I'm thinking of using Asda's homeshopping service.

Here's Asda's promise. You shop for your groceries online and for a £4.95 delivery charge Asda agrees to deliver the shopping within a mutually agreed timeslot.

Sounds great, especially for large families for whom the delivery charge works out as only a small percentage of the bill.

But what's the downside to this? Is the bread crushed, the milk leaking all over the chocolate digestives, your vanilla ice-cream swilling around inside its tub?

And does the driver turn up two hours late with hands like a chimney sweep who's just changed the oil on his van? Indeed, does the driver turn up at all with your shopping?

Anyone out there with a horror story to tell about supermarket homeshopping services?

We've had deliveries from Asda, Sainsbury's and Tesco.
They have always arrived during the nominated timeslot. The drivers have always been friendly and well presented!

We've had a few issues with items being delivered on the cusp of being out of date, or a bit squashed. A quick email to Asda got us a double refund for the items in question. Tesco didn't help us with this though, they sent an email telling us we had to phone them to resolve it (not worth the price of a phonecall to get a refund for a squashed tomato!). We didn't have any problem with Sainsbury's although they did substitute a lot of our items for 'almost the same' items. (All the services do this if they haven't got what you wanted in stock, but I think only Asda charge you for what you asked for rather than what you got instead, if the substitute would have been more expensive).

Have a look on the web for discount vouchers (Google for Asda/Sainsbury's/Tesco plus 'E-Vouchers'). You can usually get at least £5 off (equivalent to free delivery) if you're spending over £50!

Overall, we're quite pleased with the home delivery services.
So no horror stories here!

I hope so, I've just tried them for the first time; my monthly shop should be arriving between 7 and 9 on Tuesday evening.

I have used another supermarket delivery service for a couple of years, as I don't drive its the best way to do my monthly shop. To be honest I haven't had too many problems. When they were going to be late they called (they even called if they were going to be early).

The only things I'd advise you to be careful of are missing items (on the odd occasion this happened I called the helpline and they were happy to re-emberse me) and substitutes - they're not always what you want but you can turn them down.

I'll post again once my first ASDA delivery has arrived

The one thing I do miss is rummaging through the reduced to clear bins.

We use Tesco's delivery service on a regular basis and its bob-on..... go on indulge yourself.......... You don't have to tip the driver either....

Thanks, folks, for the excellently worded replies.

100% satisfaction up to now with Asda, it seems.

I used to get all my shopping from Asda home shopping untill a few weeks ago when they rang me the night before at 9pm to let me know that they wouldn't be coming and if I did want a delivery I would have to go and imput all my list again. I e mailed the following day to find out why and have yet to receive a response after another 2 subsequent e mails. Its a shame really as they were always pretty good before this.

I have used the home delivery service regularly but last time (in November) my shopping arrived really late...it had a booking slot between 11-1 and it arrived 4:30 after i phoned themthe first time they said the store will get in touch with me...they didnt. in total i phoned them three times and they never got in touch with me then my shopping finally arrived at least 3 1/2 hrs overdue. Asda did refund the delivery charge though. This is the only problem i ever had with them.

I have used Asda a few times and they have been ok, up till the last couple of times. Last time my shopping came late, after the two hour time slot had gone I called Asda, a woman said someone would ring me back to tell me why it still hadn't arrived, I waited 30 minutes and still had no phone call, the shopping turned up about 20 minutes after that, the driver wasn't in uniform, and he didn't even say anything to us, he was really rude.

The day after I decided to write them an email, because it says if their late you get your delivery refunded. So I sent an email, and never heard anything back!

I just did another shop with them last night, it turned up on time, driver was friendly, but missing a bag of food! Just sent another email, but I wouldn't be suprised if they don't get back to me again! Not good service really.

weve done sainsburys home shopping

excellent service.......apart from the odd thing being out of stock, so you dont get it, or they put in a replacement

They use Asda home shopping at the place I used to work (I've just left before Christmas). Most time the orders were incomplete - usually they will substitute an item or post a note that its not available, which is fine, but just about every week or so there was stuff of ours left on the van. In the end we had to check everything we ordered before we let the delivery man leave, which was a waste of his time and our time.

Another time we were sent mouldy breadcakes, and sometimes if they didnt have say 2 x 6 packs of breadcakes, they would send us 2 x 4 packs, instead of 3 x 4 packs. Little things like that tend to build up to a big complaint when they start to happen every week.

