Sorry Asda - I'll stick with Tesco's (Asda.com)

Member Name: SusanLesley

Product:	Asda.com
Date:	14/03/09 (545 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Food was fresh and of good quality and a good price

Disadvantages: No way of knowing the cost of delivery when you book

Over the last couple of months I have used Tesco.com a couple of times when I haven't had Dave around to give me a lift down to the local store. Whilst I have been happy with Tesco I decided this week that I would give Asda a chance mainly so that I could get £5 cashback from Quidco!

The website address is www.asda.co.uk and the home page offers the choice of Groceries to your door, Financial Services, Asda.com, Asda Direct, Books, CDs, DVDs, Games, Electricals, Flowers, Gifts, Mobile Phones, Opticians, Pharmacy, Photo and Travel.

I registered with the site which involved entering my name, address and eventually, after completing my order, my Visa information. This is all stored ready for the next time that I need to order - with the exception of the three digit Visa security number which has to be input each time you order.

I was also given an ID number and asked to enter a four digit PIN so that, when I wanted to log back in, all I had to do was insert my PIN.

As I was ordering from the groceries section and the first thing I had to do was to select a delivery time. Unlike Tesco, here on Asda you choose a date and then a two hour time slot but, at this stage you have no idea how much it is going to cost you, so you can't make a decision to choose a cheaper time slot. I chose Friday between 2pm and 4pm and it cost me £5.50 but I can't find out any of the other prices - if they are indeed any different - without placing another order.

The first round to Tesco's then!

The groceries section is then further split into 25 - 30 aisles where like items are grouped together as they would be in a real supermarket. They include bakery and cakes, baby, pets, fruit, vegetables and salad, toiletries, dairy etc., plus certain seasonal aisles - at the moment there is one entitled Mother's Day. Each one is then further split into more detail - for example the fresh fruit would be split into apples, bananas, pears, oranges etc.

You continue clicking and narrowing down your search until you find the item that you are looking for and you just add it to your basket. You just continue like this until you have chosen all the shopping that you want to buy.

The problem I found at the shopping stage was that with fruit and vegetables I had to order by weight and metric weight at that! I found this much easier on the Tesco site where I could order 8 apples or 6 bananas etc. It was difficult for me to imagine what a kilo of apples looked like - I know it's 2.2 pounds, but even so I had no idea how many apples that would be.

The second round to Tesco's.

As it happened when the order arrived I did have more fruit than I expected but that isn't really a problem as I eat a lot of fruit!

You then have the chance to view your basket and change anything that needs changing. There is also an opportunity to use any vouchers that you may have by just typing in the reference number from the voucher in the appropriate box. Incidentally it is always worth while looking round on the various money saving websites for vouchers offering free delivery or money off your shopping as they are fairly plentiful at the moment. It is also worth entering the Asda site via any cashback site that you may use as you can often get some cash back. I went via Quidco and hope to get £5 cashback.

Anyway back to the shopping.......

Unlike Tesco's I was not given a choice as to whether I wanted my shopping delivered in carrier bags or in trays. With Tesco's I always choose trays which does get me 3 extra Clubcard points, but more importantly don't end up with a pile of carrier bags I neither want nor need.

Round three to Tesco's.

I then just had to check and confirm my address and credit cards details, fill in my security number and submit my order and that was that.

I had selected a delivery slot of between 2pm and 4pm on Friday afternoon and the delivery arrived at about 2.45pm so that was fine.

The delivery man was polite and friendly and the shopping was in carrier bags which were then placed in large trays. I asked the man to bring the trays through to the kitchen, which is what the Tesco delivery men do. He told me that he wasn't allowed to cross the threshold so I had to lug them through the house myself and quickly take out the carrier bags so that he could have the trays back.

Round four to Tesco's.

I had checked the box on the website to say that I did not want any substitutions and the delivery man reminded me that substitutions would never cost more than the ordered item so you can often get better products for cheaper prices. I thanked him for the information but I actually thought that it would be pointless if it was an item I didn't actually want! He also gave me the final bill which was slightly different from the total of my shopping basket on the site due to the accuracy of weighing any fresh items.

I just had to sign to say that I had received my shopping and off he went.

Although the order was accurate and the food was excellent and fresh I won't be using Asda again. I would rather be able to choose how much I want to pay for delivery, order the amount of fresh food I actually want, not have to end up with a pile of carrier bags and have the delivery man carry the heavy tray through to the kitchen for me.

Oh, and I also get Clubcard points with Tesco!

Summary: Tesco's home delivery is better by miles!