However when Tesco's offered me the chance to do a free shop in order to review the process - well I quickly got over my embarrassment.
I sat down to do the order on Monday afternoon. I had a one hour gap before the next school run which seemed ample to complete my task - especially as I had my shopping list already prepared beside me.
Forty-five minutes later I still hadn't finished and I was starting to panic. Could I leave it as it was and come back to it? Or would all my purchases evaporate into the online ether? <Answer: yes you can leave it and come back and no it won't dissapear>
I didn't know offhand so I panic bought some extra bits, forgot a heap of others and quickly booked a delivery slot that suited me. There were some remaining slots for the next day (Tues), most costing €5 and lots for Weds costing either €4 or €5. All delivery slots are in two hour sections and I picked the 4pm - 6pm one.
Of course I knew from previously using the service that it's the first shop that takes the longest. Once you have made that first shop all those food choices appear in your account so it's easy to just select all or some of them again and then build your shop from there.
On Wedsnesday at 4.30 our lovely delivery man Peter arrived at the door bearing boxes of gift. He took the time to introduce himself and explain how everything worked including what happened if they didn't have something in stock, and made sure we were happy with everything before he left.
One thing I would say is that you have to be fully aware when doing your online shop - I ended up with some incorrect sizes of things as I hadn't paid full attention to what I was choosing. I also got a load of bananas that were completely ripe - rather than some ripe and some almost ripe - as I would have chosen myself. My only other gripe was that when I tried to order fillets of fish it wouldn't allow me to select, say 4 fillets - it was done by weight and if I put in '4' it ended up adding about €36 worth of salmon to my basket. Maybe this was me being a bit thick (it has been known to happen) but if it bamboozled me I'm pretty sure there are others that would be in the same position.
Pros: No petrol costs, no lugging three annoying kids around the supermarket, no temptations or 'I'll just pick up this bargain seeing as it's half price and I really don't need it'.
Cons: Cant select your own fruit and veg, easy to choose incorrect item, issues ordering fresh fish.
If you'd like to try out the service for yourself now's a great time to. Tesco are offering Irish customers €12 off their first shop with Tesco online. Here's the details.
€12 off when you spend €60 or
more on your first online grocery shop at Tesco.ie
eCoupon code: RXXLKTR
Offer end date: 11th
August 2013
Full terms and conditions can be
found at www.tesco.ie/groceries
Disclosure: I was provided with a voucher for this online shop in exchange for this review.
Disclosure: I was provided with a voucher for this online shop in exchange for this review.
