More on grocery home delivery than you ever wanted to know? We got it right here! ;-)

[kniteracy]

More on grocery home delivery than you ever wanted to know? We got it right here! ;-)

Well, I figure as long as I'm going to be researching this stuff for my own nefarious purposes, I might as well put it down here. I'm sure I'm not the only person out there who's had crappy service from tesco, so I think I owe it to myself and to anybody who might benefit from this information to be as open as possible about my search for a replacement.

Sainsbury's were supposed to be here between 12:00 and 1:00 pm today. The driver pulled up outside at 12:01. Yowza! :) The driver's name was Mark, and as this was the first time I'd ordered from them, he took me through the whole procedure. When Sainsbury's have to make a substitution, they put it into a different coloured bag, so you know where the substitutions are, and the driver will stick around to make sure you're happy with all substitutions before he leaves. Frozen food is put in bags with tags attached, so you can get to those first. I sent back the Kingsmill bread substitution, but kept the small potatoes and the organic carrots and, ironically, the finger rolls in place of my BOGOF hot dog buns. ;-)

Mark was personable and polite, and he helped me carry things upstairs.

For the record, Sainsbury's definitely wins the "default grocery delivery service" contest for me. Their bang-for-buck is quite a bit better than either of the alternatives, as they offer reasonable prices and good delivery service at the same time, amazingly.

So, entrepreneurs out there-- would this kind of experience and hands-on consumer experimentation as a model make a good magazine article or series? Obviously, this one is a no-go, since I've made these entries public on my blog and actually linked to them in a customer service complaint to tesco, which to be honest probably ranks slightly above a certain auto repair business in Canton, GA, but not much. Then again, tesco get to screw over thousands of people, and little auto repair shops can only handle five or ten a week.

Comments

bear in mind

[maverick-weirdo.livejournal.com]

It is possible that they put extra effort into the "first delivery".

I suggest alternating between the two services for a couple of months before making a final decision.

[(Anonymous)]

Check out the 'Which' magazines. But you would need a lot larger sample size than just one 'bad' and one 'good' to make any reasonable comment about them in general. If I accepted every negative report that any of my friends or coworkers has ever made then I would have no bank, no car, no internet or cable connection, and would be unable to buy food anywhere because I would be boycotting everything (except possibly places like Harrods and other store way out of any sensible price range, but that's probably because I don't know anyone who's shopped there who could then report a negative experience)...

[bercilakslady.livejournal.com]

I think Harper's two years as a Tesco customer counts as more than "one bad" experience.

Granted, one excellent experience with Sainsbury's may mean that she needs to get more deliveries from them to make a final choice, but it's fair to say that Tesco does not deserve her further patronage.

It is true that you need more than one negative comment to make an informed decision about which companies to use, but other's comments about this subject on previous entries leads me to think that Tesco is simply not a reasonable chain to deal with. No one but an anonymous poster had anything good to say about them, and frankly, posting anonymously about such a topic seems cowardly.

[denali1.livejournal.com]

Wow, I wish we had a place like that in the States... I like the way they organize things (one bag color for substitutions, tags for frozen/refrigerated). It makes the OCD in me giddy!

[mdlbear]

Just because you've posted the information on your blog in one form doesn't mean that you can't sell it to a magazine in another form. Also, these days columns are published simultaneously as blogs -- a history as a blogger will make it easier to sell your work.

Put subject tags on the blog entries you think might make good columns, then pull them out as an RSS file and format them in a generic, easy-to-read style. Now you have a writing sample that you can point editors at.

[starmalachite.livejournal.com]

Do you know the marvelous British a capella trio Artisan? On their Christmas CD Paper Angels, they do a catchy holiday-shopping-hell number called "The Sainsbury Rag." No reflection on the chain-- under the circumstances they describe, no store could be a pleasant experience.