Woolworths shopper slams 'disgraceful' $370 Covid delivery fail

A Woolworths shopper has called the supermarket’s online order system “absolutely disgraceful” after her order wasn’t delivered without any explanation.

The shopper from Dee Why in NSW said she placed a large online order to avoid visiting the shops during the Sydney lockdown but was shocked when her order worth over $370 didn’t turn up.

The woman, who said her family had next to no food left, booked a 5pm to 8pm time slot for her groceries to be delivered.

“We are all doing the right thing during this lockdown and you have left my family with no food and taken our money,” she wrote on the supermarket’s Facebook page, alongside a photo of her nearly-empty fridge.

Explaining her online shopping ordeal, she said she had received a text message at 5.58pm advising her delivery was next in line, but an hour later nothing had been delivered.

After waiting 25 minutes on the phone to Woolworths' customer service to locate her order, she was told it wasn’t delivered because the driver “couldn’t find parking”.

“We were home with all lights on and our car in the driveway,” the woman told Yahoo News Australia.

“He said he could not find parking... but he could have pulled into my driveway and knocked on my door and I could have opened the gate for him. It’s just really unfair to just drive off when we are actually home.”

She said she was told the driver had attempted to call her three times, but she had no missed calls to her phone. She also said she was told the driver was given authority to move on to the next job by Woolworths' head office when he couldn't reach her.

“The driver did not call my mobile - he just decided it was too hard and left my family without food,” she said.

“The driver also refused to come back to our home to deliver the shopping as he was now an hour away. We spent over an hour and a half trying to get this resolved on the phone.”

Woolworths shopper 'just trying to do the right thing'

The woman told Yahoo News Australia that she and her family have been trying to do the right thing, by staying home during the Sydney lockdown and abiding by the NSW Government’s recommendations to shop online.

“We are following government guidelines and doing the right thing by staying home,” she said.

“We ordered our food on Friday and we advised the customer service representative that we were completely out of food, living off the last of our frozen supplies and our two cats were completely out of food.”

After speaking with a customer service representative the woman was told she could have her order refunded and was offered a $50 voucher.

“I advised him that our family and animals have NO FOOD. This was a $370+ food shop that was going to last us for the next week or so. I don’t want your refund and voucher. I would like my food to get delivered tomorrow,” she said.

However, she was told the earliest delivery time was three days away. A refund would also take three to five business days due to processing by banks.

“Now Woolworths has taken my money to provide a service and I can’t get my money back for up to 5 business days to do another shop,” she said.

“This is completely unacceptable, not only have you left my family without food, but you will not transfer my money back in a timely manner so I can go to the shops and buy food."

The woman said her husband have since been forced to go to the shops in person while they waited for the online order to be rescheduled.

She called on Woolworths to more compassionate to families.

"These are hard times. There are families out there that have less accessible streets than mine.

"Do they just drive off if it's 'to hard' - I'm just shocked head office told him to drive off without actually knocking on the door.

"We are all in lockdown and at home - I'm sure most streets would be a struggle with parking.”

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Woolworths responds to online order mishap

A Woolworths spokesperson told Yahoo News Australia that the supermarket made every effort to reconcile the issue and provided the family with a gift card to purchase top-up groceries while they waited for their rescheduled order.

The spokesperson said they had also waived the delivery fee for their next order.

“We understand cancelled deliveries are incredibly frustrating and have worked with the customer to resolve the issue with their order,” the spokesperson said.

“We've seen elevated demand for home delivery across different parts of Sydney over the past week.

"Despite the uptick, the vast majority of orders have been delivered to customers as scheduled. We thank our online team members and delivery drivers for all their hard work.

“We have good stock levels in NSW and continue to work round the clock to ensure food and essentials remain available for our online customers.”

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