Which Supermarkets Deliver to Flats?
I live in London and this means I can’t afford to live in a house! When I moved to London 4 years ago I purchased a flat – but unfortunately it was high up in a block of flats with no lift! As I get busier I keep wanting to look into the option of getting home delivery but I’ve heard plenty of horror stories where the Supermarkets wont delivered to the flat door. If you need to do some food shopping but you live in flats and want to order online for home delivery, will the supermarkets deliver to you?
Will The Supermarkets deliver to me in a block of flats?
The short answer is yes. The long answer is ‘probably to the front door of the block of flats’ but what do the individual supermarkets themselves say about delivering your food shopping to you?
Will Sainsbury’s Deliver To My Flat?
My closest supermarket is a Sainsburys so I dropped them a message to find out whether they would deliver to my front door. Their reply pointed me to their website.
Good morning. I hope you enjoy your shopping experience with us. I’ve attached a link below with our policy on delivering to flats. This can be found under the receiving your grocery delivery section: https://t.co/0Cip52wsbP Thanks. William
— Sainsbury’s (@sainsburys) August 19, 2019
The important text on the link is as follows – I’ve added BOLD for my empasis.
So from Sainsbury’s they are committing to delivering to the communal entrance of a block of flats, but the driver, if they are invited AND they feel safe, MAY go further than the communal entrance. Not necessarily to your front door. It also says check out another section on their webpage.
Our drivers are equipped to make a reasonable adjustment to make a delivery where there are no lifts or those in place are not working, but will complete a dynamic risk assessment on each delivery to ensure it is safe and practical to make that delivery. The driver will consider any potential safety issues such as width and condition of the stairs and any risk to their personal safety.
I guess this is to cover the drivers in case they don’t feel safe. Unfortunately you have no way of knowing if a delivery WILL be successfully delivered to your front door unless you actually make an order.
I’d say a 7 out of 10 for Sainsbury’s there…better than some but room for improvement.
Will Tesco Deliver To My Flat?
A Triple-reply from Tesco! They replied as follows;-
Hi there, our drivers will delivery your order to the main entrance of the delivery address. At your request our drivers may carry your order into the address e.g , to a particular floor in an apartment block or into your kitchen. 1/3
— Tesco (@Tesco) August 19, 2019
Drivers will only do this if a. the driver has your permission and b. our driver believes that it is safe and practical to do as you request. We always reserve the right to deliver only to the main entrance of the delivery address.2/3
— Tesco (@Tesco) August 19, 2019
Our drivers safety is important, they might not be able to deliver to front doors if there is a risk to their wellbeing, e.g to many flights of stairs, steps are in poor state of repair, stairs are badly lit,or if there is a security risk.TY -Katie 3/3
— Tesco (@Tesco) August 19, 2019
They gave me the answer I needed directly, rather than point me to their website. It is the same as Sainsbury’s – they will definitely deliver to the communal entrance to the block of flats and the driver MAY deliver to the front door of the flat if there is a risk to their well-being. It does talk of having to be invited in which suggests Sainsbury’s will barge their way up the stairs with no invitation! I very much doubt that happens when they are carrying up your food shopping.
Another 7 out of 10 for exactly the same reason
Will Ocado Deliver To My Flat?
Ocado were straight and to the point.
Hi, as long as access to the building and flat is safe and secure then this will not be an issue. Our drivers are able to deliver to flats without lifts. -Richard
— Ocado (@Ocado) August 19, 2019
Thanks Richard – exactly what I wanted to hear. As long as it is safe (which it is) then the driver can deliver to the flats without lifts.
10 out of 10!
Will Morrisons Deliver To My Flat?
How different to Ocado can someone be? To start with Morrisons said they needed my postcode before they could help me. They actually asked for it three times. I’m still not sure they will deliver to my block of flats, let alone my actual front door!
I do wonder why they need the postcode to answer my question and its not clear what they do with this information and whether there are any GDPR issues in them having this data.
Will Asda Deliver To My Flat?
A simple answer from Asda, not requiring multiple tweets or me having to go looking on their website for the data.
Hi there! This shouldn’t be a problem just kindly ask the driver for a hand and he will happily help 🙂 Hope this helps – Alex
— Asda Service Team (@AsdaServiceTeam) August 20, 2019
I read this that a polite request to the driver will see them help you. I think this actually means they are more like Tesco/Sainsburys in that they will deliver to the communal entrance and MAY deliver to your front door.
Verdict – another 7 out of 10.
Will Iceland Deliver To My Flat?
Another strange reply saying they need my address before they can help. I don’t think they need my postcode, let alone my actual address. Eventually common sense prevailed.
Good afternoon,
Thanks for your reply.
I can advise that we offer a door-to-door delivery policy.
