Coles Reviews 

One star – total breakdown of delivery and customer care

This was my first ever order with Coles Online and my first experience as a Coles Plus member. It failed at every level.

My delivery was booked for 6:30–7:30pm. The order never arrived. There was no SMS, no app update, no email, no call. I waited at home assuming it was delayed.

I only learned the order had been returned to the store and effectively cancelled because I rang Coles myself after 9pm. If I hadn’t called, I would still have had no idea what happened.

The order included essential items and my dinner for that night. I am currently injured and unable to leave home, which I explained. As a direct result of Coles’ failure, I was left without food or essentials, despite my card being charged.

Customer service was just as poor:

No ownership of the failure

No urgency

No confirmed redelivery

Told refunds required “store approval”

Offered a $20 goodwill credit, which was insulting given the impact

The “priority customer care” advertised with Coles Plus simply does not exist. I had to chase every update myself and still received no meaningful resolution.

This was not a delay or a small error — it was a complete failure of delivery, communication, and customer support.

I cancelled my Coles Plus membership immediately.
I would not recommend Coles Online to anyone who relies on delivery for essentials.

Honestly, reasonable store with diverse range of reasonably priced products. However I bought some beef strips for a stir fry and I would have preferred to have cooked a pair of thongs. Tasteless and as tough as leather. Coles, you would be better of selling your meat in the shoe department. Atrocious produce.

Came into the store do a normal review the staff there are terrible they have NO customer service skills at all. DONT shop in Coles New Farm for customer service its a terrible store

Coles easy made meals Thai curry chicken pork meatballs .
I tried this product it actually surprised me . Just add coconut cream bake served with lemongrass chilli jasmine rice or basmati. Flavour was incredible just enough spicy heat fir whole family. I buy this every week except it neen out stock in shepparton since I purchased it 2months ago . Coles please restock this item. Clearly a winner against other meals that always in stock. This one winner so quick easy for midweek meal

It's not right for Coles front line operator to have to bear the brunt of management decisions that is leading to them facing highly irate customers.
Coles seems to be trying an experiment at one northern Sydney store - operating with a few staff as possible.
This has, as is to be expected has led to customers all flocking downstairs to Woolies.
When however you do end up in Coles, there is one person herding the occasional customer to self serve and one for a que of trolleys full of goods.
After some 8 minutes the que moves by one person. The whole que wave their heads at each other at the woeful operation,Each upset person in turn takes it out on the operator. The manager actually wanders past looking hugely busy (maybe making sure online orders are filled by the oldest stock possible) keeping his head well down to notice the snafu in front of his eyes. The wide eyed youngster trying to keep smiling
An absolute waste of an extra 1/2 an hour.

Prices on basics reduced for a week. Eg milk 3.20 for a week and locked in at 3.60 there after. Every product in their stores is inflated giving fake discounts as if it were cheaper.
Almost every customer does self check out saving these pirates billions and never ever can you scan and leave without an issue requiring a staff member assessing your purchase and logging in to keep you checking out.
No option but to buy paper bags at 25 cents a bag to save the environment allthough 90 % of your purchases are wrapped or packaged in plastic.
A total piss take.
The customer pays to check out, save the planet do what we expect and claim they adore the customer

Coles Self-Serve: When Mistakes Cost You, and Coles Still Wins
Coles promotes its self-serve checkout system as convenient and efficient — but only if you're scanning perfectly. I accidentally scanned a large pack of toilet paper twice. No alert, no lockout, no supervisor prompt. The system was happy to overcharge me without question. But if you need to remove an item or fix a mistake? You’re locked out and waiting for staff.
It’s clear: when the error benefits Coles, it goes through. When it doesn’t, the system shuts down.
Then there’s the 25¢ paper bags — weak, unreliable, and still your responsibility. You’re paying to carry home plastic-wrapped groceries in bags that often tear before you get through the door. We scan, we pack, we pay extra — and Coles profits from every step.
Coles Group net profits:
• 2016–2020: approx. $4.9 billion (averaging nearly $980 million per year)
• 2021: $1.005 billion
• 2022: $1.048 billion
• 2023: $1.098 billion
So yes, I can see who’s really happy with the current setup — and it’s not the customer.

Marked as "SPECIAL" ... Oral B 3D toothpaste - 2 for $28. Woolies, Chemist Warehouse - $7.95 each. HOW DISGUSTING. STILL advertising specials that ARE NOT. Product actually marked up 400%. Never shop Coles again ...

We ordered on coles and paid 5 dollars extra for priority. We went to collect. Waited there for an hour and then they had nothing no compensation no refund nothing. worst app ever. What they had to say that there is technical glitch. Support of on call said they can’t do anything just cancel the order. The app showed order confirmed and sent to store. Really annoying and wasted my 3 hours.

