PLurker
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Location: Behind the Cheddar Curtain
Jun 28, 2014 3:48:49 GMT
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Post by PLurker on Apr 24, 2020 2:28:24 GMT
What substitutes have you gotten that have been good, bad and questionable, as in made no sense? Most of the time they are fine by me, usually just brand change and money wise usually in my $$ favor as I order many store brand things which are cheaper than the substitute. The only things I usually refuse are substitutes that make no or little sense, like not even in the same category. Like Lysol toilet bowl cleaner for Lysol disinfectant spray. Same brand, yes, but hardly interchangeable. Today I hit the TOILET PAPER jackpot. (WalMart pick up order) When I ordered on line I was surprised to see any TP available so I ordered 2 packs right away. One larger 18 count double rolls for here and a 4 count pack in "mega" rolls for DD. When DS went to pick up order a substitution was made for both. For my 18 count double rolls (=36) they replaced it with TWO packages of 12 MEGA rolls for the same price. 12=48 x2= 96 "96" for price of "36" and extra "60" rolls!!!!!  DDs 4 mega rolls (=16) was replaced for the same price with TWO 6 count double (=24) rolls and in a better brand "24" name brand for "16" store brand an extra "8" rolls in better quality.  I also needed dish soap and they only had the smaller Dawn (7oz) so I ordered two. 98cents each. They were out so subbed in TWO larger 19.4 oz Dawn for the same $1.96.  The only disappointment in the order was my pack of celery was only half full. It looks like someone probably took out half to make theirs fuller. I can't even be mad because the shoppers have to be crazy busy and I don't think it was really their fault. And after my TP and dish soap bonuses I'm okay with it. My only cancelled item was benedryl type allergy meds but they have them available online, they are on order and am not in a big hurry. Just want them on hand because I'm low and the ones I have "expired" in Feb. So what has been the good, the bad and the ugly (makes no sense  ) of your recent grocery orders and their substitutions or fails? (you know the times are weird when I got excited over TP, a grocery order being filled and go to the effort of creating a thread about it) |
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Post by mom2kbs on Apr 24, 2020 2:32:00 GMT
I ordered two normal cans of cream of mushroom soup and got two giant cans like three normal can sized ones for the same price. i ordered the store brand of cetaphil and they subbed the real cetaphil and didn't change the price. Most subs have been to my benefit. Today I ordered dr pepper and put no sub and they sent coke. I don't like coke so now I have 12 cans of coke to cook with.
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Post by Merge on Apr 24, 2020 2:40:17 GMT
I went to HEB today and they had OAT MILK. Not just oat milk, but the good brand we like. Great day in the mornin.'  I have noticed in the last week or so that all the apples are bad. I bought some Honeycrisps last week that had big brown spots within a few days. These are obviously the last of the US crop from last fall pulled out of cold storage. Normally now they'd be getting fresh southern hemisphere apples from Chile, etc., but I'm guessing those shipments have been delayed. |
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Post by jennifercw on Apr 24, 2020 3:01:45 GMT
DH ordered 1 lb. of red potatoes and got 1 potato.
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SabrinaP
Pearl Clutcher
Busy Teacher Pea
Posts: 4,467 
Location: Dallas Texas
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Post by SabrinaP on Apr 24, 2020 3:08:11 GMT
Usually I’m good with substitutions but two lately have had me scratching my head. I ordered hamburger buns and they substituted for hot dog buns. I even had a pack of hot dog buns on the order already! Last week I ordered penne pasta and got a whole wheat box of macaroni noodles. I just kept them since they were only 88 cents and figured I would either use or donate the next time we have a food drive.
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Dani-Mani
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,710
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Post by Dani-Mani on Apr 24, 2020 3:13:08 GMT
DH ordered 1 lb. of red potatoes and got 1 potato. 😂😂😂 did they charge him for the one potato or for the bag he was supposed to get? |
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Post by jennifercw on Apr 24, 2020 3:25:53 GMT
DH ordered 1 lb. of red potatoes and got 1 potato. 😂😂😂 did they charge him for the one potato or for the bag he was supposed to get? Just for the one. It was 64 cents. What makes it even funnier is that we told my parents and they added the 1 lb to their shopping list a couple days later. They got 10 lbs. |
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PLurker
Prolific Pea
Posts: 9,890
Location: Behind the Cheddar Curtain
Jun 28, 2014 3:48:49 GMT
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Post by PLurker on Apr 24, 2020 3:28:20 GMT
DH ordered 1 lb. of red potatoes and got 1 potato. I heard some ordering a pound of green beans, getting one lonely bean.  what was the shopper thinking? or not thinking? lol |
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twinsmomfla99
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,248
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Post by twinsmomfla99 on Apr 24, 2020 3:33:21 GMT
OMG did you see the green bean picture making the rounds? The order was for a pound of green beans. The customer got 1 bean. In a plastic bag. Only cost $.01 on the receipt (included in the photo). The commentary accompanying the photo was hilarious!