I hope this helps!
Kind regards,
Leanne and the Iceland Team.
— Iceland Foods ❄️ (@IcelandFoods) August 19, 2019
“Door-to-door” sounds like it could be a good ‘get out clause’ for Iceland so I did some digging into their Terms & Conditions
Based on this, I’m happy they are offering a true door-to-door service. Well done Iceland!
10 out of 10!
The Reverend’s Tip
Check out the cashback websites like TopCashBack or Quidco to see whether you can get cashback from your online food shopping.
The Reverend’s Final Thought with On-Line Food Shopping
You wouldn’t have thought it would be such a minefield to get this information but Morrisons have made it much harder to get the info. If you want to get your food shopping delivered to you then all the supermarkets offer a service however some are better than other.
Asda won’t deliver to your front door flat even if your disabled and there is a lift,
They said get someone else to bring it up!
Hello Jayne,
Thats not what their customer service team on Twitter said.
https://twitter.com/AsdaServiceTeam/status/1163709164889227264?s=20
You should contact them and lodge a complaint, but I guess they will say it is at the driver’s discretion.
Thanks,
The Reverend
I am vulnerable and shielding myself following the Govt policy. Asda delivery drivers have been excellent and kind to deliver it on my door step. However, today their delivery man asked me to come down and collect the delivery. I explained him that I am shielding myself and can not leave my house. He shouted at me and threatened me that he would take the delivery back and he did. He left me and my little baby without food. Now I can not go out or have any other help. I rang their customer services but no help. Such a sad experience I had with Asda. I am extremely upset and left without food.
I’m very happy with the Iceland deliveries so far. All my shopping always carried upstairs (secon floor). Most of the Tesco drivers are ok too, but I just had some very unplesant experience today, with driver demanding me to come downstairs to help him. He said, he delivered tones of stuff today, and if I will not come down, he will call his manager. Finally he did bring my shopping up, but it was not a plesant experience for me.
Asda DO NOT DELIVER TO MY 2ND FLOOR FLAT. I called and complained but they were not interested.
Oh yes they do deliver to the front door of your flat. On my 1 occasion of ordering I found that’s as far as they will go. Our front door to kitchen is like 6 metres so I humped the bags whilst he stood there. The driver has a trolley and I have arms and legs to do the donkey work. We are in a private block with a lift to the 3rd floor. Was NOT impressed at all by Asda’s attitude to Covid19 – they will NOT cross the threshold!
I am disabled and have limited mobility, the Asda driver just dumped my shopping at the front door of the communal entrance,
As I have limited mobility I was unable to carry it up the stairs so rung them and asked them to recollect, 4 hours later it is still there
Asda= Disgraceful service, only booked because Tesco slots are full + Tesco always carry to the front door of my flat.
Never Again Asda
As a delivery driver myself I can speak for most of my colleagues that we can only deliver to flats with a working lift. However we will try to help were we can and if it is a case of carrying a few bags up a few stairs that’s not normally a problem. However expecting a driver to make numerous journeys up and down many flights of stairs is a definite no no !
Iceland will only deliver to the communal entrance.
Iceland deliver to me and I am three-up without a lift.
Ocado drivers make a ‘risk assessment’ also, and will not deliver past the communal entrance if they deem it unsafe. This can even be due to their own long or short-term health issues, which they don’t have to divulge…they will just tell you they are not coming in. Unfortunately drivers are using this to avoid delivering to places like the 3rd flooof a building, even if they just don’t feel like it. I’ve had big arguments with a couple of Ocado drivers over them dumping my shopping on the pavement outside the building and telling me to come get it! It seems all of the supermarkets have an ‘out’ clause for their drivers, so delivery to the 3rd floor is a hit and miss affair to say the least.
Hi James,
I’m currently ‘trialing’ Ocado and so far they have been happy to carry them up the stairs. Ocado also deliver in bags and this makes the delivery much quicker than the Sainsbury’s deliveries we had.
From contacting all the supermarkets it was clear they did give their drivers a get-out clause but, out of the 100+ deliveries we have had in the past couple of years, perhaps less than 10 have refused to bring them upstairs.
I’ve yet to ‘argue’ with the delivery guy but if they dumped my shopping on the pavement then I think I’d refuse the delivery and take it up with the supermarket directly.
Thanks,
The Reverend
Awesome article; I’m looking for a supermarket to my mother who is elderly and lives on the 2nd floor of a flat. She has Parkinson’s so even one delivery not taken to her door is a fail so everyone’s actual customer feedback is really good to see. Thank you 🙂
Hi Cate,
Glad you found it helpful.
Currently I’m trialling Ocado and they have been the best so far for delivering to my front door.
Thanks,
The Reverend