By Eryk Bagshaw
Furious shoppers have taken to social media to complain about missing Christmas hams, turkeys and seafood in their shopping orders from Australia's two largest supermarket chains, Coles and Woolworths.
The complaints have come from consumers in NSW, Victoria and Tasmania who had hoped to avoid the last minute rush on Christmas eve by ordering their groceries online.
"Thank you Coles for stuffing up my Xmas," wrote Suzanne Keys from Tasmania on the Coles Facebook page.
"Ordered a turkey last week shopping online to be delivered today, thought I was smart and all sorted, but no. I find out at the 12th hour it's not coming and we have no substitute. I will never rely on you again, thanks for nothing. Merry Christmas!"
Many popular products are 10 per cent more expensive online compared to in store. Credit: Edwina Pickles
Another disgruntled shopper, Gaby Whitley said that the situation was her "worst nightmare".
"We are entertaining our family and I wanted to be sure nothing was missing. Low [sic] and behold my worst nightmare has just come true; the Christmas ham I ordered is now not going to be delivered and we have no ham at all for our Christmas day lunch. Thanks for nothing Coles."
Many of those who had ordered online said they had hoped to avoid the crowds with their small children and had ordered their groceries up to a month in advance.
For Coles shopper Katrina Bricknell it was the second time in 12 months that online shopping system had let her down.
Pork prices aren't expected to fall this year.
"I pre-ordered my Christmas ham and for the second year in a row it has been missing. I know they're all luxury items. I wish I was able to face the Christmas crowds in the supermarket with my children (who happen to be autistic so crowds are a major issue) so I could find replacements, but that's not going to happen."
Courtney from Werribee in Victoria said that she was told by email that three key ingredients of her order were unavailable.
Woolworths Credit: Louie Douvis
"So now it's 12:40am and I can't sleep as I'm so stressed," the 28-year-old wrote. "I've been informed that the items aren't being delivered at all, no replacement."
"No Turkey for Christmas dinner."
"No Duck Fat for Christmas roast potatoes."
"No Pudding for Christmas dinner desert."
"And by the way who replaces Rosemary gravy with brown onion?? Who the heck has brown onion gravy with lamb?! Savages."
Coles' supermarket rival Woolworths has copped a similar volley of criticism. It has been accused of not including up to $150 of items from online orders
"So disappointed woollies," wrote Kristin Auguszczak. "I made an online order for Christmas to be delivered today and received an email this morning that $150 worth of my order is out of stock and with a long list of groceries I now don't have including staples such as ham, roast meat and turkey."
Other Woolworths shoppers took more creative approaches to venting their complaints. 'T'was the day before Christmas and all through the house was madness because our turkey from our online order, was sold out," wrote Sitha Dim on the company's Facebook page.
Supply shortages have also occurred in-store according to last minute shoppers.
The Coles Mount Hutton store near Newcastle ran out of fresh prawns within 20 minutes of opening according to a frustrated Kirsten Nelson.
"I asked staff last week if they would be getting enough to cater for later shoppers and was assured they would," she wrote.
"I was there at opening time of 7am and left without prawns. Do you find this acceptable for your customers to have to do this?"
A Woolworths spokeswoman said the company was aware that there have been a small number of issues and the team have been working quickly to get those items out to customers.
"With thousands of deliveries today, our online team will be doing everything they can to ensure orders are fulfilled so our customers can have a great Christmas."
A Coles spokeswoman said that the supermarket had experienced "unprecedented demand" this year.
"Coles will process a full refund for any item which is not delivered and we sincerely apologise to any customer affected," she said.