Apples are not bananas!

Yes, We Have No Bananas

I'll get my coat...

Yes. To be fair I do probably prefer this effort than just no bananas at all, but I think another time I need to specify soft fruit as a suitable sub. Although really no fruit is all that similar to bananas.

Ugh. This reminds me of the last time I used Walmart curbside delivery pickup service. I had ordered prime rib. They were out of prime rib so they gave me a tri-tip roast. A tri-tip is not a prime rib. It comes from the lower part of the sirloin whereas prime rib comes from the middle section of ribs between the chuck and the loin. 

While I appreciated curbside pickup during Covid, I've long sinced resumed shopping for my own groceries. 

Although I undersand that Tesco had to make a substitution, there is no substitue for a banana. They ought to have not given you bananas and then subtracted the cost from your total bill. 

I wonder if this was a well intentioned employee's mistake as opposed to company policy. 

I think we have sometimes had something more expensive as a sub, but not often, but then we don't actually get subbed very often. I do find it more annoying if they don't even try, especially if we needed it for the meals we had planned and it leaves us short. Milk and bread are the most concerning if they did that. One can always refuse a sub if it isn't suitable, but if one hasn't been given the option when one has said one wants subs then one has no recourse.

I always have subs on unless the thing is quite specific and we already have enough but just keeping some reserve.

Good news - I got my bananas!!

I was super surprised when husband got back from click and collecting and was unpacking, to see bananas. He had just mentioned my disappointment to the guy handing it over (I guess they usually chat) and he was kind enough to go into the store and switch the apples for bananas! They must have had a delivery since our order was packed. (I don't want husband going into the store for covid risk reasons.)

So impressed about an employee going above and beyond like that, so nice of him. Also nice of husband to mention it as he is very non-confrontational with other people so i was surprised he had mentioned it at all, even when the guy asked how he was.

It is a very difficult decision to decide whether or not to ask for substitutes. In this case I would have thought they would have had some bananas and would certainly not expect a different item of fruit. I think some supermarkets who have a rule you can have it at the same price, won't send it if they only have a more expensive one or they send a smaller amount. 

That would seriously annoy me too Bunny, I wonder if half the time they even bother to read whats on the screen, or if whats on thier screen is the same as what you put?

Yes, I have found it odd to be offered a full fat version of a thing which was low fat, though I didn't mind as I had only gone for that as it was cheaper. I think they probably don't pay the pickers enough for them to waste too much time deciding what to pick as a sub. If it was me I'd dither about for half an hour second guessing myself!

Yes, I resisted ordering for the longest time for that reason, until forced to by the combo of covid protections being removed and a more transmissive variant. I am medically vulnerable to covid so have been putting much effort into avoiding it.

In fact I have been pleasantly surprised by how few weird subs we have been offered. What annoys me more is even if I have subs turned on they don't bother to offer something, even if there are options I would accept, to the extent that I now always put in the comments to not do that with bread and milk. I don't like to deal with the food too often so we go as long as possible, which is about ten days. I suppose i could try to add another order before that to get some bananas, but there is no guarantee they would have them then either...

I would prefer to get more local produce, but have to make compromises to my disabilities. I hope you enjoy your apples!

Yes, I know, I generally prefer them on, except turn them off for a few things. But most things I would rather be offered a sub than be entirely without a thing. Just something more similar by preference!

On a more serious note, it can be enormously frustrating. It's definitely a good idea to be as specific as possible in the sub notes (although, in my experience, Tesco sub notes are not aways read and/or respected).

Coincidentally, I've just contacted a different supermarket asking them to please stop sending non-vegan items as replacements for vegan ones. 

"Apples are not bananas"

That depends on how silly the apples are ;)

So sorry, I'll get my coat...

For me thats one of the biggest reasons for not shopping online, I know you can tick no substitutes, but I'd probably end up with next to nothing. Our Tesco has stocking problems too and have done since before covid, I wondered if it was just us being at the end of the line in Holyhead, but I'm told it happens in places like Manchester too. The other thing I noticed about online shopping was only being able to buy the smaller pack sizes, so I'd have to buy 2x500g packs of pasta instead of 1 1kg one.

I'm off to the fruit and veg market in a bit where I can get my favourite russet apples, supermarkets still have most of thier apples from abroad which seems crazy to me as we're in the midst of British apple harvest season.

If I remember correctly there is a button to press on one of the forms or preference sheets which means that they don’t do substitutions. Of course instead they don’t bring what you asked and just return the difference in what you paid

I like this because my wife gets bananas in the shop, and I get apples.  (I do like bananas too, but she does not like apples. She's allistic)

Yes, we could reject them, but my husband says he will eat them. More annoying to have no bananas though as they have good health effects which I will miss over a week and a half. I assume they had no bananas of any kind, but have no way to find out really. Not going into shops for covid reasons still.

Edit - I did leave on subs as they sometimes have to sub one kind of bananas for another!

I don't use Tesco, but on my online shop I have to go through careful and tick which items allow substitutes or not.

Having said that, I would not have ticked bananas! I would have though they would swap them for organic bananas, not apples! I'm sure that you can get this money back by raising a support ticket or whatever.