Shopper roasts Coles over bizarre substitute item: 'Seriously?'
A Coles shopper has turned to social media in search of answers after receiving a strange substitute for bananas in her online order.
Customer Zoe Hughes, from Wagga Wagga in southern NSW, shared a post to Coles' Facebook page where she asked the supermarket why she received sanitary pads as a substitute for bananas in her grocery delivery on Thursday.
“Do I throw some pads in the kids lunches? Or did the picker think I was doing something shifty with the 'nanas?” asked Ms Hughes in her Facebook post.
“Last time I got a stupid substitute, I called Coles online and they actually said to me: ‘Look they’re not rocket scientists’,” she added.
Alongside the post, Ms Hughes posted a photo of the Kotex Overnight Extra Pads she received as a substitute for the three bananas she ordered for her children’s lunches.
Yahoo News Australia has reached out to Coles for comment.
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'I just laughed so much' reveals Coles shopper
Speaking to Yahoo News Australia, Ms Hughes confessed she laughed hysterically when she received the email from Coles informing her of the bizarre substitute.
“I got the email stating I was getting pads instead of bananas and I just laughed so much. Like coughing, laughing. I thought, ‘Seriously not?’” she said.
“Every week they get something wrong but that’s ridiculous. Surely this is a computer system error and I’ll get my bananas. Since when are there no bananas in Coles?” she asked.
The confused shopper explained she had received two bananas instead of three, but instead of the third she was given the box of Kotex pads.
Ms Hughes said in the past she had received some strange substitutes, but “this one takes the cake”.
She revealed she had previously received pork gyoza instead of prawn and chicken instead of squid as substitutes in her online orders.
“We’ve gotten plenty of weird things in the past but this one topped it for me,” she said.
“It’s not even edible, it’s in a completely different section and has no similarities whatsoever."
Fellow Coles shoppers see the humour in substitute fail
Meanwhile, fellow shoppers saw the humour in the situation, with some getting in on the joke in the Facebook comments.
“They’re going to find the substitute hard to digest! Seriously, what were they NOT thinking?” one shopper joked.
“At least you have protection for the spills,” another chimed in.
Ms Hughes even added some comical fuel to the fire by sharing a photo of the box of Kotex pads sitting inside her child’s lunchbox in the comments.
Coles explains mishap
A spokesperson for Coles has told Yahoo News Australia that the unexpected substitute item was included in Ms Hughes' order due to a scanning mistake and shouldn't deter customers from choosing to receive substitutions in future online orders.
“Coles Online encourages customers opt in to receive substitutions so we can replace out of stock items with similar products for their convenience," the spokesperson said.
"We have looked into this customer order and identified it was a genuine human error where an incorrect product was scanned. The customer has been contacted and we have apologised for any inconvenience caused."
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