“EVERY LITTLE HELPS…” FOR THEM, NOT FOR US!

I’ve been having an ongoing saga with Tesco, with whom I have been shopping onlne for many years. I cannot get to the supermarket by myself unless my hubby drives me, and online shopping has been great. The drivers are fantastic – really helpful and friendly, and help me unload the boxes, and always remember where to put things, which always amazes me, considering how many other customers they must deal with.

We eat whole-food plant based and are dairy free. The yoghurt section in the supermarket has a huge selection of different dairy-based brands, but dairy-free is not well served, choice-wise. My favourite has always been their “Plant Chef Soya Alternative to Plain Yoghurt,” 500g, at £1.30 and I never had any problems getting it until several months ago (probably going on for a year).

It is always there in my “Favourites” list but during this time it’s always “out of stock.” The only alternatives are Alpro (horrible, gloopy and tasting awful, and also a lot more expensive), and Tesco’s own “Free From Soya Alternative to Greek Style Yoghurt,” 400g, at £1.50 – smaller pot, more expensive, not so nice.

I have queried the unavailability of my favourite one several times and have been informed that it’s “out of stock,” so unavailable. However, a few weeks ago, they didn’t have enough of the Greek style one to fill my order, and substituted it with… wait for it… my favourite one! It was still listed as “out of stock” on my Favourites list, and also, if I searched the whole Tesco site for it, it was nowhere to be found.

I phoned Tesco after this happened, and a very helpful young lady called Natasha agreed that this was strange, and would look into it for me. As before, when she got back to me, the answer was that it was “out of stock.” She confirmed that it was indeed in stock on the physical shelves of the shop from which my deliveries come. I also spoke to one of my delivery drivers and he said he’d seen it in the shop himself. He also told me that one of his customers, an elderly disabled house-bound lady, used to order dairy-free chocolate eclairs as her special treat each week, and these have also been withdrawn from the online shop. I pointed this out to Natasha, and later, the driver was very pleased that I had reported this in addition to my yoghurt problem.

Things came to a head this week. I was surprised, and overjoyed, to see it listed in my favourites as available, costing £1.30 as before, so I immediately added 8 pots to my order. As I always do, before checking out, I clicked “View full basket” to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything, and there were the 8 pots in my virtual basket, and the total due reflected this.

However, on Tuesday morning, when the receipt arrived in my email inbox, the total I was being charged was less than expected, and the 8 pots of yoghurt were nowhere to be seen. There was no note to say “unavailable,” and no substitution in place. I went straight onto the website and checked my Favourites, and there it was, available at £1.30. I again searched the whole Tesco site, and again, it was nowhere to be seen. When the delivery arrived, no yoghurt.

I phoned Tesco again, and again I got a delightful person on the other end of the phone, called Jonah. He was very helpful, and agreed with me that this was not right. I again pointed out that I consider this to be discrimination against housebound and disabled people, that our choice of produce is limited compared with those visiting the shop in person, and that it was wrong that we were only offered substitutes that were more expensive. This is especially true of products (e.g. dairy-free) where the choice is already limited. He was very concerned that this was happening, and checked for me, and there it was, in stock in our local Tesco. He also confirmed, as Natasha had done, that this product is not available for online shoppers. He said he would ask what was going on, but I said, no – that only elicits the reply that it’s “out of stock” which we know to be a lie. What we want is action – for Tesco to put this right, and give us the full choice that physical shoppers have, and to be honest about it.

This is simply not good enough, and I am sick of being messed around and lied to by Tesco, and discriminated against. Jonah said that they have stopped email contact with Tesco and the only avenue for our complaints is through this phone helpline. He also said that the manager of the local store has no control over this; it is a corporate decision. Also, he noted that I am not the only person who has complained about this.

I await developments, but I don’t hold out much hope. Higher management of these corporations exists in its own little bubble, only concerned about shareholders and profit. They care nothing for us, the humble customers, without whom, after all, Tesco would not exist at all.

I just want equal treatment with physical shoppers, and I just want my favourite yoghurt back. Is it too much to ask?