I personally wouldn't recommend them.

I wouldnt email them with a complaint either, you get a much better and quicker response if you use the customer service telephone number on the delivery note.

i regularly used asda, but got fed up of them regularly having stuff out of stock - the replacement item was often so far of 'replacement' it was laughable! for eg, a bag of frozen spinach when they didnt have any fresh brocolli! and once, i ordered a box of own brand washing powder, and they sent me a bottle of talcum powder!
the customer service person was in hysterics, couldnt apologise enough and refunded me the cost.
but they tended to run out of stuff regularly which meant going to a shop ....... kinda defeated the object for me.
now happy with tesco - very few substitutions if any.

one thing that used to worry me about asda was the poor delivery bloke - 9 times out of 10 was within booked slot, but if they were running late, the poor guy looked half dead! didnt seem to have any health and safety training regarding lifting......there excuse was it saved time to just carry a stack of 8 boxes to the door instead of getting the trolley out!!!!

:D

I use Tescos regularly. I have had a couple of instances of items being on the verge of going out of date. I have always sent them an e-mail and they have always responded quickly and refunded the cost of the items.
There is always the issue with out of stock items but the driver always brings this to my attention and if I don't want the substitute items they take them away and don't charge me for them.
I was wondering about trying out Tescos but I don't think I will bother now...

Originally posted by samsmum
i regularly used asda, but got fed up of them regularly having stuff out of stock - the replacement item was often so far of 'replacement' it was laughable! for eg, a bag of frozen spinach when they didnt have any fresh brocolli! and once, i ordered a box of own brand washing powder, and they sent me a bottle of talcum powder!


Yep, I've had that too. I ordered some extra pillows as we were going to be having guests a few days after. The pillows were out of stock, so they sent me two pillow cases instead. To put my non-existant pillows in.

Originally posted by samsmum
i regularly used asda, but got fed up of them regularly having stuff out of stock - the replacement item was often so far of 'replacement' it was laughable! for eg, a bag of frozen spinach when they didnt have any fresh brocolli! and once, i ordered a box of own brand washing powder, and they sent me a bottle of talcum powder!

You would have thought at least they would employ people that could read the email shopping lists

Originally posted by spartacus
I'm thinking of using Asda's homeshopping service.

Here's Asda's promise. You shop for your groceries online and for a £4.95 delivery charge Asda agrees to deliver the shopping within a mutually agreed timeslot.

Sounds great, especially for large families for whom the delivery charge works out as only a small percentage of the bill.

But what's the downside to this? Is the bread crushed, the milk leaking all over the chocolate digestives, your vanilla ice-cream swilling around inside its tub?

And does the driver turn up two hours late with hands like a chimney sweep who's just changed the oil on his van? Indeed, does the driver turn up at all with your shopping?

Anyone out there with a horror story to tell about supermarket homeshopping services?

we've used them for the last 4 months or so and had no problems at all:thumbsup:

Originally posted by claire2
, I waited 30 minutes and still had no phone call, the shopping turned up about 20 minutes after that, the driver wasn't in uniform, and he didn't even say anything to us, he was really rude.

.

what did he do stick the rods up to you? pull his tongue out?do a mooney?:confused: :confused: :confused:

Originally posted by claire2
the driver wasn't in uniform, and he didn't even say anything to us, he was really rude.

I think they sub-contract out the delivery aspect of it. We used them just before christmas and the guy was a self-employed white van man.

hi, I've used Tesco home shopping once and they were really good, they were on time and really friendly (I even had extra goods delivered that they said i could just keep with no charge)

I have also used ASDA home shopping twice and on both occasions i have had cause for complaint, the first time about half the stuff i ordered they didnt deliver or 'substituted' for things that were more expensive so i got less but was charged the same price nevertheless (I had ordered home brand so i could get more for my money). the driver said there was nothing he could do and so i spent the next three days on the phone trying to get a refund and/or get the stuff i had ordered redelivered, i was promised countless times that the home shopping manager of the store in question would get in contact with me but he never did. I did finally get a refund but only after i had spent hours on the phone chasing them up and several (progressively angrier) emails.

the second time i used them (I decided to give them a second chance) i ticked the box that said i wouldnt accept substitutes but even then a lot of basic items that i needed weren't delivered.

