Woolworths customer fumes as groceries arrive '41 hours late'
A Woolworths customer is fuming over a delayed online delivery — claiming their order was 41 hours late and no one contacted them about the delay.
The person — who says they are an essential worker — had been working nights for six weeks straight, leaving them with limited time to call customer service — which they say has wait times of over an hour.
The user chronicled their battle with the supermarket giant in a Reddit post, starting with eventually getting through to the customer service team after trying to communicate with the Woolworths chat bot.
"After another 40 minutes on hold, I have succeeded [in] getting through to an actual person.
"I didn't quite get her name, because I worked a 12-hour shift today and have been trying to get in touch with them for 2 hours after it, but she is very polite and seemed offended on my behalf by the issue which is an excellent sign.
"Fingers crossed lads."
No email notifying them of the delay
The frustrated shopper said they found "countless" ways on the store's website to report individual items missing in an order, but struggled to find a way to notify the grocer that they hadn't received anything yet.
Although the groceries eventually turned up 41 hours after they were meant to, the user questioned why they weren't informed.
"Their products are far too important for the lacklustre systems they have in place and need to be seriously reconsidered," they said.
A Reddit user claiming to be a Woolworth's delivery driver later responded to the post, writing they've noticed an increase in orders since lockdown began.
"[I] have noticed orders are getting bigger (used to be 2-4 totes per drop, now 5-7)", they wrote. "And runs are getting longer."
Other shoppers have also experienced delays
Shoppers are taking to social media to air their frustrations over the delays— some claiming their orders have been late and missing items.
"I strongly recommend that nobody uses Woolworths home ‘delivery’ service," one man wrote on Facebook, saying around a quarter of his order was missing.
"[I figured] it was a one-off mistake, human error etc so decided to place a second ‘real’ order which was delivered today and again a large portion of the order was missing," the man, who is a single father, continued.
Hey @woolworths I’m a new mum. We ordered a $400 grocery delivery from you to come today from Dubbo. I just woke to this and so have my neighbours. We ordered it Sunday & we can’t buy groceries from our local IGA in Gilgandra because it is closed because of a covid case!!!! pic.twitter.com/bKhHp8tdsz
— Jen Browning (@jen_browning) August 18, 2021
A Woolworths spokesperson told Yahoo News Australia they're working to meet the elevated demand for online delivery at the moment.
"Despite our best efforts, from time to time deliveries may be delayed.
"If there is a major delay we let customers know and are looking into this customer’s order to understand why they weren’t contacted.
"We make hundreds of thousands of deliveries each week and will only cancel an order in extreme circumstances, notifying the customer as soon as possible.
"If our customers have any concerns about their online delivery, we encourage them to contact our Customer Hub for assistance.
"We have since resolved these issues with both customers and apologise for their experience."
Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play.