Bad Experience, overpriced

I place an order through the Coles app for delivery. When the order arrived, close to $200 worth if items were missing. I called the customer care, after 40 minutes on hold, I was assured the order will be delivered within an hour. Almost 2 hours later. Still no delivery. I called again and another 30 minutes waiting, I was told the store is closed, to call back the next day. I called back before 8am in the morning to follow up again. Another 30 minute wait. Then told again the order will be delivered within the hour. Here by 9h30 still no order. So I called again, as I have to get to work. Then I confirmed that I can go collect it from Coles Firle. I get there, and nobody knows anything about it. The poor lad at Coles Firle had to deal with my frustrations. He called customer care and found the order is at Coles Newton. Then I was told to go collect my order there. Absolute worst customer service I have ever experienced. I dont know about you, but $200 of groceries, fruit, veg and meat is a lot in my household. Coles doesn't seem to care of the impact this has on a family with 2 kids. Its 4h20pm and I have still not received my order.

This review is about Coles Credit Cards, recent change to a new app failed too many complaints about people unable to login & use their under the new app. I tried to call customer service 1hr 45mins still no body could service me. Real joke time to refinance it elsewhere.

The online deliveries have been made faster and they now have free deliveries for online orders over $50 which is great for pensioners and low income earners. The delivery drivers have been very supportive and courteous to me recently

I ordered 2x 8 packs of toilet paper for half price in a $100 online order, I went to change my order 20 minutes later to add aspirin to the order and in spite of the fact that they put into their own agreement to give the same or better priced replacement when they don't stock an item that is ordered, they instead just went ahead and told me that I must buy a more expensive brand, this goes against their own terms and conditions - greedy Coles...

Update: The order has just arrived the lettuce has what looks like mold in the leaves, it rains sand when I pick it up and the same bag it came in has what appears to be milk all over the zucchinis and yogo tubs, I wish I there was an option to upload the photos I took of them for this review, disgusting!

I bought Coles non stick baking paper 30m x 30cm.
Disaster. After carefully scraping the pizza topping off the non stick paper with an egg flip alot of the topping was still attached to the paper. Hardly non stick!
Would upload a picture if I could find an option to do that.

most of the order fine but fruit wasn't as fresh as I expected

Joined Coles Plus at a fee of $7 purely to use Coles offered 10% off one grocery shop.

Coles took a "hold" amount with the online order. Their process is then to charge the actual amount you spent and you won't be charged the full holding amount if it's less. (Minus discounts, minus items out of stock etc.) However they then say if the full hold amount is actually charged, they will refund the difference upon finalising your order ...

Except when they don't.

The difference between the hold and my actual shop was $41.76.

I've used messaging service (chat) twice and they blamed my bank, saying they would be withholding my refund. They referred me on to my banking institution.

I then called my bank who, as I anticipated, were able to confirm there was no money from Coles pending. They have started a formal investigation which can take 25 working days to be resolved.

Next I contacted PayPal who assured that the amount of $41.76 was being held up by Coles who had not authorised the release of the additional held funds with PayPal. They told me PayPal can do nothing until these funds expire after 30 days if Coles won't release them.

Called Coles back - and surprise surprise - after me telling them I have spoken to PayPal and know what's going on, for the first time in 3 communications with them, they suddenly are capable of explaining the hold up of funds in PayPal - information they were not able to offer me in full transparency in my 2 previous contacts with them.

PayPal told me to ask Coles to speak with someone authorised to release a pending PayPal authorisation. Coles say they have no way of doing this. 🙄

So by the time this settles, I will have waited over a month for my "hold" amount excess of $41.76 to be released, not by any effort on Coles behalf to move my funds sitting in their PayPal account, but by a PayPal review, because Coles are given that grace time of 30 days before PayPal can step in.

I wonder how many shoppers this happens to?

If Mr coles wants me to scan my groceries myself stop telling your staff to do the heavy drinks. I don't mind them offering to help but I very strongly dislike when they just do it or make a move to grab my stuff. Find another way to prevent theft Mr Coles

Jacks prices up multiple times a year on some products.

Coles has mastered the art of overcharging for garbage-quality products while giving customers the service level of a wet mop. Shelves are empty half the time, the “fresh” produce looks like it’s been through a war, and the staff — when you can find one — act like you’re interrupting their day by existing. Self-checkouts are always glitching, lines move slower than dial-up internet, and management clearly couldn’t care less. They’ll happily take your money but don’t expect them to deliver on quality, value, or basic human decency. Coles isn’t a supermarket — it’s a depressing, overpriced obstacle course designed to test your patience.