I am hunkering down like most Malaysians. Staying at home. Washing my hands. Social distancing. I am also trying to help flatten the curve by minimising physical shopping and physical contact at supermarkets. Since the Movement Control Order (MCO) on March 18, I have been to the supermarket thrice. The pre-shop planning and post-shop sanitizing have sucked the joy, if any, of visiting supermarkets. Being the primary carer for my over 85 year old mother means I need to be extra-clean and extra-vigilant when I step out of my condo, and more so when I am in the vicinity of other people.

Shopping list on a piece of paper. Yes, the traditional way. No mobile shopping list. No need to clean the phone afterwards. Social distance as much as possible. Especially from the masked shoppers, who still appear clueless about the 2 metre rule. Bags at the ready. Credit card in hand. No handling cash.  Arrive home. Remove clothes worn to the shop. Wash with soap and wipe down all items purchased including credit card. Leave out to dry. Have a shower. Feel clean again. I am never sure if I am really clean. And, devoid of any virus or bacteria. But, this shopping rigmarole is enough to make me stay at home.

Which brings me to online delivery services. Convenience at my fingertips. Online catalogues to browse through. Time to make purchase decisions. Option to compare prices on other sites. More time to change, delete or add orders. Easy payment methods. Delivery at my doorstep. Or at least in the lobby, for now. I have ordered many things, many times and on many sites. No complaints. Until now.

I appreciate that these are unusual times. There are no events, at least none in my lifetime, which I can relate to the novel coronavirus pandemic. Covid-19 has taken over our lives. Not a day. Not an hour. Not a few minutes pass before text messages, conversations and media coverage force my attention to that one all-encompassing topic. Covid-19.

That said, this warrants a moan. My delivery service experience with Tesco Online Malaysia was novel, to say the least. Orders have jumped. Inventories are strained. Delivery slots are unavailable. Accordingly, some companies have announced delayed and suspended services. I get it. All I ask is to be kept informed so that I can manage my needs. My aging mum’s needs. And, avoid unnecessary journeys as prescribed (quite rightly) by the Government. Is that a big ask?  Briefly, I ordered 14 items from Tesco. I received 6 items. That is less than 50% of my order.

I submitted my order on March 16. Added orders were made on March 19. At the point of purchase, there was no ‘Out of stock’ or ‘Maximum units’ notifications. A delivery slot was confirmed for March 22. There was no indication from Tesco when the purchases were made, and no communication (3-6 days) thereafter to inform me that my order would not be met. No substitutes were offered.

What still irks me the most is that after ordering from Tesco I went to Cold Storage but purposely did not buy the balance 8 items including bulky items like toilet rolls and disposable household towels because Tesco had clearly acknowledged and accepted my order. And, arranged a delivery slot of 5pm-7pm to deliver the 14 items to me.

Tesco’s T&Cs state:                                                                                                What is Guide Price?[1]                                                                                                                2. Substitutions
Where the product is unavailable on the day of the delivery, the driver will bring a substitute product that you can choose to accept or decline. The price of the product is likely to be slightly different from the price of your original product.

Tesco’s driver was very polite and nice but he did not bring any substitutes as stated in Tesco’s T&Cs. Instead, I did not receive the bulk of my order.

To add insult to injury, my first email sent on March 23, with the subject – ‘Poor show by Tesco. This is a complaint. Order no: 13242-02917’ – has yet to be addressed. Instead, I received this.

Dear Valued Customer,                                                                                        Thank you for writing in.                                                                                    Please be assured that your feedback is important to us and will be addressed accordingly.                                                                                                                 We will get back to you within 3 working days.                                                    You may also call us at 1-300-13-1313 in order for us to assist you further.                                                                                                                 We are available from Monday to Sunday, 9:00AM – 11:00PM.                        
Thank you & have a pleasant day.                                                                      Tesco Helpline

I realised what a valued customer I was when I received the same response to my reminder email sent after the designated 3 working days had elapsed (March 26) and my further reminder email (March 31). These reminders, were in addition – to the telephone conversation I had with a customer service staff on March 28 – requesting that Tesco get in touch with me.

Guess what? Nothing. So much for Dear Valued Customer…