I order my groceries online and I ticked the box that allows substitution by a similar product if something is out of stock. Normally I get something that is similar but slightly more expensive which I get at the price of the product I order. I just received an e-mail saying that they are out of "Sunrise Potato Pies 2 pack" and are giving me "La Famiglia Herb Bread" and I am scratching my head to think how they are similar in any way. Can anyone see it? Also does anyone else order their groceries online and if so, have you had similar problems to this? Edited to add - I think what we call potato pie is known as cottage or shepherds pie in Britain and I am not sure if America has the equivalent. It is a meat pie with a crust of potato on top.
I stopped ordering them online because every single order, and I did about 7 had mistakes. Mistakes were.. Getting someone else's groceries. Not getting, often numerous, items I ordered. Dog food instead of Cat food. Absolutely bizarre substitutes like what you mention above. A huge headache always having to call them (it was either Coles or Woolworths) with EVERY order. If I had someone else's groceries they expected me to be home so they could come pick the stuff up. But the worst thing was when a delivery guy just WALKED INTO MY HOUSE and started unpacking the groceries and putting them in my fridge! Anyway they then hugely upped the delivery fee and I gave up. The online site was great, very functional. But clearly the people at the warehouse were idiots.
I have been ordering online with Coles for about three years and I have only had a couple of major problems. Once they left out more than $20 of products. When I complained I got that amount credited to my next order plus free delivery. Another time I had ordered four cartons of soft drink because it was on special. When the delivery man didn't bring it he admitted he had just delivered a large order of cartons and he must have given them 24 instead of 20 i.e. he had given them mine.He said he would tell Coles. I phoned up Coles and got credited for them plus free delivery, went to the website reordered them and they got delivered the next day. In the last 18 months to two years there has been a vast improvement with only minor problems. Delivery here is $7 or $9 on Friday or Saturday. That is cheaper than bringing my groceries home in a taxi.
Use Ocado. Never had any sub problems. Only online ordering that makes me scratch head in bafflement is Amazon's 'you might like this...'. I really don't care what other people may have liked. Mostly.
I have had a few strange recommendations from Amazon as well. For example, based on the fact that I owned the movie "Alive" (about the Andes Survivors) Amazon recommended the movie "Flowers in the Attic" to and I can't see any sort of connection between the two.
Both feature young people trapped in a location (the Andes, a locked room and the eponymous attic) that forces them to do socially unacceptable things (cannibalism, incest --it doesn't actually happen between the kids in the film, though it does in the book). Both involve starvation and survival against great adversity (being stranded, being locked away and poisoned) and a final escape to civilization.
I just go to the Price Chopper once a week and load up on stuff. Their deli counter is the bane of my existence however. Staffed by people so stupid I can't believe they haven't cut something off yet.