Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s delivery slots ‘start running out’ as England enters third lockdown
TESCO, Morrisons and Sainsbury's shoppers have claimed delivery slots are "running out" as England enters into a third national lockdown.
Panic buyers have already started to strip shelves of loo roll, fresh vegetables and rice again a day after the Prime Minister announced a fresh shutdown.
Following the emergency measures, desperate shoppers rushed to book a supermarket delivery slot causing apps and sites to crash, despite food shops being allowed to stay open.
Tesco customers complained too of not being able to update orders following the PM's address, while some said they couldn't get a delivery slot for the "next three weeks".
When the Sun checked one London address, there were no available upcoming delivery slots for at least two weeks.
Many also reported the Tesco website kept crashing when they tried to proceed to pay for their shopping at the checkout.
Katie said: "I can't checkout for my order that I'm collecting tomorrow.
"It isn't working on the app or the website. Any ideas?"
A member of Tesco's social media team replied to customer complaints: "We are aware of an issue with our apps and website and we're currently investigating this.
"I would advise that you try again later. Sorry for any inconvenience."
Shoppers on Twitter complained the Sainsbury's app and website went down yesterday evening too.
One slammed the mayhem "March 2020 all over again", throwing back to scenes of supermarket chaos over fears Covid-19 would cause a national lockdown.
One twitter user said: "What's happening with the Sainsbury's shopping app tonight? Website down?"
Another wrote: " The Sainsbury’s app has logged me out and the website is ‘currently unavailable’.
"With a delivery due tomorrow, I have no way to update my order. Grateful for your assistance please..."
Sainsbury's told The Sun it had "temporarily limited access" to its online service in the evening to allow it to cope with "high demand".
A handful of Morrisons customers were also complaining about being unable to pay for their shopping online.
One customer wrote: "@Morrisons problem checking out tonight is it just a busy website?"
How much supermarkets charge for click and collect delivery
HERE'S how much the major supermarkets charge for click and collect grocery deliveries:
- Asda: Click and collect is free for next day or later deliveries. But you must spend at least £25, if not there's a £4 charge.
- Morrisons: Click and collect is free all day Monday to Thursday, from 12pm to 4pm on Fridays and Sundays, and from 2pm to 4pm on Saturdays. Outside these hours it costs £1 but only 14 stores currently offer this service.
- Sainsbury's: Click and collect is free for next day or later deliveries. But you must spend at least £40, if not there's a £4 charge.
- Tesco: Click and collect costs £1.50 if you spend at least £25, if not you'll be charged an extra £4 on top.
Another said: " Your website doesn't seem to be working properly (not accepting payment or orders). Are you aware of any problems?"
Since the start of the pandemic, supermarkets have dramatically increased the number of online delivery slots available to keep up with demand and to ensure that the elderly and vulnerable are still able to access groceries.
But thousands of shoppers struggled to get a slot for Christmas and New Year after millions of Brits were plunged into emergency Teir 4 restrictions.
It means demand for supermarket delivery slots was already high at the start of the year, as shoppers looked to restock after the festive season.
We've put together a guide to find out when supermarkets release upcoming order states.
A Sainsbury's spokesperson told The Sun: "We temporarily limited access to our groceries online service last night so that we could manage high demand for slots and updates customers were making to existing orders.
"We’re continuing to monitor the situation and are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused."
Meanwhile, Morrisons reinforced the fact that it has "increased its online operations five fold as well as news ways to shop at Morrisons."
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Since the start of the pandemic, Morrisons has launched delivery services through Amazon and Deliveroo, and is now doing a range of food boxes.
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A Tesco Spokesperson said: “There continues to be extremely high demand for online grocery shopping and we are working around the clock to serve as many customers as we can."
They added: "As with previous lockdowns, in order to free up slots for those who need them most, we are encouraging customers to prioritise shopping in-store where possible."