Online Grocery Shopping - what are my rights?

oddment

This is probably more of a question for UK PAers, as it involves a supermarket named ASDA that we have over here, and obviously consumer rights vary in every country.

So, I don't drive, and my nearest supermarket is Sainsburys which is rather expensive and still a fair walk away. With this in mind, to save myself some time and money, I decided a couple of years ago to start doing my shopping online. I started with Tesco, but am not so keen on them, so when ASDA home delivery became avaliable in my area, I switched to them. Up until now, I've had no major problems with them, and if there ever has been a problem, they've rectified it swiftly, leaving me with good thoughts about them. This time was a different matter...

I ordered £80 worth of shopping (to last me and my partner a couple of weeks) and wanted it delivered between 3 and 5pm yesterday (4th) while I was at work but my partner was home... mainly so he would have to deal with bringing it in and I could just come home and relax without worrying about it . I get home at 5:30pm, and the shopping has not yet arrived. I figure maybe the traffic is bad, and give them another 15 minutes. Still nothing, not even a call to apologise for being late (which they usually do). So I call the support line and tell them the situation. They say they will call the store and call me back with an update.

Half an hour later.... nothing. So I call back again. They say the same thing and so I wait yet again. It gets to 6:45pm, and still nothing. I call yet again, and yet again they tell me they'll call the store and get back to me. Two minutes after putting the phone down, the ASDA van arrives outside. Finally, I thought, and me and my partner go out and get our shopping from the guy.

However, we get back in and start unpacking it, only to realise there aren't as many bags as there should be. We go through all the items on the receipt, and find that 12 items are completely missing. Obviously I am quite annoyed (especially since most of the missing items are essential ingredients for making meals, ie meat and vegetables) and so I call the support line (for the 4th time). They apologise and say they will call the store, arrange for a redelivery and call me back. Guess what? Half an hour later, nothing. I call again, am told that no-one can get through to the store! As this is the case, they promise to phone me in the morning and have a redelivery arranged. I was still quite annoyed, so I tried to phone to store myself, but as they said, I couldn't get through (phone just rang out several time). I then tried calling the main ASDA support line (ie, not specifically for home delivery) and was told they had nothing to do with home delivery problems, and transferred me through to the home delivery line instead, even though I wanted to make a complaint ABOUT the delivery service.

So, this morning... sitting at work, occassionally look at the clock, wondering when ASDA will call. It gets to lunch time, and I decide they've had enough time to call me back, and so call back the home delivery support line again. I am told they will try and get through, and give me a call back as soon as possible. Not happy about it, as thats what I've been told 5 times already, but am at work so can't really kick off too much. So three hours go by.... nothing. Utterly fed up, and with time ticking on (if its left too late, they probably won't be able to redeliver till tomorrow, which I'll be even less happy about), I call them YET AGAIN. I am told that a message has been left, but they have heard nothing back from the store. I'm told that they will try once again to get through, and I'm given the stores number and told if I don't hear anything back in half an hour, I should call the store myself.

Guess what? I had to call the store myself. Got through to someone who tried a couple of numbers to get through to the home delivery manager (got cut off in the process) but couldn't get through. I left my details with them... she had already been given my details, and said the home delivery manager was aware of the situation (as she had other people with those problems too!) and would get back to me as soon as she could, as the delivery warehouse was busy at the current time. I was given no time for a call back, and no reassurances about when a redelivery would happen.

So, I am fuming. I have paid to have my shopping delivered, and not only was it originally late, but it was not complete. Am I within my rights to ask for my delivery charge back, and for a refund of the money for the items not delivered yet... but still ask for them to be delivered as originally asked? If its not a right as such, do you at least think this is a reasonable request from a customer who has been properly pissed around? Any oher advice would be greatly appreciated too.


To cut a long story short (don't know the shortened version of that...) - ASDA have screwed me over twice in two days, and I cannot get anyone to call me back and arrange something to be done about it. Can I demand compensation for said screwing, or is there anything else I can do to resolve this and get my damn food?!

Thanks H/A

Deathwing

Having dealt with a very similar grocery delivery service run by Giant called Peapod here in the US, i've also had them accidentally leave items out of a delivery.

Assuming they've admitted that they screwed up, I can't think of why you wouldn't be within your rights to expect that they at least refund you the portion of the order that never got delivered.

