Woolworths is under fire over a little-known refund rule on certain foods that has left some customers seeing red.
The supermarket giant has a special refund policy for home delivery and Direct To Boot customers that many may not be aware of.
The guidelines state that online shoppers are eligible for a refund if they receive fresh milk with an expiry date of five days or less and vegetables with a best before date of three days or less.
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A Woolworths spokesperson tells 7NEWS.com.au that its personal shoppers always aim to select products with appropriate expiry dates for the convenience of its customers (see full statement below).
However several Woolies shoppers have hit out at the policy, arguing that it makes it difficult for families to shop for a full week of groceries.
“Disappointed that ‘The Fresh Food People’ refund guidelines for acceptable expiry use by dates are only five days for milk and three days for salad vegetables,” said one.
“Makes it hard for families that do their shopping weekly, especially those that have to shop online.”
Another said that making school lunches for the week was also problematic.
“It’s hard to make a ‘healthy lunchbox’ when Woolworths gives you an order filled with mouldy products that’s suppose to be for your children’s school lunches and numerous products due to expire in one to three days,” the shopper said.
“And then you request a refund and have to mess around with calling Woolworths up because it’s been 12 days and still haven’t received a refund. Everytime I call I get the same response it should be the next 48 hours — well it’s been 288 hours, what’s your excuse this time?
“Not even an apology from the store I purchased the items from — seven bakery items either mouldy expired or just about to expire.
“Woolworths is beyond a joke. And customer service is even more laughable.”
7NEWS.com.au understands that the guidelines placed on some items – such as bagged salads and fresh bread – have a limited shelf life and shorter expiry dates, whether shoppers are purchasing online or in store.
Woolworths responds
A Woolworths spokesperson said team members are given strict guidelines to follow when selecting customers’ orders.
“For our online orders, our team aims to pack products with an appropriate expiry date to ensure our customers’ food stays fresher for longer,” the spokesperson said.
“We also encourage our team to pick orders as though they were shopping for themselves, particularly with fresh produce.
“If a customer receives a product that is out of date or would like to discuss their order, we encourage them to contact our customer service team to arrange a refund.”
Woolworths’ expiry date guidelines for online orders outline a minimum amount of days for use-by/expiry dates based on when an order is packed, with dates varying based on the type of product.
In addition to the guidelines, Woolworths’ online picking system has an in-built trigger that alerts its team members if they pick up a product that is too close to expiry so that they can replace this with another product with a longer expiry date.
