Grocery Home Delivery Users: Are The Substitution Choices Made Satisfactory?

ihfree on 05/05/2023 - 19:11

For Coles, Woolworths or other grocery home delivery: Are you generally happy with the choices made when substitutions are enabled?

Personally, I’ve found both services to be a bit hit and miss. I now disable substitution for anything that I wouldn’t want substituted but leave it enabled for anything required during the week.

Coles was unable to substitute milk, eggs, or bread three weeks in a row. I recently started using Woolworths and they seem to make a few odd choices such as lite yoghurt instead of normal yoghurt or dark rye bread instead of white.

Poll Options

  • 9
    Yes - Woolworths
  • 3
    Yes - Coles
  • 0
    Yes - Other
  • 9
    No - Woolworths
  • 3
    No - Coles
  • 1
    No - Other
  • 6
    N/A - I don’t enable substitutions
  • 24
    N/A - I shop in store.
Food & Grocery

Related Stores

Woolworths
Woolworths
Coles
Coles

Comments

  • [Deactivated] on 05/05/2023 - 19:20
    +2

    I tried online grocery shopping during the first lockdown & I had yuck substitutions made or none at all due to many items being out of stock at the time. I stopped buying groceries online altogether & went back to in-store shopping. I prefer to select my own subs & have Colesworth + Aldi + IAG locally so it's not an inconvenience.

  • Wiadro on 05/05/2023 - 20:17
    +4

    id rather goto woolies or coles.
    easier than having someone pick my order and get half of it wrong.

    • jjjaar on 05/05/2023 - 21:51
      +1

      Yeah but when there’s $2 delivery, even if I only get half my order that’s better than me forgetting to go to the shops 😂

    • Savas on 05/05/2023 - 22:19
      +4

      i've literally never had any of my orders wrong

      • AlienC on 06/05/2023 - 12:08
        +1

        I have had more worse substitutions than good ones so i disable them now I can't even think of any item now where I am fine with gambling and risking a poor substitution.

        On the same note I believe twice on one of my very first orders I got some weird additions like extra frozen vegetables and female hygiene product's one time.. It was strange for sure and was odd since no women live here. Thought it was promo for something couldn't really return it.. Coles wasn't even taking my extra bags at the time so now I just collect them like a crazy person and use them as garbage bags and bin liners.

  • Dlw on 05/05/2023 - 20:23
    +5

    We get weekly Woolies deliveries. We’ve been fortunate and rarely ever get things substituted and when we do, they’re fine. If anything, we’ve accidentally receive someone else’s shopping in addition to ours quite a few times.

  • lostgoat on 05/05/2023 - 20:27
    +3

    I always click no subs each item and refund. They should make it default . DoorDash Coles.

    • ihfree on 05/05/2023 - 20:30

      I think they are useful - one gotten just to not going to the shops weekly since using delivery services. It's annoying not getting some basics.

      Perhaps better onboarding with a dialog explaining the options the first time.

      • AustriaBargain on 05/05/2023 - 21:50
        +1

        It is annoying not getting what you ordered. If you do a big order to avoid going to the shop, but your order is missing your week's worth of milk or whatever so you need to go in to the shop anyway, then you feel like it hasn't saved you a trip at all.

        • jjjaar on 05/05/2023 - 21:52
          +1

          For me it’s usually just forgetting to go, so for $2 delivery, I’ll take 20% of the shop vs 0%.

          FWIW: most of my orders have nothing out of stock.

        • ihfree on 05/05/2023 - 21:58

          I had three weeks of that with Coles which led to me cancelling. How can you not have a substitute available for milk, bread or eggs?

          (…got used to not going to the shops… damn you gboard)

  • Iwantthebestprice on 05/05/2023 - 21:50
    +1

    Why not add an option for no both! I’ve had both coles and woolies and both their subs are terrible. Also not to mention doing a week shop but all the meat expires in 2 days. Will never use him delivery for that reason

    • ihfree on 05/05/2023 - 21:53

      Limitations of Ozbargain polls.

      I check expiry dates as I unpack. The one time I got short dated items, I complained and got a refund.

  • Savas on 05/05/2023 - 22:20
    +3

    i don't see anything wrong with lite yogurt or dark rye bread.. they were probably trying to be nice.

    • ihfree on 05/05/2023 - 22:31
      +3

      Yeah probably but still weird choices, imo. Generally, i would presume, if the supermarket is out of full fat yoghurt in one brand, you’d choose another brand rather than lite.

  • BewareOfThe Dog on 05/05/2023 - 22:20
    +1

    That's why I shop at Aldi.

    • [Deactivated] on 05/05/2023 - 22:33

      Exclusively?

  • Yola on 05/05/2023 - 22:21
    +1

    I once got 1 potato from Woolies instead of 4kg bag.

    • ihfree on 05/05/2023 - 22:21
      +1

      Assume that was sorted easily?

      • Yola on 05/05/2023 - 22:23
        +2

        Yes, luckily it was Woolies and the bot just refunds automatically on your say so. Coles is more difficult.

