Discussion
Is ocado really that much better? It's next on my list to try.
Sainsburys - the sell by dates tend to be crap, food quality decent, deliver on time.
Tesco - took bloody ages to deliver, made stupid substitutes (skimmed milk for full fat?) and the delivery driver tried to say he couldn't fin house and wanted me to meet him
at the end of the road. Yeah, that's why I pay for delivery, to lugg my shopping up the street.
Waitrose - first time they made sensible substitutions and chucked in bigger sizes to make up for it. Second time they substituted sesame seeds for celery? And charged me for both. Also ordered two fillets of monkfish, which I know are approx weights online at £12 but £22 in actual weight is a bit cheeky.
Interested to see how ocado try out
Sainsburys - the sell by dates tend to be crap, food quality decent, deliver on time.
Tesco - took bloody ages to deliver, made stupid substitutes (skimmed milk for full fat?) and the delivery driver tried to say he couldn't fin house and wanted me to meet him
at the end of the road. Yeah, that's why I pay for delivery, to lugg my shopping up the street.
Waitrose - first time they made sensible substitutions and chucked in bigger sizes to make up for it. Second time they substituted sesame seeds for celery? And charged me for both. Also ordered two fillets of monkfish, which I know are approx weights online at £12 but £22 in actual weight is a bit cheeky.
Interested to see how ocado try out
Ocado claim not to be Waitrose, but just to have an exclusive supply deal with them... Not quite sure where the distinction is on that one!
In terms of quality of service I suspect it depends very much on your local outfit. Our Sainsbury's delivery almost invariably missed the delivery time and were the ones making the daft substitutions. Tesco seemed to have difficulty showing up at all and had a penchant for delivering only about half the goods ordered. In contrast Ocado have always been on time and have hardly ever made a substitution as they always seem to have what we ordered in stock.
In terms of quality of service I suspect it depends very much on your local outfit. Our Sainsbury's delivery almost invariably missed the delivery time and were the ones making the daft substitutions. Tesco seemed to have difficulty showing up at all and had a penchant for delivering only about half the goods ordered. In contrast Ocado have always been on time and have hardly ever made a substitution as they always seem to have what we ordered in stock.
Ocado was set up by a few bored Bankers with a tie in from Waitrose, I can't remember how much of a share Waitroses stake was now but the agreement was that the Ocado management team would buy it back over a period of time. Not sure if that ever happened so waitrose may still own a large slice of the Ocado pie.
Murph7355 said:
Ocado IS Waitrose. Just the delivery arm.
So what's this then? http://www.waitrosedeliver.com/Ocado and Waitrose are separate companies. Ocado have a direct supply link to Waitrose, and they have a similar customer service ethic to Waitrose/John Lewis, and in return Waitrose had more of their products being sold.
Waitrose Deliver was then set up and differs from Ocado in that they don't charge for delivery (the first home delivery service that didn't charge), I'm sure what's happening between them and Ocado now as there's no point in having two services for the same stuff.
Waitrose is more expensive but the staff are treated far better than at any other supermarket, I used to be a cashier for them and a lot of people on my section had worked for Tesco or Sainsburys in the past and said they wouldn't go back even if they were offered more money. They're paid better, get better benefits, and as a result they tend to be a lot more friendly and helpful. If I go to Tesco and can't find something, the staff member I find to ask will generally just point aimlessly and go "somewhere down there", whereas when I worked for Waitrose we were trained to walk the customer there, hand them the item if necessary and check that there wasn't anything else they needed before moving on.
But then as a former employee I'm slightly biased
Oh and my Mum only buys meat from Waitrose now as she says the quality is much higher than Tesco. Waitrose also does a lot of British stuff (I think I've only ever seen British meat there) and tries to get local suppliers, the one I worked at sold a cake line that was started by a small local home bakery. They do stock out-of-season fruit and veg from other countries but then if they didn't there would be hell to pay with some customers so you win some you lose some.
Waitrose Deliver was then set up and differs from Ocado in that they don't charge for delivery (the first home delivery service that didn't charge), I'm sure what's happening between them and Ocado now as there's no point in having two services for the same stuff.
Waitrose is more expensive but the staff are treated far better than at any other supermarket, I used to be a cashier for them and a lot of people on my section had worked for Tesco or Sainsburys in the past and said they wouldn't go back even if they were offered more money. They're paid better, get better benefits, and as a result they tend to be a lot more friendly and helpful. If I go to Tesco and can't find something, the staff member I find to ask will generally just point aimlessly and go "somewhere down there", whereas when I worked for Waitrose we were trained to walk the customer there, hand them the item if necessary and check that there wasn't anything else they needed before moving on.
