Online supermarket swap shops

Customers who buy groceries online may get some surprising swaps in their shop, says consumer group Which?.

In a survey of more than 2,000 online supermarket shoppers, Which? found that 45% of members had at least one item of their last order substituted. More than half of Sainsburys.co.uk (57%) and Asda.co.uk (56%) customers had at least one substitution, compared to 26% Ocado.com shoppers. Although some were acceptable others were downright bizarre and one shopper even received broad beans instead of chocolate flakes!

Which? also discovered problems with missing or damaged items - 15% of members had something that had gone astray in their last order and 8% received at least one damaged item.

Asda failed to impress with its best-before dates. Only 47% of Asda customers who check the dates say they're as good as they would choose in a store. This compares to around two thirds of Waitrose (68%) and Ocado (66%) customers.

Online supermarket Ocado came out as the favourite place to shop, scoring 82%, and was praised for its efficient and easy to navigate website, as well as the good quality of fruit and vegetables.

At the other end of the table, Tesco (58%) and Asda (59%) customers were less satisfied. One Tesco shopper painted a picture of how difficult it was ordering product sizes after he received a quiche that he thought was full-size, but actually had the circumference of a teacup.

Jess Ross, Editor, which.co.uk, says: "Going online for your grocery shop is a great way to save time, cut the hassle of supermarket shopping and help you stick to a budget.

"If you do have any hiccups with your order, such as vanilla air freshener instead of your vanilla ice-cream, don't be afraid to get in contact with the store and complain."