Snow disrupts online grocery orders
Heavy snow has played havoc with deliveries of Christmas groceries ordered online.
Supermarket groups have battle to fulfil orders because of the cold weather, forcing them to hire more vans and necessitating drivers’ overtime.
Grocers have brought forward delivery times to allow for a greater margin of error, The Times reported, but that has disrupted householders’ plans.
Sainsbury’s has asked its drivers in snow-hit areas to report for work early.
A Sainsbury’s spokeswoman told The Times: “We’re doing our utmost to make sure Christmas is as promised. Our online team is working solidly to make sure everything is delivered on time.”
A Tesco spokeswoman said shoppers would be compensated for any orders not received and that extra drivers had been drafted in.
Asda said it had a backlog of 500 deliveries from the weekend and extra vans were in use. A spokesman admitted: “Unfortunately, there are going to be some people disappointed.”
The snow has caused problems for retailers more widely. Footfall was lower than expected last weekend because of the bad weather.
Have your say
You must sign in to make a comment.
Share
Readers' comments (2)
Anonymous | 22-Dec-2009 10:00 pm
Sainsbury's cancelled my delivery tonight (9pm) because their pickers couldn't get to work last night - no offer of compensation or re-arranged delivery. If that is doing their utmost, they need to try harder. This is south London, no snow has settled on roads so one night of mildly bad weather has, according to them, caused 200 customers to miss out on their Christmas deliveries. Poor effort.
Unsuitable or offensive?
Anonymous | 23-Dec-2009 2:11 pm
On Monday evening the snow was very heavy in north london and I did think that Ocado would be unable to deliver. At 8.40pm the driver called to say he was stuck in the snow but would be with us as soon as possible and would update us with information. We heard nothing until 11pm when the driver called to say he would be with us in half an hour. At 11.35 he arrived and was very apologetic. When I asked if he was finished he replied he had 2 more deliveries to make.
We used to use Sainsburys up until 3 years ago but changed because of poor deliveries, unhelpfull and rude staff, I cannot praise Ocado enough, they have never let us down and the drivers are always friendly and helpful.It is also very rare that you receive substituted products. Go for Ocado is what I say!
Unsuitable or offensive?