Ordering your supermarket shopping online can occasionally be a lucky dip if there are a few out of stock items that need to be swapped out.
More and more shoppers these days are finding that their online and click and collect orders are being completed with a few substitutions and some of them are quite bizarre.
New polling data shows that two in five shoppers are estimated to get a product different to the one they wanted while ordering over the internet.
From receiving a sponge cake in place of cleaning sponges to sausage rolls instead of toilet roll, shoppers from some of the biggest supermarkets across the country have been revealing quite a few interesting items they have found.
According to consumer group Which? Aldi is the most likely of the nine online supermarkets to put in substitutions to shoppers orders.
49 per cent of the budget supermarkets shoppers reported they had received replacement items in their latest order, reports The Manchester Evening News.
Among some of their bizarre replacements have been Ben and Jerry’s Phish Food ice cream instead of the breaded fish fillets, while another shopper reported receiving cooking oil instead of milk.
Sainsbury's comes in second with a further 48 per cent also reported receiving replacement in their orders, with one receiving a Victorian sponge cake in the place of sponge scourers.
Another reporter receiving beef stock instead of brandy butter.
Asda have also sent out some unusual replacements, such as sausage rolls in the place of a pack of toilet roll, and hens eggs instead of Cadbury's Creme Eggs.
About four in 10 (43 per cent) Morrisons’ shoppers reported substitutions, dropping to 41pc of online-only Ocado customers and 39pc of Tesco shoppers - one of which found duck paste in their basket in lieu of the duct tape they had ordered.
A third of Waitrose customers (36pc) had received replacements in their most recent food order, including one who received tampons instead of shaving cream.
Amazon Fresh customers were among the least likely to receive a substitution at 26pc, while online Iceland shoppers were the least likely to get a replacement at 18pc.
However, one Iceland-shopping grandparent accidentally gave their charges a spicy snack because they had not realised their plain cheese biscuits had been replaced by a chilli alternative.
However, not all substitutes have been all bad, as some shoppers have reported finding decent options included with their orders, according to Which?
For example, one Asda shopper found three £60 bottles of whisky to replace three £25 ones that were out of stock.
Which? retail editor Ele Clark said: “While product substitutions in your online shopping can sometimes be genuinely helpful, our research has shown that they can also be downright ridiculous.
“You do have the right to reject substitutions at the point of delivery, or you could opt out of receiving substitutions altogether – though this can result in a real headache if the key ingredient for your dinner that night is missing.
“If you do end up with a substitution that you don’t want, always contact the supermarket and ask for a refund.”
Which? questioned 3,004 UK adults in October, with 1,304 reporting on their online orders including substitutions.
