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Some Morrisons customers have still not received their Christmas orders after the supermarket experienced what it calls “system issues” on Monday.
One customer told the BBC she was waiting for groceries worth around £200, another said he was struggling to get answers from the company.
It follows chaotic scenes at what is the UK's fifth largest supermarket on December 23 – the biggest shopping day of the year – during which deliveries were canceled and promotional discounts not applied.
Morrisons has apologized and insisted deliveries are returning to normal, but is yet to reveal the cause of the problems despite repeated requests from the BBC.
'In limbo'
A Morrisons customer in Worcestershire, who did not wish to be named, pays for a delivery pass which gives her priority access to busy slots such as at Christmas.
An hour before her delivery slot Monday evening, she received a text message saying the delivery had been delayed.
As of Tuesday morning, she still had not heard from Morrisons and had not received the delivery.
“I don't know if my order is coming or not,” she told BBC News. “So I’m really lost.”
The customer had an order worth around £200 and had been saving up vouchers throughout the year to bring it down to £100.
She says the lack of communication left her “in the dark.”
“I could go out today and spend £200, then come home and Morrison would arrive with £200 worth of groceries,” she adds.
“The complete lack of communication is the biggest thing, because you can’t come up with a plan B, and you can’t plan for Christmas Eve.”
The problems began early Monday morning, when customers who had ordered for Christmas began receiving emails announcing their deliveries would be delayed or canceled.
Then, when the stores opened, customers in-store found that their vouchers were not accepted at checkouts.
In response, Morrisons applied a 10% discount to members of its More Card loyalty program and applied further discounts to non-More Card holders.
“Today the Morrisons store experience has returned to normal, but all More Card customers will still enjoy 10% off their entire in-store store throughout the day,” said the supermarket to BBC News on Tuesday morning.
He added: “Click and collect and home deliveries are operating as normal. We are determined not to disappoint any customers this Christmas.”
Another Morrisons customer, Matthew Welch from Northumberland, had his delivery canceled yesterday morning.
He said the manager he spoke to when he called was “less than helpful.”
Matthew told BBC News: “The manager had said he would have to wait until the problem was resolved and then he would come back to me, which he didn't do.”
He added: “I have since discovered that four other people in the village where I live also had their Christmas deliveries canceled yesterday.”
The BBC spoke to two other people in Northumberland whose deliveries were canceled yesterday.
Morrisons insists these cancellations were separate from the main “system issues” but does not want to go into detail.
Mr Welch ended up buying his groceries locally, but was given no information regarding his Morrisons order.
“Especially for the Christmas slots, you book them six to eight weeks in advance, and there's really no excuse to cancel on the day of delivery,” he says.
“I'm going to change supermarkets, but I won't use Morrisons for anything in the world,” he adds.
“Will not be forgotten”
Consumer expert Kate Hardcastle says the supermarket chain must be honest and transparent with its customers.
“It's something that won't soon be forgotten in the new year,” she told the BBC.
“I think it's about trying to get involved, doing whatever they can, being very honest about it,” she adds.
She says the way supermarkets use loyalty programs has changed in recent years, from offering points to offering discounts to members.
“If we want to see retailers implement these systems where you can only access a certain price point through these programs, then you definitely need to make sure they're watertight,” she says.
“Our grocery stores are built on existing IT systems that can really be impacted at sensitive times of the year…it's about trying to figure out, in the new year, how they can actually work with their loyal customers to compensate for this.”
