Shopping for groceries online can sometimes be a gamble.
According to Which? two in five shoppers have received a substitute product in their latest online grocery order.
The consumer watchdog polled more than 3,000 UK adults on their online orders and found that some of the strangest replacements included duck paste instead of duct tape and sausage rolls instead of toilet rolls.
Aldi, which has a click and collect shopping service, was the most likely of the nine online supermarkets to put substitutions in customer orders.
Almost half (49 per cent) of Aldi customers reported that they had received a replacement item in their most recent shop.
One customer said they received Ben and Jerry’s Phish Food ice cream instead of the breaded fish fillets they had ordered.
Sainsbury’s came in a close second to Aldi, with 48 per cent of online shoppers receiving a substitution in their latest swap.
One customer reported ordering Sainsbury’s scouring sponges and receiving a Victoria sponge cake instead, while another was delivered beef stock instead of brandy butter.
Around 45 per cent of Asda shoppers received replacement items, including sausage rolls in place of toilet rolls. One shopper appeared particularly disappointed when they received a “box of bog-standard hens’ eggs” instead of the Cadbury Crème Eggs they had ordered.
As for Morrisons’ customers, about four in 10 (43 per cent) reported substitutions in their online orders. This dropped to 41 per cent of online-only Ocado customers and 39 per cent of Tesco shoppers, one of which found duck paste in their basket instead of the duct tape they needed.
Amazon Fresh customers were among the least likely (26 per cent) to receive a substitution, while online Iceland shoppers were the least likely to get a replacement at 18 per cent.
However, one Iceland shopper spoke of how they accidentally gave their grandchildren a spicy snack because they had not realised their plain cheese biscuits were replaced with a chilli alternative.
According to Which?, not all the replacements were disappointing. One Asda shopper received 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.”
Additional reporting by PA
