initially frustrating, but ultimately rewarding! (tesco.com)

Member Name: Midrange

Product:	tesco.com
Date:	05/04/09 (55 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Option of delivery slots, good product range, good value

Disadvantages: Stupid "search" function on the website

My wife and I have been using the grocery shopping aspect of Tesco.com on a weekly basis for over six months now. We have only one complaint - which is almost insignificant. My review will take the following format:
- Online Shopping (the process of ordering)
- Delivery
- Substitutions
- Complaints and Returns
- General Remarks

Online Shopping
I used to find the Tesco grocery shopping page disproportionately stressful. I think the main reason was because the search feature is so annoyingly stupid. Allow me to explain. Once you've signed in to Tesco.com you can start selecting products to buy. They are added to your basket and a running total is kept for you on screen. To find a product you have, essentially, only one option. To use the "search" function. Type in what you want and it will list all the relevant items. The most frustrating thing is (and you need to learn your way around this) if you type in something like "onion" it will give you EVERYTHING except "loose onions" on the first page. It will give you "onion crisps" or "onion and pasta bake" or "onion mayonasie" but never just a straight-forward onion. I genuintely found this quite distressing and it took me a food few weeks to work out the kind of terminology you need to use. And I still make mistakes. Typing "rice" is more likely to bring up "Muller Rice dessert" than, long grain rice, for instance.

Once you've added items to your basket you can head to the checkout and pay via credit or debit card. You can chose a "dlievery slot" (a date, and two hour period when the stuff will be dlievered to your door) either before you start shopping or after you've finished. We always select our slot before shopping. Generally the choice is good. The typically delivery fee is £5, plus or minus £1 depending on... well, random factors it seems. Certainly the sooner you want your shopping the more expensive it CAN be... though this is not a hard and fast rule.

Delivery
We've met a host of delivery men and women so far - always helpful, not always chatty - but then maybe that's the way you want it. Smetimes they offer to bring it in, sometimes we have to ask. They have never offered to take away our bags - something which they are supposed to do, if I am to believe the Tesco website. But nevermind.
I should also mention, from an environmental standpoint, that you can request your shopping to be delivered without plastic carrier bags - which is exactly what my wife and I do. Frozen items or "substitutes" will always come in bags - presumably for hygene and convenience respectively. The food turns up in large green crates - fantastic.

Substitutions
If Tescos don't have a product (which, on average, is about once every £60 shop or so) they will offer you something else in stead. Eseentially, they'll buy you the alternative, bring it with the rest of the shopping and ask you on the spot if you want to keep it or not. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don't - it's nice to have the option. If it's something really basic (e.g. salt) it really doesn't matter that much. As I say, the substitution rate is very, very low so doesn't cause any major bother.

Complaints and Returns
As mentioned above, you can choose on the spot whether you want to accept a substitution. If you don't want it, it will be reutnred to the shop free of charge and the cost will be deducted from your bill. If you do keep it, you do have to pay the price for that item, not the one you originally ordered. So if they substitute you "Tesco Finest Chopped Carrots" when all you wanted was some value ones, you could "lose out" in a sense.
My wife and I have only ever had one minor complaint - that was about a bag on rice which was already open when it arrived. It appeared as though they knew it was open as it had been placed in a carrier bag of it's own (unusual for non-frozen itme when you're on the "no bags" option). Only a bit of the rice had dribbled out, but still, I called the helpline, spoke to the manager (coincidentally) and had the cost instantly refunded. So excellent service.

General Remarks
The delivery staff are always friendly as I said before. In theory, they're supposed to offer to bring the shopping to wherever you want it (the kitchen floor in our case). They have never been late for us (you book a 2 hour delivery window) but, on occasion have been early. I'm not sure what would've happened if we hadn't been in... they most likely would've called us on our mobile to let us know. We've always been in when they've arrived though.
The customer service is excellent - that refund I mentioned was great - no questions were asked, other than "hwat's the problem sir?"
The delivery fee is very reasonable. It would probably cost a lot more for us to drive to our nearest Tescos and back. At £5 a time, it's worth doing "big shops" though. No point in ordering just a pint of milk clearly.

Final Festive Note
In the weeks before Christmas they offer free delivery. Woo!

Summary: Good service, offering full range of Tesco products