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PLurker
Prolific Pea
Posts: 9,890
Location: Behind the Cheddar Curtain
Jun 28, 2014 3:48:49 GMT
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Post by PLurker on Apr 24, 2020 3:33:50 GMT
At least at WalMart they tell you the substitutions before loading and you can refuse them. That doesn't help with the 1 bean/1 potato type problems though. I try to look online and tell my son what to refuse or if all ok as I'm no longer doing the pick up. Otherwise he'd call which I'm sure thrilled him.
When I order delivery from Aldi you can "watch" online as they shop and yes or no it. and before ordering you can mark everything with substitutions ok or not. That helps.
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georgiapea
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,846
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Post by georgiapea on Apr 24, 2020 4:01:08 GMT
I ordered 4 oranges and got a 4# bag. A rising crust pizza was substituted for a thin crust of another brand.
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Post by alexa11 on Apr 24, 2020 4:08:51 GMT
On Instacart you can watch your shopper and you're notified as soon as a replacement is scanned. We are also notified if you don't approve of the chosen replacement. You can ask for a refund or add another replacement and we can't check out until we acknowledge that. Also, if you don't respond you can still ask for a refund at the door. A good shopper will tell/show you what was replaced and you can decide if you want the items or refunded. I will tell you that there are TONS of new shoppers who don't have a clue. They are rushing through your order just to get paid. They are also replacing with anything because refunding lowers the tip if you do a percentage. It's mostly the younger ones and you would think they have never been in a grocery store. I watched these two clowns (2 young guys) and they had no idea where fresh spinach was. Thye were in the middle of the store looking in the shelves. They were hurrying through the aisles and one was jumping on the cart and riding it. They're not supposed to be shopping together anyway, but that's another rant... I shopped back before Covid-19 for a guy who ordered 1 pound of grapes. He put in his notes that his last shopper brought him 10 single grapes. Produce doesn't have to be scanned, but we have to weigh it and I'm sure some shoppers just enter anything to get done. 1 green bean- how stupid... One more thing with Instacart- you can also mark "wrong item" and get a refund after delivery. mom2kbs You shouldn't have to pay for Coke. I'm not sure how it works with Walmart pickup though. Ok- I'm almost done... Instacart customers please rate your shoppers and be honest. Bad replacements are ridiculous and these morons need to be weeded out. |
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Post by Baseballmom23 on Apr 24, 2020 4:09:22 GMT
I ordered 3 avocados and got 9 (but charged for 3) I ordered sour cream and they substituted cottage cheese
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Post by darkchami on Apr 24, 2020 4:19:04 GMT
We ordered honey mustard salad dressing. The shopper delivered 2 bottles of dijon mustard. Not quite the substitution I was hoping for.
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Post by alexa11 on Apr 24, 2020 4:22:57 GMT
I ordered sour cream and they substituted cottage cheese We ordered honey mustard salad dressing. The shopper delivered 2 bottles of dijon mustard These people don't need to be shopping! |
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FurryP
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To pea or not to pea...
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Jun 26, 2014 19:58:26 GMT
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Post by FurryP on Apr 24, 2020 5:11:10 GMT
I did my first grocery pick up ever just this week. I already knew to expect missing items and substitutions. Everything I check for substitution acceptable, I got nothing.  My $146 order was whittle down to $68. |
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PLurker
Prolific Pea
Posts: 9,890
Location: Behind the Cheddar Curtain
Jun 28, 2014 3:48:49 GMT
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Post by PLurker on Apr 24, 2020 5:52:26 GMT
alexa11 I just starting using Instacart for Aldi. I was surprised they even delivered way out here. I think because there is an Aldi in the same zip code as me, in a town quite a distance from me, they deliver even though I am way out in the middle of no where ville. My son drives out to the road to meet them as they'd have a 10% chance of finding the driveway and if by chance they did, they have a 50/50 chance of finding the house from there. (the driveway splits, house to right beyond grove of trees, and driveway continues straight out back to pole barn where people usually end up) Anyway, we've used it 2-3 times so far and love it. I always tip generously online and usually a little more cash when they arrive. They've both been very communicative and helpful. I agree though, that some need a little training or common sense added into what would and wouldn't be a good substitution for things. or why one bean is probably not correct on an order.  As far as unwanted substitutes, I've had no problems refusing any I didn't want from either WalMart pick-up or Instcart/Aldi delivery. Although I look forward to the day when I can "shop at will" I think I will continue to use both after for regular larger grocery needs. Love it, for the most part.