If i were you, I'd stick to Tescos.

Thanks, folks, for your replies.

It seems that the homeshopping services are not without their problems. Not unusual, I suppose. After all, I wouldn't expect some employee on minimum wage to care about my shopping enough to spend time picking out the longest sell-by-dated products, and then to pack it carefully and deliver it on time in hygienic conditions. And I do know that they sometimes use agency drivers - they care even less about your shopping.

Methinks we'll stick to going to the shops.

I used both Asda and Tesco's home shopping facilties in the summer due to me fracturing my hip and not being able to walk properly ordrive. I couldn't wait until I was able to get about better and go myself. I would only use them again if I really, really need to. They just give you any fresh produce, it's not the same if you can't select it yourself. The last time the driver came he left me a bit of someone elses shopping and took them some of mine. I hate supermarket shopping but would much rather go myself.

I have used Asda. I had no problems at all. The chap turned up bang on time. He went through the list with me and pointed out the couple of substitute items on the list. He hung around for me to have a look at the substitutes and make sure I wanted them. Everything was fresh, frozen stuff still frozen and nothing missing on the list. My neighbour also shops with them and has similar service. Maybe it depends on which is your local Asda?

We have used Tesco and tend to order all the heavy stuff from them and then buy delicate veg and fruit as we need it from our local shop.

We like Tesco and I have a £10 of the next order email voucher just sent to me...cool

First order arrived - one bag missing (frozen pies if you're interested), am still awaiting a call back from ASDA.... in fact I might go chase them up!

Originally posted by alchresearch
I think they sub-contract out the delivery aspect of it. We used them just before christmas and the guy was a self-employed white van man. the majority of the drivers are from an agency,as they cannot get drivers who stick the job,most of the agency workers dont even know there way round sheffield .

I’ve just ordered from Asda for the first time as well. The shopping should have been delivered between 6pm and 8pm last night. At 8.05pm I heard a vehicle reversing outside, so I looked out of the curtains and there was the Asda van. So I waited for the knock on the door. 10 minutes later I was still waiting, so I looked out of the window again to see that the van had gone. I checked the doorstep just in case it had just been left there, but nothing. It got to 8:30pm and I called the helpline. They said they would get someone from the store to call me. The store didn’t call but the delivery driver did at 9pm. He said he had arrived at my house and a gang of youths had broken one of his tail lights so he’d had to return to the depot and that someone would ring me this morning to re-arrange delivery.

Got to midday today, no phone call. So I called the customer service line again. They say that they will get someone from the store to call me. The store calls me and say they didn’t know anything about me not having received my order! She asks if I have to have an evening delivery, so I explain that yes I do because I work full time. She then says they can’t deliver tonight because they’re just too busy, but she could get me in for this afternoon. Excuse me – but what did I just tell her about working full time and needing an evening delivery? And surely late deliveries need to be given a priority and not just delayed for another couple of days?

Anyway, I said I definitely needed the shopping tonight as I have no food in the house. She suggests I come to the store to pick it up! I explain that I don’t have a car and that is the main reason why I am trying the home delivery service. She goes quiet as she runs out of ideas. I tell her that if I don’t get the shopping tonight I don’t want it at all. Low and behold, she thinks of another driver who “sometimes helps us out” who can “probably” get the shopping to me tonight, but she couldn’t guarantee it. So it looks like I have another night tonight of waiting around for my shopping! I don’t think I will be use them again! Tesco sound like they may be more reliable.

So is it standard that if they deliver late they refund your delivery charge?

Wow what great service - not!
I think the lest they can do is refund the delivery charge as you've prob spent that much on phonecalls!

Sounds familiar... 'there's a bag missing' 'you want a refund?' 'no I want my pies' 'OK, I'll ask the store to call you'
**NO CALL** Call back.... more of the same.

If I wanted my pies refunded In wouldn't have ordered them, why did I pay a fee for half of my shopping?

apparently they can't delivery the missing items so I can have a refund. I have demanded (and received) a refund of the delivery fee. I will send and email.

:mad: waiting in another night for my Asda delivery. Was told the 'extra' driver would deliver after 5:30 this evening. They've got another half hour before I'm ringing again. I have no food in the house and have had to ring for a takeaway so that I could eat - I am not happy!

You're better off emailing or writing your complaint, who is the regulatory body for supermarkets? Is it trading standards?

