New research by Which? has revealed the most bizarre supermarket alternatives people have received when ordering online. (And it’ll make you feel slightly better about the time you got sent a courgette instead of a cucumber.)
One person claimed they ordered a bag of salad and received a bar of Dairy Milk (there goes the diet), while another mentioned they’d ordered a bottle of white wine and had received a sack of onions instead.
One word: gutted.
Which? asked more than 7,000 online shoppers to share their strangest supermarket order substitutions. The findings included:
:: One shopper claimed they’d ordered gluten-free bread which had been replaced with dog food.
:: Another ordered a carton of apple juice and was surprised with a bottle of Chardonnay.
:: One person who ordered toilet paper received nappies instead.
:: Vegetarians in particular seemed to get a raw deal, with many saying they ordered Quorn mince but received beef mince, while others who ordered vegetarian sausages were given pork ones.
According to the survey of shoppers, Asda substitutes groceries the most, with around half (48%) of its customers saying they had received something unexpected in their online shopping in the space of six months.
Amazon Fresh came in second place for the number of substitutions it dished out, while Waitrose Deliver and Tesco Online followed closely behind.
Iceland, meanwhile, had the least number of substitutions over the past six months.
Richard Headland, Which? magazine editor, said: “Substitutions can have a big impact on how satisfied customers are with online grocery services, so supermarkets should make every effort to get orders right first time.
“If necessary, supermarkets need to make intelligent substitutions - rather than some of the bizarre swaps we found - to avoid disappointing shoppers.”
A spokesperson for Amazon Fresh, who provide substitutions free of charge to customers, declined to comment on the findings.
A Waitrose spokesperson said: “We always aim to supply the items our customers want and are working on further improving our availability. With the recent launch of a new picking system we are able to ensure that we pick the most appropriate substitution, if a product is not available.”
A spokesperson for Asda said: “We always aim to provide the best service for our customers day in, day out by delivering the products they ordered online. When we do substitute an item, our policy is to always trade-up at no extra cost but mistakes sometimes happen.
“That’s why we are working on both reducing substitutions and improving the way we manage them and we’re pleased that customers have told us we are moving in the right direction.”
The Huffington Post UK has reached out to Tesco for comment and is waiting to hear back.