asda.co.uk > Reviews (106)

One of the things I hate about living in the countryside is the fact that the nearest supermarket is a trek and a half away. As we don't have a car at the moment it means walking is our only means of transport, unless we manage to time it at the right point a bus comes along (which isn't often). Following a hectic day yesterday, and being too harrassed to even contemplate the walk to the shops, the walk back and not to mention being weighed down with shopping, Shushy and I decided to order online from Asda.

We already have an account at Asda because we've had food delivered from them a few times before, so all we needed to do was log-in. If this is your first visit then you need to check that they deliver to your postcode, and then create an account. It only takes a couple of minutes and then you're good to go.

The site itself is fairly well set-up and you can filter categories based on brands, certain products etc. Say you want Pepsi, then you go to drinks, click colas which show you all the various types of colas, and then you click Pepsi and it will show you all the various Pepsi products they sell. I've used other online stores that haven't had this feature in the past and it is a welcome addition. If you decided you wanted to go for Coca-cola instead then you simply click the 'x' next to Pepsi and it will take you back to the various brands.

The other nice thing is they have a tab for special offers which will list all the offers they have on at the time. It's definitely worth checking this out as you start your shopping. We wanted washing powder and fabric conditioner and then after we'd added the stuff to our virtual trolley, decided to check the special offers before we checked out. We found an offer that was cheaper and more than what we'd put in our trolley so we had to go back through the trolley to find the items and remove them (although granted - at least we didn't have to run back around the store to physically put them back). It's not a major inconvenience, but in future we will be checking the special offers first.

So you've done your shop, now it's time to check out. Asda has a feature that allows you to save a shopping list for things that are frequently bought. If this is the second time you've used the service and opted for it to save items that you may have forgotten it will ask you is there anything you've forgotten and show you items that you've bought frequently in the past. You either add them or continue.

Now you get to book your slot for delivery. An interesting thing about this is you can actually check whether a slot is free before you even start shopping and then it 'reserves' your slot for two hours. You do have to book at least the day before. They won't deliver the same day, so if you usually go shopping on a Friday, get your order in Thursday. Also, some slots are cheaper than others (yes - you have to pay for delivery). I guess this is all down to working out the peak times that people want their food delivered so if you choose a peak time you pay peak prices for the delivery.

As a lot of our work is done from home, Shush or I are around most of the time so we can pick whichever is cheapest, and we usually choose a time that is indicated by a van being in our area so we don't have to have a van come all the way out to us for just our shopping.

Now this is an important note. Asda operate the Challenge 25 program. What this means is that stuff like alcohol, tobacco and other goods that have age restrictions on them won't be delivered to people who are or appear to be under the age of 18. If you order the goods and there are no adults in the house to sign for the order which contains the items then they won't release them. They do state this and they also state that you'll have to pay to have them re-delivered so it's worth baring in mind that you will need an adult there is you order items like that.

Then it's simply across to the section where you pay and you hand them your card details and you can either tell them to keep the card details or not. The choice is yours. After completing the order you get a confirmation e-mail, and then you just wait for the order to be delivered.

A quick note about the online store. Usually when we go shopping we both tend to impulse buy a fair bit. We can pop up to the supermarket for some bread and milk and then come back with bread and milk and a whole load of other stuff we've bought purely because it was there. With the online shopping experience, we've noticed that we don't impulse buy as much. We tend to log on with a rough idea of what we want, and then we may occasionally think of something else we might like, but it's nowhere near as bad as when we go to the bricks and mortar shops. You seem to stay that little bit more focused for some reason. Whether this is because you automatically filter out anything mentally you wouldn't normally buy or because you can't touch and feel the object in question I don't know.

So delivery. They give you a two hour time slot and when they're about 10 minutes away they give you a quick ring just to check you're in. Because of our location we usually have to explain how to get to us as well the part of the road we're on. We have the same problem with couriers though so we don't mind it, we just wish the satnav would update their maps. Our slot was between 2 and 4pm and we had the order delivered at 2.25pm, so that's not bad. Last time it was closer to 3pm, but it does seem to be at the earlier part of the slot as opposed to the later part. For us it wasn't an issue anyway because we were both home, but it's nice to be able to know we've got it out the way if we want to go out or something.

This was the first time we've ever had items missing and damaged. The missing items were some potatoes and some onions and we ordered 15 eggs only to find 5 were smashed. The eggs were simple to fix - they just scan the barcode and then when they get back the money is knocked off what they're going to charge your card (the don't take payment until delivery is made). In regards to the potatoes and onions, we simply rang the number on the invoice, gave them the order number and confirmed who I was and then they credited my card with the amount.

The call was answered quickly and dealt with efficiently too, even if it was an offshore call centre. I can't complain there.

I'd highly recommend the online shopping experience with Asda. You don't have to deal with screaming kids, long queues at the check out or all the negative stuff that goes with the grocery shopping. You also don't have to worry about finding a place to park or getting there before the store closes. OK, you don't get to 'feel' the goods, but most of the time you know what you're getting anyway so it doesn't really matter.