Morrisons Christmas Order Disruptions Persist for a Second Day

Some Morrisons customers experienced additional delays with their Christmas orders, more than 24 hours after the supermarket reported what it termed “systems issues” on Monday. One customer informed the BBC that she was left awaiting approximately £200 worth of groceries, while another stated he struggled to obtain answers from the company regarding his Christmas shopping. These events followed a period of disarray at the UK’s fifth largest supermarket on 23 December, which was the year’s busiest day for grocery shopping, and involved cancelled deliveries and unapplied discounts. Morrisons has issued an apology and asserts that deliveries have returned to normal, but it has not yet disclosed the cause of the problems despite repeated inquiries from the BBC. “Today the Morrisons store experience is back to normal, but all More Card customers will still get 10% off their whole shop instore throughout the day,” the supermarket told BBC News on Tuesday morning. It added: “Click and Collect and Home Deliveries are working as normal. We are determined not to let a single customer down this Christmas.” A Morrisons customer in Worcestershire, who chose not to be identified, received a text message on Monday indicating her delivery had been delayed. By early Tuesday morning, she had still not received any communication from Morrisons nor her delivery. The customer’s order was valued at approximately £200, which she had reduced to £100 by saving vouchers throughout the year. She described the lack of communication as leaving her “in limbo,” contemplating whether to “go [out] today and spend £200 and then come home and Morrison’s turn up with £200-worth of shopping,” She eventually received her order later on Tuesday. The issues began early on Monday morning, when customers who had placed Christmas orders started receiving emails notifying them that their deliveries would be delayed or cancelled. Subsequently, upon the opening of stores, in-store customers discovered that their vouchers were not being accepted at the tills. In response, Morrisons applied a 10% discount for members of their More Card loyalty scheme and offered other discounts for non-More Card holders. Matthew Welch, another Morrisons customer in Northumberland, had his delivery cancelled on Monday morning. He stated that the manager he spoke to when he telephoned was “less than helpful.” Matthew told BBC News: “The manager had said that he needed to wait until the problem was fixed and then he would come back to me, which he did not.” He added: “I have since discovered that another four people in the village where I live have also had their Christmas deliveries cancelled yesterday as well.” The BBC also spoke to two other individuals in Northumberland whose deliveries were cancelled yesterday. Morrisons maintains that these cancellations were separate from its primary “systems issues” but declined to provide further details. The company has also not explained what caused the problems with its systems. Mr. Welch ultimately purchased his groceries locally. “I’ll be swapping to another supermarket, but I won’t use Morrisons again for anything,” he said. Since this story was published, Morrisons has contacted Mr. Welch with an offer to deliver the order and add points to his card. Consumer expert Kate Hardcastle suggests that the supermarket chain needs to be more transparent with its customers about what has occurred. “It’s something that will be not very quickly forgotten into the new year,” she told the BBC. “I think it’s about trying to lean in, doing as much as they can, being very honest about it,” she adds. The manner in which supermarkets utilize loyalty schemes has evolved in recent years, shifting from offering points to providing discounts for members. “If we’re going to see retailers implement these systems where you can only access a certain price through the schemes, then you absolutely have to make sure they’re watertight,” she says. “Our grocery stores, they are built on legacy IT systems which can really get impacted at sensitive times of year… it’s about trying to understand into the new year how they can really work with their loyal customers to make up for this.”