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Sarah*H
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,098
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Post by Sarah*H on Apr 24, 2020 12:30:59 GMT
Last week I got a pack of hot dogs instead of a jar of pizza sauce. I will always wonder how that exchange happened.
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Post by tracyarts on Apr 24, 2020 13:03:04 GMT
We have only bought groceries via Instacart through the Kroger app for the past 6 weeks. All in all it has been great. But...I got:
Zucchini instead of cucumbers. I was disappointed because I wanted tzatziki sauce, but made parmesan crusted zucchini "fries" which were good, so it wasn't a huge loss.
Habaneros instead of yellow bell peppers. There were only 2, and only cost about $.40 so no big loss.
A big carton of egg whites instead of a dozen eggs. No eggs at all that day. I don't mind egg white omelets, but needed eggs to bake with. I used a substitute where you use 1/4 cup egg white and 1 tsp extra oil per egg and it turned out okay.
I got an $8 jar of gourmet marinara sauce instead of a mass market brand. At first I was peeved, because I really wouldn't ever spend that much on a jar of marinara sauce. But it tasted just like homemade, and was so good that I decided to just consider it a splurge.
Same with $12 chicken nuggets. I wanted a little bag of the Tyson grilled strips for salads, got some Kroger brand fancy "rock 'n roll" frozen grilled chicken chunks with a packet of sweet smoke rub powder and a bbq dipping sauce. Tossed out the powder and sauce, they were both way too sweet, but the chicken itself was really, really good. And decided it was okay for a splurge too.
I wanted a yellow or white cake mix for dump cake, got Devil's food. Ordered a bakery size bag of mix offline, used the chocolate mix for brownies.
Other than that, it's been brand substitutes mostly.
A lot of things have been unavailable off and on. Eggs, fresh chicken, and milk mostly. But now it seems like most grocery items are available again.
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Post by alexa11 on Apr 24, 2020 13:04:27 GMT
PLurker- That's great! Thank you for helping your shopper find you. It's very frustrating to not be able to find a house. Oh, and apartments... I've had a few who didn't give me building number or apartment number. Thank goodness they responded to my text!
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Post by alexa11 on Apr 24, 2020 13:13:07 GMT
Zucchini instead of cucumbers. I was disappointed because I wanted tzatziki sauce, but made parmesan crusted zucchini "fries" which were good, so it wasn't a huge loss. Habaneros instead of yellow bell peppers. See this is a perfect example of a shopper that had no clue of the difference between these 2 items. They just went by color. Mark them as wrong, even though the money doesn't make that much difference. As for the $8 pasta sauce, it was disappearing from shelves very quickly before limits. But I find it hard to believe that there were no cheaper replacements. |
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Post by sunshine on Apr 24, 2020 14:19:28 GMT
We have only bought groceries via Instacart through the Kroger app for the past 6 weeks. All in all it has been great. But...I got: Zucchini instead of cucumbers. I was disappointed because I wanted tzatziki sauce, but made parmesan crusted zucchini "fries" which were good, so it wasn't a huge loss. Habaneros instead of yellow bell peppers. There were only 2, and only cost about $.40 so no big loss. A big carton of egg whites instead of a dozen eggs. No eggs at all that day. I don't mind egg white omelets, but needed eggs to bake with. I used a substitute where you use 1/4 cup egg white and 1 tsp extra oil per egg and it turned out okay. I got an $8 jar of gourmet marinara sauce instead of a mass market brand. At first I was peeved, because I really wouldn't ever spend that much on a jar of marinara sauce. But it tasted just like homemade, and was so good that I decided to just consider it a splurge. Same with $12 chicken nuggets. I wanted a little bag of the Tyson grilled strips for salads, got some Kroger brand fancy "rock 'n roll" frozen grilled chicken chunks with a packet of sweet smoke rub powder and a bbq dipping sauce. Tossed out the powder and sauce, they were both way too sweet, but the chicken itself was really, really good. And decided it was okay for a splurge too. I wanted a yellow or white cake mix for dump cake, got Devil's food. Ordered a bakery size bag of mix offline, used the chocolate mix for brownies. Other than that, it's been brand substitutes mostly. A lot of things have been unavailable off and on. Eggs, fresh chicken, and milk mostly. But now it seems like most grocery items are available again. Out of curiosity was the marinara sauce Rao’s? That stuff’s expensive but good. My worst substitution was my shopper wanted to replace baking powder with all purpose. I know some would have loved that sub, lol but I have APF. |
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Post by chaosisapony on Apr 24, 2020 14:57:41 GMT
I generally love the substitutions from Walmart grocery pickup because 99% of the time they are the same item just a larger size and you get it for the smaller item's price. Often I order 1 package of Pillsbury crescent rolls and end up with a 2 pack for the same price.
