Customers finalising their grocery shopping for the bank holiday weekend were left in the lurch when a technical glitch on Sainsbury's website foiled their plans.
Online shoppers using the grocery giant's website can usually amend their online shopping orders up to 11pm on the night before delivery, but the hitch prevented customers making any changes - just hours before the start of the Jubilee weekend. According to the Manchester Evening News, the website went down at about 9pm on Wednesday night, with a message advising customers that “essential maintenance” was taking place.
The message on the site read: “We’ll be back soon. We’re really sorry, but we can’t bring you the groceries site at the moment. We’re carrying out some essential maintenance and we’ll be back soon so please try again later.”
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Shoppers, keen to sort their groceries out ahead of the long weekend, were not impressed and took to social media to tell Sainsbury's what they thought. One shopper tweeted the supermarket, saying: “Last night I couldn’t amend my order, the time extension didn’t work as slot had expired, I missed offers which aren’t on anymore and I don’t have all the items I need so have to go to the shop. I pay for a delivery pass that is pointless and I’m out of pocket.”
A second customer said: “Can I phone you to cancel my order? I don’t want it because I couldn’t amend it, check it out, or change the delivery on it last night! Seems stupid that I have to make the driver come here.” A third person tweeted: “Sent you my details as requested last night and no response. Finally got an order amended email at midnight so went to bed. This morning no email to say ready for collection, no money taken and order vanished online. Argh!!!”
Online shoppers often 'reserve' their slot by placing high-value items in the basket and checking out, with the intention of finalising their real order nearer the time.. The glitch on Wednesday meant that some people were were unable to amend their ''place-holding' order, but weren't able to cancel it, leading to them receiving goods they didn't want the next day.
One shopper asked: “Due to your app crashing I now have a single bottle of champagne due to be delivered this afternoon - nothing else, no other items. To save your driver wasting time/money/energy please advise how I can cancel the delivery given the circumstances?”
Sainsbury's tweeted saying that it was experiencing “some technical challenges with their online product range” and advised customers to reject any unwanted orders that couldn’t be cancelled so they can receive a refund. Responding to customers online, Sainsbury’s apologised and said: “We’re really sorry about this. If you were unable to amend the order before 11pm, it would revert back to the original order. If you have items you don't want, you can return them to the driver for a refund. If you have items you don't want, you can return them to the driver for a refund.”
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