that they are going to use their online shoppers as a way to clear the food with the nearest expiry date, rather than select the food with the furthest possible date as you might when picking your own off the shelves, but it's a bit much when practically all of your weekly or fortnightly shop is due to go off within the first 2 or 3 days.

I imagine they assume that with meat and fish, you will put it all in your freezer, but if your freezer is full, you end up throwing stuff away purely because there aren't enough meal times to consume it before it goes off.

I have recently taken this up with sainsburys who have said they will look into it (final straw was when they delivered 3 different meat products at 6pm with a use by date of the following day, which if you took to mean midnight, ,meant I would have had to have eaten all three meals in the few hours before bed..not good.

[amyw]

we use ocado and they are good, most importantly when they do make a mistake or deliver something broken they are pretty good at rectifying the bill.

occasionally we get a product which expires sooner than we planned to eat it but for the most part they are no different to what i would have been able to get had i gone to a supermarket.

we have only ever used them and haven't bothered trying anyone else.

and their drivers are pleasant and offer to carry the bags in!

[Moos]

Used to use Sainsbury's but switched to Ocado after too many late deliveries, stupid substitutions and general annoyance. People do report Tesco is cheaper but Ocado sells good products, is always on time, rarely substitutes and employs nice people so am reluctant to switch. The only thing that I don't like about them is that they over-package and use too many bags - it would be perfectly possible to cut out bags and deliver in crates.

[Pickle]

I use mainly Tesco, sometimes Ocado. I find Tesco are reliable, have good delivery slots, and they don't provide short dated products. Works out cheaper than Ocado for bulk buying, and their club card gives good monetary discounts. The drivers carry your shopping to the kitchen, and they have the option of delivering without bags which I like.

I gave up on Sainsburys years ago after a series of deliveries with most items missing, or really bizarre substitutions (sorry, no chicken breasts available, thought you might like some black pudding instead type situations!).

I've been shopping online for over 5 years now, when I very occasionally go to Sainsburys to do a weekly shop I'm reassured paying a few ?? for delivery is money well spent!

[Polly D]

Am a keen Tesco online customer. Prompt service, rarely do they mess it up (in fact, can't think of a time they have), best before dates reasonable and you can edit your basket to advise re dates etc and other specifics. You can choose not to have bags. Great club card vouchers too. I often get sent ?5 or ?7.50 off vouchers. If they get an item wrong, they refund it no problem. Fresh food always seem to be actually fresh. Good offers too.

Used to use Sainsburys online a long time ago and found it annoying: inconceivable BB dates, bad quality fruit & veg, silly use of carrier bags, i.e. one item in a bag.

Sometimes use Ocado when feeling less skint or if doing a special dinner and can't fault it tho no vouchers or other loyalty type rewards.

Okay so none of it as ideal as popping to William Rose and SMBS every day but who has time and money for that?

[sunbob]

Usually use Tesco with no problems. If I am very organised I use Asda, you have to wait longer for a delivery slot but will prob save some money.

[Saffron]

I found Asda was cheaper but didn't always stock the brands I wanted. We mostly use Sainsburys, have heard good things about Ocado though. It's also worth looking into smaller delivery companies like Abel & Cole, if you want organic and eco-type products.

[EmilyE]

Ocado is great. And has some free delivery slots, and a Tesco price match on branded products. And very good customer service. I'm not even on commission.

I tried to do Sainsburys once and gave up.

I've done Tescos a couple of times and have had problems - I find the website more irritating, I had lots of stuff missing, they couldn't deliver where they said they could and so on, but that was outside London.

I did look into Abel and Cole, and thought they'd work out more expensive than buying eco organice free range fair trade etc etc locally or ocado.

[dulwichgirl2]

This is incredibly helpful, thank you all so much. I will give it a go via Tesco at the weekend, and if they let me down, I will go for Ocado. (The black pudding substitution finished off any interest in Sainsburys.)

Probably this is a silly question but....do you tip the delivery guy? My husband always tips eg pizza guys a few pounds which I find different somehow from the Tesco chap, but maybe the guy would expect it?

[Pickle]

No, I never tip them and they don't expect it (if they do they are very professional at hiding their disappointment!).