Originally posted by banesmabes
:mad: waiting in another night for my Asda delivery. Was told the 'extra' driver would deliver after 5:30 this evening. They've got another half hour before I'm ringing again. I have no food in the house and have had to ring for a takeaway so that I could eat - I am not happy!

I would ask them to reimburse you for the takeaway.

When I worked at Sainsburys (admitadly 5 years ago) we used to reimburse people for takeaways if we somehow spoilt their meal.

lol - hadn't thought of that! They have promised to waive the delivery fee. Called them at 7:45pm and was informed that my shopping was on the van and would be delivered shortly - what do you know, I'm still waiting!

LOL, if he does show, kindly ask him if he has my pies, chips and fish fingers (I suppose it could have been the new years resolution fairies that stole them)

Maybe he will deliver them to me! Still no sign. I have called again and am waiting for them to get back to me, although I know the call centre closes at 10pm. I also mentioned the take away and he said he would look into some monetary compensation for me! I know it will be a voucher at best, but it's better than nothing.

Well this just gets more pathetic as time goes on. My shopping is still not here. According to the call centre they cannot locate my shopping as the home shopping department of the store is now closed. They advise that it may still come tonight, but will not say by what time. They also say that it will be taken up in the morning if it doesn't arrive tonight. So according to the call centre I am supposed to wait up until god knows what time tonight and then probably have to wait in again tomorrow night (which will be the third night in a row).

Anyway I called the store directly, and what do you know - the home shopping department ISN'T closed. The woman there remembers talking to the call centre and telling them the shopping was on it's way. And to top things off as far as she was aware I had received my shopping because the van with my order on has returned to store and is empty!!

Maybe my shopping is with the pies! Am now waiting for the store to call me back.

Would you PM me the store number please?

The Customer Services Manager has just called me and said that the driver did not feel safe delivering to my house. Apparently this was due to last night's incident of the van being damaged and the presence of another group of lads hanging around on the street tonight. She assures me that she did inform the call centre that this is what had occured and that they should have passed on the information to me. I obviously informed her that they told me that they had not been able to get in touch with anyone in store after the earlier message that my shopping was on it's way and that it could still be delivered later tonight when they knew full well that it wouldn't be because it was taken back to the store!

She now insists that they can only deliver to my area during daylight hours, which is a fat lot of good at this time of year when you work full time. She is going to ring me back tomorrow to see what we can do about it. I get the feeling they will have to deliver to my mum's during the day and then I will have to ask her to drive it the rest of the way. The store won't even consider letting me go down to the van to collect the shopping! They are also investigating why the driver didn't call me as soon as he knew he wouldn't be delivering to me, as they are given all customers numbers.

So for Asda home shopping, don't expect delivery after dark!

Maybe they could get securicor to deliver?

Seems a bit daft having a delivery service that's scared of delivering. What would happen if the post man refused to deliver?

It's pathetic that they won't deliver to my area after dark because of a bunch of teenagers hanging around. It is not a bad area, and when I go shopping and bring it back myself I do it at night and have never had any problems. and what area doesn't have a bunch of teenagers hanging around on the street?!?

I have also just found out that they have charged me for my shopping and the website is saying that it was delivered as planned on Tuesday! They now tell me it will be 7 days before they get my money back to me. They can't answer why I was charged for the shopping before I have even had it delivered. apparently someone from the store will be contacting me to explain, but I'm not holding my breath!

I am still no closer to getting my shopping, even though Asda now have the money for it. They are being very stubborn about delivery. I have been asked again today what time I will be home from work. This is the same time as last night (6pm). The Customer Services Manager insists that all her drivers are not willing to deliver to my area at this late (!) hour and could I not get home earlier than that. So I point out again that I work full time, finish work at the same time every day and there is no way around this.

They are being completely unapologetic for the whole saga. The stance seems to be very much on it being my problem, me having to sort it all out and meet their demands. And how they are talking about my area you would think that it was in Iraq or something!

I have now been told that they have an agency driver in tonight, so they are going to put my shopping on his van (or maybe they will send him in a tank?) and they are getting him to call me before he gets there so that I know when to expect him. In addition they are going to refund me the delivery charge plus £25 for the added expense and inconvenience.

Sounds good, but I won't believe it until I have my shopping!

banesmabes did your home shopping come or not?

