tescodirect.com

Having an active 3 year old and several stressed out shopping trips, I took to ordering my shopping from Tesco's online and have not looked back since. Therefore I think it's about time I gave my views on this essential service for our house.

Firstly you need to go to ***www.tesco.com***

(I find the site easy to navigate and is in tesco's traditional blue and white colours, nothing fancy but it's all it needs to be.)

Here you will find several tabs across the top, Home, Extra, Groceries, Finance & Insurance, Telecoms and More. As this review is about my grocery shopping, I will only describe my experience with that one.

Ok, so point to Groceries and click.

The next screen I see is asking me to sign in. As I am already registered, my email address is in the box with a box underneath for my password, below which is a sign in box which upon clicking will sign me in. But for now I will try to explain the registering procedure.

***Registering***

Underneath the sign in box, is another link 'Not registered yet'.. I click on this link and it opens up another box to the right where I am asked to enter my email address, re-enter email, postcode and clubcard no if I have one. If you don't have a clubcard no, there is a box to tick to state this.

By clicking on the box that informs tesco that I don't have a clubcard, a window opens that tells me if I use an existing clubcard no, they can store the items that I purchase and will be able to find them under My favourites.
So I am going to try this using my own clubcard no, but registering my husband's details as I am already registered.

After clicking on register, the next window asks me to fill in my name, contact details, set a password, how I heard about the site and asks me to read and agree to the terms and conditions.

Having filled in all the necessary details and clicking on the yes to accept the terms and conditions, I am informed that this clubcard is already in use. Yes I know that, but anyway I tried. Don't they realise I am testing them in order to sell their services? Never mind!

But basically, from here you will be to sign in and once your clubcard has been accepted, you will be able add to your favourites, the items you have previously purchased whilst using your clubcard. I do remember this part taking quite a long time but it is only the first time while the necessary data is assembled.

***Having registered and signed in***

The first screen I see has lots of tabs across the top again, which are, Grocery home, My Favourites, Express Shopper under a header of START SHOPPING.
The next header BROWSE DEPARTMENTS has Food & Drink, Toiletry & Baby, House & Pet.
Next there is a drop down menu with the header OFFERS & IDEAS. The drop down menu has lots of items to choose from, special offers, kids half term, vegetarian, best of India & other countries, recipe ideas, fair trade and loads of others.
Next to this a search box where I can type in a product name and click on Find if I can't find the item myself.

There is also a menu down the side with a very similar menu to the OFFERS & IDEAS list.

***ACTUAL SHOPPING***

Right lets get started. I now click on 'MY FAVOURITES' and the next page I see a few of the best offers on the main picture but down the left is again another list where I can click on different links. I am informed that I can shop from :- All my favourites, the same departments as above, My last order and there is an option to delete some of my favourites.

I always shop from ALL MY FAVOURITES as this is the easiest option for me so upon clicking on it, I am presented with an extremely long list of all the items I have previously purchased. There is a little tick box at the top that gives you the option to show product pictures or not if un ticked. I find it much more user friendly now when you can see a picture as being a bit lazy, you don't have to read each item title.

As I have broadband now, the list does appear fairly quickly, but I can remember when I used ordinary dial up, it took a while for the list to load.

At the side of each item is a - 1 + area where you can adjust the quantity of each particular item, an add button which adds the item to your basket, described below, and the price. There is also against most of the items a i in a circle which can be clicked upon to give more information about the product.

All of the items in my favourites have a red heart at the end of the product name which indicates it is something I have previously purchased. This is particularly helpful when doing a search for an item that you may have forgotten or browsing through the departments, you will then be able to pick out which item it is you've bought in the past.

At the bottom of each item, there is an option to add a note should you wish to do. An example, I have used is that I would prefer greener banana's and so added that note.

Upon clicking add, the item is highlighted in green and the item is then added to a list on the very right hand side where you can see a guide price of shopping so far and options to view basket and checkout now. It also informs here that the guide price excludes multi-save offers and they will be taken off my final bill from my driver.

If I want to change the quantity, I click the plus symbol to the required no and the item changes the highlight colour to orange but doesn't go immediately into my basket, I have to click add to confirm that I want the quantity added. After clicking, add the item quantity changes back to 1 but the item is now highlighted in green.

I find this particularly helpful as you are able to see at a glance what items you have got in your basket without having to read through the basket list on the right.

You can also adjust the quantity after the items are added to your basket by the plus/minus symbols in the right hand basket column.

Having gone through all of my favourites and selected my shopping in this way, I now want to search for an item. I click in the search box and start typing the item name, in this instance, Tomato puree.

I am presented with my search results and the top 5 shelves that may be of use. Below this is a list of items in the same format as my favourites that I can simply click on if they are what I want. If not, you are able to click on an option of seeing the rest of the shelf where you will find all the relevant items related to the original search.

Clicking on one of the links on the left hand side menu, browsing by dept, I am then presented with a further sub menu of more specific items within the first department. This is something I've not tried before, and I have just learnt that the menu down the left side is specific to my clubcard and what I've bought previously as it brings up items I have purchased within the department.

The BROWSE BY DEPARTMENT options over the top are different, they are the ones that open up links to all the different departments available and again sub categories within each department.

One very handy feature is that if you start shopping and don't get to finish it, or you don't check out immediately, the next time you go back to re-start your shopping, the items you previously added are still there in your basket. I find this really useful as I can just add items as and when I want and don't have to re-start the whole process.