But then as a former employee I'm slightly biased
Oh and my Mum only buys meat from Waitrose now as she says the quality is much higher than Tesco. Waitrose also does a lot of British stuff (I think I've only ever seen British meat there) and tries to get local suppliers, the one I worked at sold a cake line that was started by a small local home bakery. They do stock out-of-season fruit and veg from other countries but then if they didn't there would be hell to pay with some customers so you win some you lose some.
For reasons of economy we do our main shop in Tesco (love the Clubcard point as well), but most of our "top-up" shops at Waitrose. Probably because it's the closest to us, but we definitely go there more often than when it used to be a Morrison's.
Some of the Waitrose own-brand items I've found to be better than the leading branded stuff, and their ingredients are great quality. I always find I come away from Waitrose with a bunch of things with which to make something nice, whereas in Tesco I tend to stick to ready made stuff, packets and jars of sauce etc. Their stuff just doesn't inspire me in the same way.
I would probably do all my shopping at Waitrose if they had a few more special offers on things I regularly buy, or if my income rose considerably.
Some of the Waitrose own-brand items I've found to be better than the leading branded stuff, and their ingredients are great quality. I always find I come away from Waitrose with a bunch of things with which to make something nice, whereas in Tesco I tend to stick to ready made stuff, packets and jars of sauce etc. Their stuff just doesn't inspire me in the same way.
I would probably do all my shopping at Waitrose if they had a few more special offers on things I regularly buy, or if my income rose considerably.
Waitrose might be pricey, but everything they sell is of excellent quality. For a supermarket, the quality of their meat and fresh produce is fantastic. Speaking to a few farmers at the local NFU meet who knew most of the suppliers/production lines, they said Tesco had by far the worst quality meat of any supermarket and Waitrose the best.
They said meat quality was as follows:
Waitrose
M&S
Morrisons (surprising!)
Asda/Sainsburys
Tesco
How much to read into that I don't know, but it seems reasonable from my experience.
They said meat quality was as follows:
Waitrose
M&S
Morrisons (surprising!)
Asda/Sainsburys
Tesco
How much to read into that I don't know, but it seems reasonable from my experience.
Ocado home deliveries are miles ahead IMHO.
They turn up on time
They deliver to the kitchen, not the front door
They offered to take away the carriers for recycling
The receipt has sell by dates already populated to aid menu selection
The prices were in line with the other supermarkets
They sell Premium rums (top reason)
Free newspaper
They turn up on time
They deliver to the kitchen, not the front door
They offered to take away the carriers for recycling
The receipt has sell by dates already populated to aid menu selection
The prices were in line with the other supermarkets
They sell Premium rums (top reason)
Free newspaper
Pferdestarke said:
I've shopped there on occasion when location and budget have allowed. Excellent quality but a complete rip off in short.
What tosh. I put my Ocado shop into Sainsbury's on-line once, swapped Waitrose essentials for the basic Sainsbury's version - which is not as good quallity. I think Waitrose was something like £1.90 more expensive including delivery, on about £110 worth of goods.I'd probably spend that on petrol and parking going to Sainsburys, rather than have a very well trained and timely delivery driver bring it directly into my kitchen
smack said:
Pferdestarke said:
Support local producers and Lidl/Aldi.
Local producers - definantly. I prefer my pounds stay in my local area.Lidl and Aldi are german, so that are more of your pounds leaving our shores rather than staying.
mcflurry said:
Ocado home deliveries are miles ahead IMHO.
They turn up on time
They deliver to the kitchen, not the front door
They offered to take away the carriers for recycling
The receipt has sell by dates already populated to aid menu selection
The prices were in line with the other supermarkets
They sell Premium rums (top reason)
Free newspaper
Agreed on all counts other than I haven't sampled the rums and they seem to have put a stop to the newspaper now They turn up on time
They deliver to the kitchen, not the front door
They offered to take away the carriers for recycling
The receipt has sell by dates already populated to aid menu selection
The prices were in line with the other supermarkets
They sell Premium rums (top reason)
Free newspaper
we do waitrose when we need nice stuff. like truffle salt. game meat and pasta flour.
Its ok just dont buy everday stuff from here. although as has been said there everyday stuff is fine..................
we shop at Aldi. waitrose. Morrisons and the local independant shops plus the co op....
Even use the Pound shop for pantene shampoo and other good deals.
Its ok just dont buy everday stuff from here. although as has been said there everyday stuff is fine..................
we shop at Aldi. waitrose. Morrisons and the local independant shops plus the co op....
Even use the Pound shop for pantene shampoo and other good deals.
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