tescodirect.com > Reviews (184)

Long gone are the days of going down to your local supermarket, pushing a trolley about that clearly has a mind of its own, the long queue at the checkout, then the frantic attempt to ram everything into flimsy bags in record breaking time only to find you have bought far to much.

Struggle out with ten bags in each hand, arrive home with arms like jelly and your hands cut to shreds from the bags handles….ouch..

So what’s the alternative, well why not get Tesco to do it all for you??

REGISTRATION
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Quite a simple procedure but necessary in order to participate in online shopping, you merely enter a few personal details and your postcode, this is in order to check that the service is available in your area.

However do not be alarmed if you have no Tesco nearby as I live around 22 miles away from the nearest and yes they would deliver to me for the set delivery charge of £5, so I was pretty impressed with this to start with.

You will be also asked during registration if you have a club card or not and if not a new one will be allocated to you.

ONLINE SITE
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The actual site contains more than just the actual store:

PERSONAL FINANCE
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This covers any insurance policies they offer, plus online banking, loans and credit cards.

TODAY AT TESCO
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A sort of virtual magazine with all the latest Tesco info, any new deals, products, kids clubs, recipes and lots more.

CORPORATE INFO
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Not very exciting for me but some of you might like to look at the current share prices or press releases and the like.

I have not really gone into much detail as what I really want to tell you about today is the actual shopping experience, so lets begin.

LETS SHOP

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Firstly sign into the site using the chosen email addie and password you selected at registration, click the shopping tab and then your ready to grab your groceries.

TELL ME HOW
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Ok , well merely select the groceries from your local Tesco tab and then wait a few seconds whilst your local store loads up.

At the left hand side you will see various clickable links:

FAVOURITES
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This is excellent particularly if you have used this service previously as it stores all the items you have ordered on other occasions for easy reference, so merely click on any you want and they are added instantly to your virtual trolley, no searching no hassle..

SPECIAL OFFERS
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This link displays all the items in store that are on special offer, some real bargains here and all listed under separate departments for ease of use.

EXPRESS SHOPPER
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For those who have not much time to shop, a notepad appears and you merely type in an item you require, for example put in bread and lists appears of all the available breads, simply then select the one you want.

DEPARTMENTS
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Under this you will find all the supermarket departments, such as bakery, fruit and vegetable etc, by clicking on one you then get another submenu of related items from which you make your selection.

SELECTING ITEMS
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Once you have selected the products you need you add them to your basket, each product is listed separately with a description, notes, price and quantity, the notes is an excellent feature as it allows you to add a note to a product, i.e., you can say “ I want my milk on the longest date available”.

These notes are then given to your personal shopper, so you get exactly what you want, another thing is that if you shop a lot you often get the same personal shopper so they get to know your ordering habits.

Quantity, a box with a – and a +, simply add or remove the total number this way for each item you require.
Items that are weighed are added the same way, the price per KG for example is displayed for fruit and vegetables, so you can then type in a guide weight for the amount of each you order.

RECIPE IDEAS
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If you need inspiration then why not let them select a recipe for you? Input the meal type, I.E lunch, theme, course, dietary needs, ingredients, then it will offer you recipe choices, if you fancy one, simply select it and then you can add the ingredients instantly to your basket.

CHECKOUT TIME
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Once you are happy with your shopping, you select checkout, you will then see a listing of all your chosen items and any notes added, remember though at this stage the total cost will not include any offers such as buy one get one free, these will only appear on your proper invoice.

Select a delivery time, these vary from store to store but mine was 8am-10pm, these are listed in 2 hourly intervals and if you order before 9am then you can get same day delivery or order in advance if needed.

You are also now given the option of substitutes, you can tick any items you don’t want substituting as they will send alternatives if your chosen items are unavailable, unless you tell them not to!.

Next you need to pay, enter your credit/debit details, these are not stored so you need to enter them each time you shop.

For reference you will immediately receive a copy of your order to your email address.

Remember also a delivery charge of £5 and this is for any order value is also added to your bill.

So that’s how toshop online at Tesco, sounds easy but did I find it that simple??

ANA’S FIRST TIME SHOP
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Ok, so you have read how to do it but a word of warning it is actually quite a daunting task for the virgin shopper such as myself.

I got the idea immediately however being me I decided to shop by departments as I wasn’t used to Tesco stores and wanted to browse the range of products before making my selections and believe me this took time!, how much time, well 2 ½ hours worth to be precise..

I was also rather baffled that by bringing up all the pages in a chosen range, then by typing in one that didn’t appear on the full listing, it actually was available, so why didn’t it show up? I found this with a lot of products and it seems rather odd to me, but one to remember if you use this site.

But I did manage to find everything I needed and must say I’m very happy that they are now stored as favourites for another time!

THE DELIVERY
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I ordered mine for between 7-9pm, so was pleasantly surprised when the driver arrived at 7.15pm.

I was handed a list of printed A4 sheets with my order on it and the items substituted highlighted, the driver went through it and told me what I had been sent instead, in my case I did well as 4 items were substituted for larger versions of the same product at no extra cost, so couldn’t moan.

The driver got out the large trays containing my goods, they are not in bags just in these large box like trays, he then proceeded to dump them all on my doorstep…cough, so then I had to lug them all into the kitchen, quickly empty them and hand the trays back!, he then disappeared without a goodbye!

All my items were there, and it was a good job as you can return unwanted or wrong items to the driver for a refund on your card. But in my case I would have had to ring them!.

In such a case as this help is at hand, not only do they have a comprehensive FAQ on site but also a local rate telephone number, this I used to complain and found them fast to answer and very polite, they apologised and said they would look into it and get back to me.

VERDICT
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I actually really enjoyed shopping online, I put the time it took down to it being my first time and did browse nearly all the departments, but I’m sure I could zip through it another time.

I was very happy with all the goods I received, they were all in excellent condition and the frozen goods still frozen, and the prices were competitive, I would definitely use this service again, well as long as they sort the driver out!,hehe….

So if you fancy some hassle free shopping go to www.tesco.com and take a look.