***Checking out***

If I have ordered an item that is on special offer, and the offer runs out before the delivery I choose, then I have the option of still ordering the item without the special offer or cancelling the item. I would prefer to see Tesco honour the special offer but I suppose they would say that was being greedy!!!

Having finished shopping, I can either click on 'VIEW BASKET' or 'CHECKOUT'. If I click on view basket, all the items I have added are shown in a list in the main centre of the page. There is also a small link in the right hand column where I can book a delivery slot before actually checking out. I decide to go straight to 'CHECKOUT', though.

The next screen I see is to book a delivery slot, which are 2 hour slots available, bookable upto 3 weeks in advance, (very handy come Dec):

Sunday between 12-5pm
Monday-Friday between 9am and 11pm
Saturday between 9am and 8pm

Tuesday and Wednesday are the cheapest delivery days at £3.99
Monday and Thursday are charged at £4.99
Friday, Saturday and Sunday are the most expensive days at £5.99

After selecting my delivery for Thursday, I am then taken to the Secure Checkout page, where I can see my delivery details, my address and a box where I can add directions if my house is hard to find.
There is a link where I can give instructions regarding any substitutions that might be made. I haven't actually tried this so can't comment on how well this works, but I have never had a problem with any of the substitutions, they have made on my behalf. If I was unhappy with any of the substitutions they make, which are always pointed out to me by the driver, I can always send them back and then my account is adjusted accordingly.

There is next a box where I can add e-coupon codes if I have any, opposite is a box for my card details, which, by ticking a box, my card details can be stored for the next time I shop.

Once I've completed my order this far, I then click on the 'CONFIRM ORDER' button and it's all done.
I am then informed that my order has got there, and am given an order summary including an order no.

***CHANGING MY ORDER***

When I first starting using Tesco's online, this feature wasn't available, but I find it invaluable now. It is so easy to go back in and alter my order, taking off items if I find I don't need it or adding extra's on.

After signing in, you have to click on MY ACCOUNT, from here you will see MY ORDERS at the top of a list of my account details. Clicking on MY GROCERY ORDERS takes me a screen where I can see details of my current order. To the right is an option to CHANGE/CANCEL my order. The next screen I see gives me the option to CHANGE SLOT, CHANGE ORDER or CANCEL ORDER.
After clicking on the Change Order button, I am reminded to checkout otherwise they'll deliver my original order. You usually have up until about 4am of the morning of your delivery slot to make changes.
From here you are back to shopping as before, after which you must check out.

***HOW WELL DO THEY PERFORM***

I have been very impressed with the overall service from Tesco. I have only had to complain twice now, yoghurts that were out of date. The first time I took them back to the shop where the staff were very helpful and said I could also ring up and imform Tesco's direct where they would also just credit my account. I did use this option the second time around and the customer services staff were just as helpful and did refund my account accordingly.

The drivers are all very friendly and patient while I unload all the bags out of the boxes.
They have always been on time within the 2 hours, often ringing me to see if they can deliver early if it's convenient to me. The only time they were going to be late was when there was 2 ft of snow on the ground. They called me and said they were going to be late, I explained that I had to go out, and they offered to leave my shopping in a place suitable for me. They were very helpful on this occasion and did leave my shopping in the plastic boxes neatly piled up in my porch as agreed.

All in all I would definitely recommend this service, I find it invaluable especially as shopping with my 3 year old is near on impossible. I'm sure those of you with similar aged children know what I mean. I used to have to walk down the very centre of the aisle to avoid stripping shelves of carefully packed tins. Every now and then I do try again with my son, but each time I think, why did I do this??

Even after my son goes to school, I will continue to use this service as I find it so easy. My nearest Tesco shop is 10 miles away and if I was going specially, it would cost me the same amount as the service charge in petrol so I don't begrudge the service charge at all. Occasionally, tesco's send me a e-coupon where I can have a free delivery or so much off my shopping.

I particularly like being able to see how much I am spending as I go along and if I think I've spent too much one week, I can go through my basket and take things out to reduce to what I can afford.

One problem I have had on occasions if errors, either mine or tesco's but they can be a bit of a problem. I once ordered what I thought was 1 box of mushrooms, but I must of clicked on loose mushrooms. I was treated to a solitary mushroom sealed very carefully in a bag. I do remember thinking it's a pity that they can't just use a bit of common sense and judge whether a mistake might of been made.

You can ask the driver to take away old carrier bags to recycle which is a plus point on the green front, they do pack very loosely using loads of carrier bags.

I think you can get the message from here that I am suitably impressed with their service and would definitely recommend using Tesco.com.
I hope I haven't bored you too much with such a long review but if I missed any thing out, I felt that I wouldn't be telling you the whole picture.
If I have forgotten anything, I apologise, and please let me know. Thanks for reading this far.

Below is a brief summary of the extra's available on the site.

***OFFERS & IDEAS***

I haven't used this much and can't comment too much but to give an idea, I will describe a few of the options that caught my attention.

Food club - You can sign up for a free magazine which includes recipes, hints and tips.
Vegetarian - Info about vegetarian products and links to find the products available.
Best of Countries - Links to products from each country.
Special Offers - Self explanatory, brings up all the current special offers.
Kids half term ideas - Links to products for child friendly foods etc and link to Extra Shop
Fair Trade - Links to all products that I am informed make a difference to the world's smallest and most remote producers.
Free From - Links to 150 everyday items, which are gluten, wheat or milk free
The list is endless but I have picked out a few that I thought might appeal.