Yahoo Finance Elderly couple in self-isolation receive just five items from £50 online food shop
A couple forced to self-isolate to protect themselves from coronavirus were sent just five items from a £50 online food order.
Finn Teigen, 70, and wife Tina, 66, who cannot leave the house because of underlying health conditions, took the advice of their children and authorities due to Covid-19 fears.
They placed a home food order with the Co-op to get them through the quarantine period – but were left disappointed when their delivery contained just carrots, gravy granules, squash, margarine and fish sticks.
Both suffer from a variety of ailments, which puts them at a greater risk of contracting the deadly disease, and they are avoiding heading to supermarkets as a result.
Their experience comes as supermarkets across the UK announced measures to help elderly and vulnerable customers – including restricting the amount of groceries able to be purchased, as well as opening early specifically for those people.
Finn and Tina, from Lewisham, London, placed their order on 14 March but it didn't arrive until around 7pm on 17 March.
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Finn said: "They gave me two bags initially, but it wasn't mine. I shouted to Tina – there were about 10 things in there that I hadn't ordered, so we sent it back.
"Later on, all of a sudden I got a text saying: 'Your food is here'. Another man turned up and handed me a small bag – it was quite funny."
Finn and Tina spent around £48 on the order, which they say was increased to £58 for an unknown reason, and the money was taken from their account.
The total sum of the goods that they say actually arrived was around £7.
The couple have enough food remaining for the time being – although Finn joked they may have to take drastic action.
He added: "We have some stuff for a couple of days. I have some dogs which eat fresh meat – that ran out this morning.
"We are not going to starve – we will eat the dogs if we have to! It's going to be carrots and gravy for the next three days.
"Our kids live about 50 miles away – hopefully one of them is going to come up. I'm one of those people who see the funny side of everything.”
A Co-op spokesperson told Yahoo News UK: “We’re very sorry that we weren’t able to fulfil our customers full order as expected.
“The customer will receive a full refund for any items that they didn’t receive.
“We, like all retailers, are currently experiencing high demand and we are working hard to make sure we keep our stores stocked and choice available for customers.”