We had Asda delivery problems. They delivered me someone elses shopping but the driver would not discuss it or sort it out on the door step and left me with their stuff. It was quite an interesting collection of shopping.

It took 4 days, far too many phone calls made by me ( they never return calls) for them to collect it and deliver my goodies. By which point I'd gone to Sainsburys for the essentials.

I miss their pizza but I'll never use them again. Mistakes I understand but shocking customer service is not acceptable.

We have used them quite a few times few problems with things being nearly out of date but they usually gave a refund for things like that.

I had them booked the other night between 7 and 9. I got a call at 7:45 from the driver saying he was at the end of my street but he would not deliver as there were some kids outside the house and he didnt want to get his new van vandalised. He said they would deliver it tomorrow for no extra charge. I considered this but thought the same thing might happen then so I told him to cancel the order and they lost out on £100 worth of shopping. I wouldnt have minded so much but we didnt have any food in the house.

Think I will stick with tesco in the future.

ASDA sent me a customer service quiz! with all the 'hope you enjoyed your experience' crap. Does the 3 phone calls and the email I had already sent give the impression that I enjoyed the experience - no I didn't! but it looks like I was lucky to get anything at all.

Originally posted by lint
banesmabes did your home shopping come or not?

Yes, finally got it last night at 7:45pm! There was one item missing. They say they will refund this along with the delivery fee. I asked about the £25 but the call centre didn't know anything about it, they tell me that as it was the store that authorised this they they will refund it directly. I will believe it when I see it! I have shopped at Asda for years, but don't think I will ever go again after all this.

Finally!
I am going to write to Trading Standards, was wondering whether to send a link to this thread

Our compnay has been using ASDA since day 1 and they consistantly fail to deliver on time, or half the things we ordered.

The problem is no one else will deliver to us as we are a business.

You try telling 100 hungry emplyees that thay can have any dinner until 3pm when ASDA finally deliver, then when they do telling them that they cant have any butter, cheese or ham with their jacket potatoes coz ASDA didnt bother to deliver any!

Take my advice. Always shop at the supermarket yourself. At least you have a better chance of getting what you want

Unfortunately, modern supermarkets are so designed around the car that if you don't own one it makes it all but impossible to shop there. Unless I am to live on food from the local Co-op (and get very bored because of the lack of choice) then I have to find some way of getting to one of the inaccessible big stores. This is the first time I have tried home shopping, after a long time of constantly nagging my mum to take me to Asda in her car (I thought it was time she had a break!). I think these supermarkets seem to forget that 25% of households do not have access to a car! What a big part of the market they are potentially missing out on.

Agree with you entirely, it'd cost me more in a cab than the delivery charge. Having said that, I might try the old fashioned way again, I miss reduced to clear stuff

Originally posted by banesmabes
Unfortunately, modern supermarkets are so designed around the car that if you don't own one it makes it all but impossible to shop there. Unless I am to live on food from the local Co-op (and get very bored because of the lack of choice) then I have to find some way of getting to one of the inaccessible big stores. This is the first time I have tried home shopping, after a long time of constantly nagging my mum to take me to Asda in her car (I thought it was time she had a break!). I think these supermarkets seem to forget that 25% of households do not have access to a car! What a big part of the market they are potentially missing out on.
If you can find the time to do your own shopping at Somerfield
they will then deliver it free of charge (if you spend more than £25) at your convenience up to 8pm. If you spend less than £25 you can still have it delivered for a £3 charge. Each store delivers to a wide area round where they are situated.

Hi

I use Asda, Tesco and sainsburys regularly - out of them all ASDA is by far the worst for Customer Service.
On 2 occassions in November I was without my shopping at all and ended up being brought to me by car (a staff member) on the following day. Customer service centre is appauling they keep saying store is going to ring and when they dont you have to ring again and they say the store will definiltey call you when they dont I asked them if I could hold while they rang store as I wasnt happy - in the end I spoke to the store on both occassions - apparently their computer (on both occassions) had had a virsu therefore effected my order so the order was brought personally by car.
Tesco and Sainsburys used them for over a year and no probs AT ALL! sometimes tesco deliver things which are out of date following day but that has generally being on things I was using anyway so hasnt as yet caused me a problem.
Must admit though once you do your shopping online you will never look back - I hate going to tthe shops now.

their pc had a virus and effected your order, sounds like an excuse to me:hihi: :hihi:

Just used Asda's homeshopping service. Absolutely brilliant. Punctual, well bagged, politely delivered.

