Hi Everyone,
I usually love shopping at my local Harris Farms store but I decided to give online ordering a go as there was a OZB post about stacking a couple of deals, but I had a bad experience overall. Here's a summary of events:
- Delivery window was 7pm to 10pm. Kept waiting but nothing until 10pm. After 10pm, got a sms saying "Good news, your order was packed and on the way." It contained a tracking link which showed 146mins to delivery! That would mean a delivery closer to 1 am. My first thought was there would be a mistake.
- I tried to ring the customer service number around 10pm (their customer service hours are upto 11pm) and I got asked to leave a message after the following played: "Unfortunately none of our customer service officers are available to take your call". So I left a message and then went to bed.
- I got woken up by a call from the courier around 11.30pm (the phone rings woke up my infant child too). The courier didn't speak proper English and asked me if I wanted to take delivery or cancel it. I asked him how long will he take and he said 15 mins. So I thought WTH!!! and decided I'll just take the delivery as I'm awake already. I told him to ring my phone and not buzz when he arrives.
- The courier arrived and called me, so I went down from my unit but while I was on my way down, he buzzed twice. The baby was awake again.
- After taking the delivery at midnight, I felt there was something wrong with the order as there were missing items, so I decided to look for the packaging slip. But there was no packaging slip included. I opened up my email and checked the items and I was right, there were a few items missing (worth $16).
- I rang the courier to check if he forgot something in his truck and he said he had already checked and he delivered whatever was given to him by the store and asked me to ring customer service.
- I rang the customer service with a list of gripes the following morning, but I got the same message "Unfortunately none of our customer service officers are available to take your call". So I left another message. Yet to receive a call back from them.
Agreed there were good discounts on offer which tempted me for the online order but that is no excuse for poor organisation and delivery experience. It actually affected my sleep and my family's sleep. And I was frustrated that their customer service didn't answer or call back. If they did, I would have postponed the delivery as receiving a delivery at midnight was really not something I expected. I got an 'apology' email the following morning about the delayed delivery and the reason they gave was 'high volume of orders'. They have given me a $15 voucher for the inconvenience.
I'm just wondering if any other OzBargainers have had a similar experience with them or have I just been unlucky and this is a one off?
Cheers
This has been my experience with online groceries with ANY store - missing items, damaged items, delivery delays, typically more expensive than in store.
By the time you finish calling up customer service to get a refund and going to the store to pick up the missing items, you've probably spent 2-3 times what a normal shopping run should take.
I'll still do it once in a while, if there's a good deal (like with harris farm) … but online grocery shopping is a joke.
Had similar experiences with Harris Farm - placed order before 5pm for same day delivery. Get a call at 8pm saying they can't make it today, is first thing tomorrow okay. I tell them it's not okay and they agreed to deliver by 10pm.