Online shoppers sent back to tills

Delivery delays, wrong orders and problems with the internet still make online shopping at Britain's biggest supermarkets a major headache, according to the findings of an authoritative new survey.

The "virtual shopping" experience is so fraught with difficulties that many have returned to the real-life scrum of the check-outs.

The poor verdict on internet shopping was even more damning as it came from The Grocer magazine, the retail industry "bible". It discovered major difficulties logging on to supermarket websites, incorrect orders and frequent delivery delays.

Asda came out worst of the five supermarkets surveyed but Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Tesco and Iceland all fared poorly.

The magazine's "rookie shopper" took six attempts to log on to Asda's website. Finally, after calling the helpline, the shopper was told the order would take 10 days to deliver. The Grocer said: "In Asda's case, its online shopping was a nightmare from the start."

Sainsbury's website seemed too good to be true at first. Logging on took no more than a minute and the order was completed in 18 minutes, with all items marked available and a delivery slot the next day.

True to its word, Sainsbury's delivered the groceries on time - but it was the wrong order, worth £250 rather than £50. The correct order arrived the following day - but a delivery charge was added. In addition, a number of substitutions for non-available items had been made, all of which were more expensive than the originals. A call to Sainsbury's customer care line to get a refund was met with an offer to credit a loyalty card. Only when the shopper stood firm was a refund offered.

Shopping online at Iceland was little better. Moving around the website was easy enough but, again, the delivery was "unsatisfactory", according to The Grocer. The shopper's teenage daughter was babysitting when the delivery man called and he refused to leave the beer and wine. But instead of just taking away the alcoholic goods, he took all the items away and another delivery time had to be arranged.

Net shopping with Tesco and Waitrose was satisfactory - until it came to delivery. Substitute goods were offered but not accepted by the shoppers, yet ended up in deliveries.

The Grocer's Julian Hunt said: "A lot of work has gone into getting the technological side of online shopping correct but fulfilment is often let down by the human factor."

Asda's spokeswoman said: "We're sorry The Grocer experienced difficulties and that the survey found our service poor." A Waitrose spokesman said complaints would be followed up, adding: "Our internet service is undergoing a major expansion, which we hope will deliver big improvements."

At Iceland.co.uk, a spokesman said: "The vast majority of our customers are delighted with the service."

Penny Slatter, head of marketing for Sainsbury's online, said: "We have been working hard to improve the speed and ease of use of the site."