Aside from that, they certainly could be nice and offer to redeliver the missing portion for free and/or refund the first delivery charge, but I don't see anything in their Terms and Conditions that would suggest they're obligated to do so...In fact, one part says -

6 Delivering Your Goods

6.1 We always aim to deliver Your products within the delivery slot We have agreed with You, but We cannot accept liability if We deliver the products outside of this slot or don’t deliver all or any of the products in Your order.

There very well could be some sort of law that would override that, but someone from the UK will still have to chime in, as i'm not able to find anything offhand.

Szechuanosaurus

You have the right to cancel the remaining order and get the difference refunded. General mail order rights suggest that you can return the rest of the order within seven days, although depending on what's been delivered if it's perishable etc. you may not have that right.

You don't have any rights to compensation or free food or reimbursement of delivery charges (unless the delivery charge is relative to the quantity delivered, in which case you might be able to argue for partial reimbursement).

If you kick up a real fuss, depending on how good ASDAs customer service is, they might send you the food and not charge you for it or give you some vouchers for your next shop or something, but that's not guaranteed and they aren't under any obligation to do so.

The one absolute right you do have - and the one I would most strongly recommend acting on - is taking your business elsewhere. Tesco should be just about as cheap. Hell, Sainsbury's is as well so long as you stay clear of their overpriced Taste the Difference stuff and stick to the basics. They all pretty much price match everything anyway and even Waitrose has a 'never knowingly undersold' policy (as does their parent company, John Lewis). If you get shitty service, call the company and cancel any remaining order and take your business elsewhere.


Also, ASDA is owned by WallMart. So if they've adopted WallMart's business ethics then Americans might be able to speculate on what their customer service is going to be like.

Szechuanosaurus

Deathwing wrote: »

6 Delivering Your Goods

6.1 We always aim to deliver Your products within the delivery slot We have agreed with You, but We cannot accept liability if We deliver the products outside of this slot or don’t deliver all or any of the products in Your order.

There very well could be some sort of law that would override that, but someone from the UK will still have to chime in, as i'm not able to find anything offhand.

No, there's not.

Daenris

Szechuanosaurus wrote: »

Also, ASDA is owned by WallMart. So if they've adopted WallMart's business ethics then Americans might be able to speculate on what their customer service is going to be like.

Run... run away... now. If this is correct I strongly suggest you take your business to one of the competing grocery delivery services.

But Szechuanosaurus is right. There's no real legal recourse for this except maybe a partial shipping refund. But as he suggests, if you complain enough they may offer something to appease you, but that really depends on how much this actually bugs you and how much time it's worth to complain.

Deathwing

Also, ASDA is owned by WallMart. So if they've adopted WallMart's business ethics then Americans might be able to speculate on what their customer service is going to be like.

Yeah, I hadn't noticed this, but it's a very good point also - if they run ASDA anything like they do their business here in the states, they force people to do their bidding, not the other way around. Any concessions you get will probably be based almost entirely on whether the person you talk to is in a good mood or something.

oddment

I used to work for ASDA a few years ago, just after the Wallmart takeover, and I don't think much changed from before... except staff huddles... god I hated those!

I generally like ASDA... I like their food and usually their customer service is spot on, but they've really cocked up this time. I still haven't heard anything back yet, so I won't be getting the rest of my food delivered today it seems.

In the past, if they have been over an hour late with the delivery, they've reimbursed me for the delivery charge as a good will gesture... so I'm at least expecting that from them. I'm going to kick up a fuss when I can finally speak to someone in charge, because really it isn't on... I paid for a service and that service has not been delivered.

As for shopping elsewhere... I know Waitrose have an online shopping thing. Might see what they offer. Tesco I am not a big fan of... their food isn't that great, and I don't really want to support a company that is turning into what can only be described as a mega-corporation. I suppose shopping at ASDA is similar as they are owned by Wallmart, but in this country ASDA are nothing like Tesco. As for Sainsburys, I used to shop there, and still do for general bits and bobs, but I find them overpriced still, compared to ASDA and Tesco. The only other supermarket is Morrisons, and they don't do a delivery service as far as I'm aware.

Thanks for the info and advice guys. I'll kick up a stink and see what I can get them to do for me for the inconvenience they've caused.

oddment

Well, it is solved I believe. We're getting the food that wasn't delivered refunded (though not delivered still I assume, which is fair enough) and they're also refunding the delivery charge... though it'll take 7-10 days to receive the refund. I was also told they'll send me an e-voucher as an apology, but whether that is true or not I don't know. At least it should be sorted now (I'll be keeping an eye on my account to make sure they do refund that money!) and I'll just have to buy the stuff that wasn't delivered elsewhere. Thanks for all the advice guys! I appreciate it!