  • freefall101 on 06/05/2023 - 00:12
    +2

    Woolworths tends to be odd substitutions, but workable. Pork mince instead of pork strips, frozen pasta instead of a potato bake, I've gotten the rye bread instead (weirdly they substituted two rye loaves for one wholemeal, ate a lot of bread that week).

    I do find that it's quite rare they need to substitute but a lot of stuff is always out of stock on their website. If you complain online they refund on pretty much anything (short dated items or weird substitutions) so it's not too bad. Only time it wasn't refunded instantly was when I grabbed some booze and the booze items didn't show up at all, it took 2-3 days to investigate and refund (which is fair enough and I got the refund).

    Coles was just allround useless in their deliveries, it was more a problem of missing items than substitutions. I stopped using them when half my order (25 of 50 items) didn't show up one week.

  • garetz on 06/05/2023 - 08:39
    +1

    I never use substitution, only refund. The substitution you have 0 control over, and usually do not get like for like.

  • revheadgl on 06/05/2023 - 09:07
    +4

    I use both Woolworths and Coles and when there are substitutes, they are nearly always fine. I do however only allow subs on things that are an easy replacement. If there is something specific that I want, I just untick substitutes.

    Woolies has a better system for substitutes as you can leave a note for the personal shopper specifying your sub preference on each or any item if you wish.

    • ihfree on 06/05/2023 - 09:55

      I noticed that field - will leave a few notes in there with my preferences and see if it improves.

      • AlienC on 06/05/2023 - 12:10

        I felt guilty using that feature as I didn't want to give the personal shopper more work and time on my order than already needed to but I guess it is there for our convenience so… Idk I'm still conflicted on asking for extra help using the woolworths notes.. Which is odd because I add directions on the delivery notes like leave order inside door is unlocked push to open etc

        • ihfree on 06/05/2023 - 12:26
          +1

          I think it's a win-win situation except in the most extreme cases where you go full Karen. If your requests aren't reasonable, they'll probably be ignored.

          You're helping Woolworths - customer satisfaction leads to more retention and there's less chance of a refund due to a bad substitution.

          Also, this user in a latter comment seems to have had success using it.

  • ozpat on 06/05/2023 - 11:21
    +1

    I find that if I select only a few products for substitution the packer seems to ignore all substitutions and just makes all items out of stock. When I select all products for substitution they will substitute if needed. It might be easier (less complicated) for them if they know they can substitute everything on the list. 🤷‍♀️

  • j1nk0r on 06/05/2023 - 12:21
    +1

    I have had some odd substitutions in the past, but since I started using the notes field to list what to substitute with I haven’t had any issues.

  • Yola on 06/05/2023 - 12:47
    +1

    I have noticed that the people putting these orders together often seem very young even teenage. I wonder if they know what substitutions would be suitable for someone making a meal. They may not even cook. Generalisation but I suspect this is where some of the strange substitutions spring from.

  • Ryk on 07/05/2023 - 10:19
    +2

    I've never had an order fully correct. Though I'm usually buying specials, they manage to go out of stock after I order them? Their stock control/management seems to be from the 1950s, is it on the shelf?
    I've had dishwashing detergent substituted with laundry detergent.I suppose in a squeeze we could make it work.

    • ihfree on 07/05/2023 - 10:26

      I would typically disable substitutions for specials. I generally haven't had too much luck. The one time I tried it with Olive Oil, I received an OK substitute, but a bit short dated.

      I will try leaving notes for normal items with the next order as suggested by others.

  • seannami on 08/05/2023 - 18:41
    +1

    I haven't ordered often, but when I had COVID (or iso) and one crazy work week, I did. I had to start saying no subs on a lot of stuff because I'm allergic to spices, sensitive to preservatives and need lactose free. I once got a hot and spicy salsa instead of tomato relish (or similar, was a while ago), a Zymil milk with 2 days left on the used by instead of 2 home brand milks, and sausages with spices and preservatives. I'm considering going back to online ordering just to stop the impulse junk food, but there will definitely be a no subs option.

    Also, for some reason I am 2 minutes from a Coles and they send it from the next suburb?

    ETA I put "other" because it's happened with both

    • Yola on 10/05/2023 - 07:45
      +1

      I am 2 minutes from a Coles and they send it from the next suburb?

      This happens to me too. I just assume some stores are set up to handle deliveries. Makes sense as they would have to have the space for stock and trucks and additional employees to do it.

  • snapper17 on 14/05/2023 - 18:01
    +1

    I also had to resort to turning off subs for some items I would rather not have then have some other brand/product.
    They seem to want to get rid of some stock that doesnt sell when they choose subs.
    I also found sometimes for example I ordered 2kg cold powder on special it was not in stock so they gave me 1kg instead for same price as 2kg. They should of given me 2 packs.
    Same with 2kg bag of potatoes I ordered but only received 1kg in sub.

    Overall the subs are ok and I will keep shopping online with woolies

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