I just wanted to throw in my 2+ cents about Vons and their delivery service, for those who haven't ordered from them in the past.
I'm a longtime Vons delivery customer (for the last decade or more -- basically, as long as they've been in the delivery business in my specific area). Just last week I received my 115th delivery from them (they gave me a free coffee drink and a reusable bag for my 100th order, to commemorate the occasion!
) -- and actually I think I've ordered more times than that, but their system was not logging the number of orders in the early, early days.
Anyway, that being said, while I have tons of experience with Vons and their deliveries at home, I have never ordered from them while visiting DLR. I've never stayed a long enough time to justify it in my mind, especially when I knew I'd probably be getting a Vons delivery at home the next week.
On my most recent DLR holiday trip in December 2013, that was the first time when I really wished I had ordered something because I stayed several nights and I found myself eating in the hotel room a lot. I wished I had some bananas and other healthy snacks to munch on during mid-day breaks and what not. So if I should find myself staying that long (or longer) again in the future, I just might cave in and order Vons to be delivered at the hotel.
As for Vons' service and the quality of their delivered items -- again, I've never experienced the delivery service in Anaheim but, as a rule, it differs. The items may arrive in perfect condition...or they may arrive banged up and in bad shape. It really depends on who is doing the shopping for your items and selecting the products; how the items are handled when they are loaded onto the truck; who is delivering them to you; what kind of stock the store actually has on hand that day; which store your items are coming from, etc. In addition, some stores that handle deliveries are just better than others overall.
I have ordered many baked goods, fruits and veggies, frozen items, beverages, meats, etc., over the years, and I have received some deliveries where things were leaking all over the other items. I've received banged up produce (just last week they brought me two bags of onions -- one of which had a huge hole in it and the onions dropped out of it when I lifted it up; and the other bag contained an onion that was half-rotted away). I've received bottles of hand soap that had clearly been opened and used. I've received loaves of bread that were expired. I've received boxes of frozen chicken, crackers and pizza that were completely open on one end!
One time they brought me a bottle of Motrin that was thoroughly doused in Dole pineapple-orange-banana juice. When I tried to get my money back on that one, claiming that I would not have bought the bottle of Motrin in the store if I'd seen it in that condition, the customer service guy said "But were the actual pills damaged in any way? Can you still use those? Or was it just the box that was damaged?"
I had to argue with him to get my refund, but I got it.
For a while I was having major problems with every single Vons order, until things finally smoothed out a bit after a few years. On the other hand, I've also received many, many items that were in perfect condition and deliveries that had no issues or problems at all. But it does seem to be very hit-or-miss, depending on the people behind the scenes -- the ones involved in shopping, ringing up the order, loading the truck and delivering.
Overall, though, I love the Vons delivery service and it has been extremely helpful and valuable to me. It gets a big
from me! Some of the online deals are amazing (using their Vons Club prices, their online only promo code offers
and their "
Just For U" personalized sales and coupons -- all of which can be combined and used together, at the same time, by the way, so you can essentially get 2 or 3 different price cuts at once, on certain items, if you are a savvy shopper!).
Vons is really the only full-service, major grocery store that delivers such a wide array of products to my area (and to other areas of SoCal) at this time, especially since Albertsons stopped delivering a few years ago. Kroger/Ralphs have not jumped into the delivery game yet, though I have a feeling they will sooner or later. There are smaller delivery services (Pink Dot and Yummy come to mind) that offer much
less of a variety for much
more money. And Bristol Farms has even gotten into the delivery game now, but their prices are usually not as good as Vons and they don't have the same great sales/discounts.