Sainsbury’s and Tesco technical issues: Supermarket CEO apologises after glitch hits online food deliveries

Confused Sainsbury’s customers were seen having heated discussions with staff as they queued up outside cash machines

Sainsbury’s technical glitch leaves customers unable to pay by contactless

The Sainsbury’s CEO has apologised to customers after thousands were left without food orders when the supermarket was hit by a software glitch impacting contactless payments.

Sainsbury’s said a technical glitch had affected its ability to fulfil the vast majority of online deliveries today, as customers slammed the supermarket’s “bad service”.

In an email sent to customers, the supermarket’s chief Simon Roberts said he really understood how inconvinient the disruption was and promised the supermarket was resolving the issue.

“I hope this message gives you the information you need for now and I want to give you my personal ressurance that our teams are doing everything we can to fix this issue as quickly as we can,” he said.

Tesco also said it was working to fix a technical issue which had affected a small proportion of orders set to be delivered on Saturday.

Sainsbury’s page on X was inundated on Saturday with customer complaints their orders had not arrived, or had been delayed.

Retired teacher Iain Sankey claimed the East Dulwich branch had no internet and only accepted cash when he visited on Saturday morning.

Key points

• Software error causing issues, Sainsbury’s says
• Orders cancelled due to technical glitch, Tesco says
• Sainsbury’s customers slam ‘bad service’

[16 March 2024 19:00 · Athena Stavrou]

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Sainsbury’s said it has resolved the technical issues that saw many customers unable to use card payments and receive their online orders.