Tesco Direct - Hassle Free Shopping! (Tesco)

Member Name: bubblegumbod

Product:	Tesco
Date:	29/09/00 (1136 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Hassle Free Shopping, Easier to buy bulk, Excellent service, Good Software

Disadvantages: Slow download times sometimes, Some products elusive to find.

By now everyone must have heard about Tesco Direct and plenty of people use it. I have to admit that it is a godsend for our family for 3 reasons.

Firstly, both my fiance and I are Chronic Fatigue (ME) suffers, so shopping via Tesco Direct saves us energy that we can ill afford to waste. We can also buy more of some items than we would have if we had shopped ourselves as we don't have to worry about packing it and getting it home.

Secondly, we save a lot of money by not aisle cruising and chucking things in willy nilly. My shopping bill has decreased by at least £25 per month because I don't wander round the clothes and music aisles, buying on a whim items that I don't really need!

Thirdly, we don't have to drag the kids out, don't have to suffer trolley rage/other peoples kids and having to shop in appalling weather.

I was pretty sceptical when I first installed the software -I was sure it would all go horribly wrong. I was wrong of course. The software installed like a dream and connecting the first time for my password was no problem. I even had a little strawberry icon appear on my desktop saying, "Tesco Direct" under it! I only came unstuck when I stupidly thought, "Ah that's an easy password to remember - I can remember that!" 30 minutes later, I had phoned the help desk to ask if they could retrieve my forgotten password. The man was very kind and not at all scathing when I admitted that I had decided against the very sensible screen advice and not written down the password.

So I sat there, logged on, and waited, and waited. The downloading of the database did take a little longer than I had anticipated, but it was soon there. After duly going off-line, I sat with the world of all things Tesco at my finger tips, a cup of tea at my side, no kids hollering "Do we have to go shopping?" and started my shopping.

The store is separated into many di
fferent sections, just as it is in real life. Like shopping at a store for the first time after they change the aisles round on you - it took a little while to find my way round but I was soon off and running. I suppose that unlike real life shopping, the products will always be in the same place once you have found them. What is the point of moving round an internet shopping aisle?

I came across two problems. First was that I hadn't actually written down my shopping list so I had to think about what I wanted or keep popping dowstairs. I also found my self trawling through sections that I didn't need to incase I had forgotten something. My resolution now is to write my list as I would have normally done and take it with me upstairs. The second problem is that if you shop yourself, you can tell by sight which size of item you normally have. I realised that by having only the written version of the product infront of me and not the object itself, I couldn't always remember which size I buy. I soon learnt after having lots of wrong sizes delivered, to write down on my list the size of product.

So far these were only 2 small hiccups.

Tesco Direct has a very good 'Search' facility. Sometimes I get to the stage where I can't be bothered to go through the sections so I bung the thing I want into 'Search' and 9 times out of 10, out comes a list of relevant products! Mind you, don't try searching for Quakers Snack-a-Jacks as I can never find them!

The 'Home' button of course takes you to the home screen where there are plenty of offers, recipes and general information. You can now also view the next available delivery slot before you start to shop.

Pressing the 'Trolley' button takes you to what is in your trolley at that time. Here you can add or remove items, edit the list, make notes and print out lists. It gives you a breakdown of each item in the trolley and a
running total cost.

'History' lets you view your recent shopping lists and gives the status of 'Delivered' or 'Accepted' you can click on a chosen past shopping list and select items to reorder rather than going through the whole selection process again. I find this feature very useful as I have pretty much the same thing most months so I can cut my shopping time in half by zipping through an old list and just altering the quantities if necessary. You will find a recipe section in here which has some wonderfully scrummy recipes in it. By double clicking on a recipe it appears with the exact ingredients you will need and to add them to your trolley you just click them. Again, you can adjust the quantities if need be.

'Order' is the magic button which zooms, or sometimes chugs your order through to Tescos. It is a secured site and here you choose the method of payment, delivery day and time as well as whether you want any substitutions made. You can choose same brand different size, different brand, same size or no substitutions. I know that people feel that you cannot shop around for the best deals, but a lot of the offers show up on screen and you can still collect your Bonus Points as your club card number if you have one, is entered on installation.

'Mail' brings up a new email screen, just type and send it away. I've not had cause to use this feature yet.

A word of warning on the next one. Pressing 'Help' when you have you half written Dooyoo opinion in front of you, is not a good move, as it automatically brings up the 'Help' web page! I panicked as I thought I'd lost my pinion, but closing down the help page and scrolling back....there it was in its entirety. Phew! To be sure of not losing it, I copied it and pasted it into Word. I can assure you that this opinion would not have appeared, had I lost the lot.

Anyhow, I digress. The 'Help
' section is a very comprehensive and useful section. It has plenty of possible answers to anything you may want to know. It can walk you through the whole shopping experience if necessary.

The last 2 buttons are 'Exit' and 'About' which are pretty self explanatory.

I have had no problem with the deliveries arriving on time. There is a huge range of time slots available depending on your local store. They are in 2 hourly times so you know when it is coming. My shopping is always packed well, I have suffered no broken goods and the staff are very pleasant and helpful. It tends to be a couple of ladies on my local route and you soon get to know them. Although I did feel a slight twinge of guilt about my cosy internet shopping when it was chucking down with rain and they were ferrying my shopping from the van in huge waterproof coats.

When it is delivered they hand over a printout of your list together with the payment slip for you to sign. They then bring everything to your door. Even fresh goods are picked out in perfect condition, so if you are used to picking your own fruit, don't worry, you can specify on the notes section how you like certain fruits/veggies and they will do their very best to complly with your wishes. If you are not happy with anything, you can send it back and have it removed from your bill.

I have only had 1 minor hiccup where a tub of ice cream (99p) was not included in my shopping. I phoned my local store, gave them my delivery number and they apologised profusely and refunded my Switch card immediately. What more can you ask for?

I have used Tesco Direct since May 2000 and I shop once a month. I know that people complain because there is a £5 delivery charge, but look at it this way. By the time you have written your list, travelled to Tescos in whatever way, fought your way round the store, wrestled it all into carrier bags or boxes, trundled the lot home,
dropped half of it going up the front path as you carried too much trying to save yourself too many journey's, put it all away and recovered from the whole terrifying experience - you have spent well over £5.

Just think that in the time it has taken you to do all of the above, you could have written some Dooyoo opinions in the comfort of your own home, with a nice cup of tea and earnt yourself some miles. Now I know which I would rather Doo! Dooyoo?

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