Will use again. Recommended.

have used asda home service today for only the second time and it was an absolute disaster loads out of stock, no substitutes offered ,wrong item delivered and damaged goods

Hi

I use to use Asda before i got a car, my last purchase with them was in August of last year, my monthly shop came to around £130, it was meant to come on friday between 7 &9 10pm they turned up with half the stuff missing, so i phoned up they said they couldnt deliver until saturday at 5 pm, so i threw a wobbly and said if they didnt deliver NOW everything would be returned and a complaint would be made, 10:45 they delivered the remaining items,
When i got in saturday afternoon my neighbour knocked on the door with exactly the same items that were missing the previous night.. bonus!
Never thought much of it until last month i was going to do my big xmas food shop online when it said my account was frozen... rang up and they never took the money from August! their fault and couldnt take the money without my permission.. so i wouldnt give it!

so now i dont use asda...
Some people may disagree but hey free food always goes down a treat in this house!!

I think I will try Tesco next time - I will not be going to Asda again for a LONG time. The delivery charge has been refunded, but not the £25 or the cost of the missing item. What's the odds I'm going to have to chase them up on this?!?

I was thinking over the weekend actually, about the drivers refusing to deliver to my area. I am wondering if the real reason why they were refusing to deliver is because I am in an upper maisonette and they just didn't want to have to bring all the shopping up the steps for me. They really were over-exaggerating what my area is like. I have never seen any gangs of lads hanging around making a nuisance of themselves, and even if there were some hanging around, what area doesn't get this from time to time? I grew suspicious when I recalled the first driver's conversation with me - he admitted to coming to look at where my property was before returning to the van for the shopping and leaving without delivering (allegedly because the lads vandalised the van). Certainly the driver who finally delivered the shopping didn't have any problems.

:thumbsup: I rate Tesco - Always on time, polite and friendly drivers, nearly always long dates! (And when they are not a quick call to the friendly customer service centre and a refund is sorted!)

Latest in the Asda saga - they have refunded for the item that wasn't delivered and the delivery charge, but have only refunded me £10 rather than the £25 promised by the Customer Services Manager, so I am having to chase them again! Just when I thought they couldn't get any worse...

Anyway they say they don't know why I was only refunded £10, but they will sort out the rest today - again, I will believe it when I see it :rolleyes:

I have sent emails to sheffield and rotherham trading standards.

The sheffield office said they hadn'y broken any rules in my case but did say that if more people reported the same thing they might look into it. I would encourage you to.

I figured that was where it ended, but I have just had an email from consumer direct asking me to contact them so someone's taking this seriously.

UPDATE: Consumer Direct have also said this a customer service issue, but if they get a lot of complaints they will look into it. Their number is 08454 040506 - they gave me permission to publish it

It looks like there will have been late deliveries tonight....

...there was an asda van being attended to by a recovery vehicle on the sliproad going away from the store at half sixish tonight

Oh come on!

ASDA are evil, as are all the supermarkets.

I could ramble on why but if you go to the library and get out a book called 'Shopped' then you will see why.

Go down the market instead, its all dead cheap and most of the stallholders call you 'love' or 'darling' even if you are a bloke, which is aeon's more niceness than a barely-able-to-contain-my-contempt-for-you smile from some supermarket drone who stares at you bursting with hate.

Home Delivery? What are you infirm? Get off your arse and support the city centre.

:loopy:

A lot of homeshopping subscribers are indeed infirm and/or elderly and the service is a lifeline for them. If things go wrong with their shopping delivery it can lead to distress and even malnutrition.

I suspect that in some of these cases, a great deal of the the problems are caused because several people are involved at each stage of the ordering process.

a) social services client selects items from a homeshopping list or catalogue: person might be confused or visually impaired

b) carer checks form for customer and it goes back to social services: carers are often under time pressures and might not scrupulously check the list with the client in their haste to get to the next client on time

c) at social services central office the orders are processed and ordered from the store website: as much as we might dislike the idea, we are all numbers in bureaucracy's vast database and any doubt over the clarity of an order often results in nothing being ordered or a wrong substitution being made. Very rarely, almost never, will the social services get in touch with clients to ensure they are adequately providing for themselves

Maybe the social services should improve their homeshopping service procedures?