You'll find the first couple of times Ordering online is slow, but once your favourites are saved it's really quick to do - if you're an existing tesco customer you load in your clubcard details and everything you usually buy will be automatically loaded.

[Bonfire2010]

I used ASDA a few times, but stopped when I was verbally abused by the delivery driver for asking him to help me lift the bags into the hall when I was 40+5 weeks pregnant.

Have used Sainsburys for ages with not too many issues. If they are late you get ?10 off of your next shop.

[Saffron]

We only tip on rare occasions, like once when the delivery slot was late in the evening and the weather was appalling, or once when I forgot (!) that I had a delivery and the Sainsburys driver waited for me to return home.

[2degreesfrommadness]

We use Ocado, very happy with the service; pay ?9.99 a month for unlimited deliveries , has worked out much cheaper than Sainburys which we used before we got fed up with poor service.

[EmilyE]

Just to say I've been sent through vouchers with ?15 off your first shop. So if anyone's interested PM me and I'll send through the code.

Oh, and I've never tipped. Never occured to me actually.

[sanity girl]

I use both Ocado and Waitrose. Very happy with service from both.

[verds]

I think Tesco are better value than Sainsbury's. When the Tesco driver did my Christmas delivery, he saw how pregnant I was and carried everything up to the first floor flat. And then insisted on putting it all on the worktops so I didn't have to bend down. The eggs came bubble wrapped, too! I was amazed at the service

[pebbles]

I'm a huge Ocado fan (having tried Sainsbury's who just failed on so many accounts).

I use Ocado for perishables etc and I now use ASDA for cleaning stuff etc as they are a lot cheaper.

[hellosailor]

I've always been confused about this - is their a link between waitrose and ocado? I used to think ocado was just the online shopping for waitrose with a different name, but now I see waitrose vans I guess they are nothing to do with each other?

[johnhinton]

I've been using Ocado for a couple of years: no problem with short-dated food, and I like the online store and polite/helpful drivers. Have tried tescos and sainsburys in the the past, and not inclined to return. Did try Waitrose just after Christmas - found the website to be a trial and too many items missing from the delivery (I never want substitutions).

The John Lewis group helped Ocado start up and owned a chunk of the equity, most of which was cashed in when Ocado was listed. I understand the Waitrose orders are packed in the local (Beckenham) store, as opposed to the central warehouse used by Ocado - that may be why so many items were not available when the pickers tried to fulfil the order. Still prefer Ocado, but if Waitrose opens a more local branch then I might do more day-to-day shopping there.

[EmmaCC]

My husband insisted I try to tip the driver when we got our first Waitrose order- the driver refused to accept it - he was adamant that he would be in trouble if he did! Have recently started Internet shopping - used Waitrose and Saibsburys. Personally prefer Sainsburys as more choice-we actually found that Waitrose were worse for giving us veg etc near it's use by date. Most imprtantly I found sainsburys much cheaper. They were 10 mins late last week but today got my ?10 off voucher so will forgive them this time!

[dulwichgirl2]

Many thanks again. Also, I found a voucher on the internet that worked last night to get 10 pounds off Tesco. Pm me if you want it.

[sandy_rose]

We've tried them all and Ocado are by far the best on so many levels. We paid ?40 (special offer) for 12 months unlimited deliveries. You can order today for delivery the next day, it tells you if a van is already in your area for greener deliveries, and if something is out of stock it tells you during the ordering process. They do tesco price match on loads of items. Drivers are always nice, they carry the shopping into your kitchen no matter how many stairs (unlike most of the others) and take your old bags away for you and they are never late. In all the time we've used Ocado we've only ever had one substitution, there is always a 'minimum use by date' displayed on screen when you are placing your order. If you have a problem with anything the refund process is super quick and easy, just a couple of clicks online plus every so often you get free samples of really lovely foods.

We had major issues with Asda, by far the worst and don't even get me started on Sainsbury's! Ocado may be more expensive (can't say I've noticed) but for the service and quality it really can't be beaten. And no, I don't have shares in Ocado but now I'm thinking I need to get some!

[Senor Chevalier]

These guys are ace:

http://www.eastlondonsteak.co.uk/

Next day delivery arrives before you leave for work - steaks cut to order including rarer cuts like onglet.

I have also heard good things about these guys, but not got round to trying them yet:

http://www.localgreens.org.uk/