The only bad substitution I've ever gotten was when I ordered string cheese and they subbed light string cheese. I refused it because I knew it would be gross but turns out the employee put it in my bag anyway. So I tried some... taste and texture of chewing on plastic. So nasty.
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likescarrots
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,879
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Post by likescarrots on Apr 24, 2020 16:07:35 GMT
DH ordered 1 lb. of red potatoes and got 1 potato. lol that's amazing. I had the opposite, Walmart only allows jalapenos by weight. I only needed one but since the order had .25 lbs I got 4. I thought my other pepper situation was bad but apparently not. I ordered a pack of 1 red, 1 orange, 1 yellow Bell peppers. I only wanted the red but I could use any Bell pepper, so I said substitution was fine, thinking I might end up with a green bell pepper. Instead I got a bag of those tiny sweet peppers. |
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Post by tracyarts on Apr 24, 2020 16:21:57 GMT
Yes, it was Rao's. It tasted exactly like the homemade marinara I make when I grow a good crop of tomatoes. I may well buy it again it was so good. Out of curiosity was the marinara sauce Rao’s? That stuff’s expensive but good. My worst substitution was my shopper wanted to replace baking powder with all purpose. I know some would have loved that sub, lol but I have APF.[/quote] |
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Post by fredfreddy44 on Apr 24, 2020 16:33:55 GMT
We did 3 orders and don't bother anymore, so much is missing. I got it the first 3 weeks but afterwards....I swear the pick the oldest crappiest produce and if they can't find it on the first pass, it doesn't get put in.
I just go myself now. Got everything we needed yesterday. Also got my 20 yo out of the house for the first time in 5 weeks with the inticement of buying all his fav foods.
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breetheflea
Drama Llama
Posts: 7,316
Location: PNW
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Post by breetheflea on Apr 24, 2020 16:34:34 GMT
All my substitutions have been different size/brand or they just didn't have the item. Yesterday it was frozen stir fry veggies. I found some when digging in my deep freezer for something else, otherwise we'd be short a dinner... I've had a couple of issues with produce but I don't want to be annoying making someone test all the avocados to find me one that's edible now... same with green bananas. ETA: usually when I go to pick up my groceries I'm the only car there. Yesterday, there were three other cars but I was first. The person loading my groceries asked to see my id so I had to hold my license at arms length out the window. I'm sure I amused/annoyed the other waiting cars... I didn't get carded when DH added beer to my order a few weeks ago, but apparently the hard stuff requires id  |
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Post by **GypsyGirl** on Apr 24, 2020 16:36:21 GMT
I'd been doing pretty well with curbside pickup until Monday at Central Market. They left 4 items out of my order, but charged me anyway. I called that morning and they credited my Visa with the $30.22. There were a couple of substitutions that were fine. The one that I wasn't happy with was the paper towel substitution. I had requested 2 big packs of the store brand (HEB) and instead got 8 rolls of some eco brand called Caboo. Not only were they more expensive, they are the worst excuse for paper towels ever. Don't absorb worth cr@p, very thin and flimsy. They didn't even do a good job of absorbing the grease when I made bacon! We used up one roll and I haven't decided if I'll just donate the 7 other rolls or throw them in the trash. They are that bad.
My biggest frustration has been trying to buy toilet paper and paper towels (good ones!). I'm hearing reports that Costco, HEB, Walmart, Kroger and Target stores near me have them in stock. Target's website even says they are available at my store. However, every single one of the shows them not eligible for pickup/delivery or out of stock for online orders. So basically, if you are immuno compromised and trying to avoid going into the store, you are screwed in the stores around me when it comes to paper products.
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Post by janamke on Apr 24, 2020 16:39:14 GMT
This thread makes me laugh. We've had some seriously weird substitution. But I don't care, the poor grocery store people are so overworked and just plain tired. I "scored" a $5 box of gluten free, chickpea pasta instead of the $1.29 store brand I ordered. No one in this house will touch it. Funny thing is the way this store is laid out they had to go to the "health" food section to get it.
Most weeks I'm just really glad I get anything at all. The last 3 weeks there has been zero dairy, zero meat, no eggs, no toilet paper or cleaning products. No deli meats, cheese has been iffy. I'm getting 50% of the produce I order at best. So my approach now is to order ALL THE THINGS and see what sticks. I'm running about 35-40% order fulfillment.
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Belle
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,309
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Post by Belle on Apr 24, 2020 16:39:49 GMT
I ordered toilet paper, the store was out so the shopper replaced the TP with paper towels?  |
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) of your recent grocery orders and their substitutions or fails?
