Tesco www.tesco.com Review

Overall Rating

I've been buying most of my groceries from Tesco Online for over two years now, and the service has mostly been excellent.

The website is easy to use, with a range of options for finding and ordering items - browse through categories (like wandering around the shop and looking at what's on the shelves), search for specific items, pull up copies of previous orders and select items from there, or use your favourites list to pick out items you want to order. Since I tend to order many of the same items each time, I find using a previous order fast and convenient, since the quantities are already entered. You can also browse through all of the current special offers, which is very useful if you're trying to save money.

Deliveries have always been pretty reliable. On a few occasions the van has been running late, but each time, the driver or customer services phoned me to let me know. On two occasions, the store encountered staffing problems and phoned me to apologise and ask if they could deliver my order the following day. 99% of deliveries have arrived during the selected time slot, though. Most of the drivers have been friendly and helpful.

In most cases, if they've run out of something I've ordered, they've substituted something reasonable, and I often keep the substitutions. Once or twice, the substitute item hasn't been something I'd want, but just hand it back to the driver and the cost is refunded promptly. You can add notes to any item you order specifying what you'd like as a substitute if it's out of stock, or indicating that you don't want a substitute. So far, I've always found that they follow those preferences. What's nice is that these notes are "sticky" - you don't have to add them each time you place an order.

I've never had any problems with damaged items, and only once or twice have there been items missing from the order. When that's happened, I've phoned customer services and they've refunded the cost of those items without any question or delay. Worth doing a fast check while the driver is still there - on a couple of occasions there were several items missing, and when the driver checked in the van, he found a bag of my groceries had been put in the wrong crate. I'd rather have the groceries than a refund. :) Missing items have been few and far between though.

All in all, I'd definitely recommend the service to others.