Mum baffled by bizarre detail in Coles order

All the shopper wanted to do was buy snacks for her children’s lunch boxes — only to be left speechless by what arrived instead.

If you shop for groceries online, chances are you’ve received a substitution in your order.

Usually it’s for a different brand of the same item — and with supply and staff shortages due to Covid it is more than understandable.

But one mum was been left baffled when her request for bananas in her online shop with Coles was substituted … with sanitary pads.

The shopper shared photos of the mix-up on Coles’ Facebook page, explaining that she had bought the bananas for her children.

“Do I throw in some pads in the kids’ lunches? Or did the picker think I was doing something shifty with the nanas?” she joked.

The mum was stunned when she received sanitary pads as a substitution for bananas. Picture: Facebook/Coles.

They didn’t exactly work as a snack in her children’s lunch boxes. Picture: Facebook/Coles.

The mum said it wasn’t the first time she had gotten a “stupid substitute” and she had previously called to complain.

“(Coles) said I’ll still be able to get what I need, you just ask that I’m flexible with the pack size or brand,” she wrote.

“In the past I’ve gotten pork gyoza instead of prawn, chicken instead of squid. But today … this one takes the cake!”

Other shoppers saw the funny side too, with one person commenting: “They’re going to find the substitute hard to digest!”

A Coles spokeswoman told news.com.au: “Coles Online encourages customers opt in to receive substitutions so we can replace out of stock items with similar products for their convenience.

The mum was stunned when she received sanitary pads as a substitution for bananas. Picture: Facebook/Coles.

“We have looked into this customer order and identified it was a genuine human error where an incorrect product was scanned.

“The customer has been contacted and we have apologised for any inconvenience caused.”

Last October another shopper shared on TikTok the unusual substitution Woolworths had made when her preferred brand of laundry detergent was out of stock.

“For those of you who do online groceries and get your groceries delivered to you, what is the stupidest thing that you have ever been substituted?” TikTok user @laurenashley861 asked.

“I ordered laundry detergent, they didn’t have my usual laundry detergent, so this is what I got instead: Granola.

“So instead of my laundry detergent they have given me granola. I don’t even know what to say.”

Last year another shopper claimed Woolworths sent her granola instead of laundry detergent. Picture: TikTok/@laurenashley861.

Her video got hundreds of responses from shoppers, many who claimed they too had received bizarre substitutions in their online supermarket orders.

“I ordered newborn nappies and got adult Depends,” one person claimed.

Another said instead of a bag of carrots they got a “ tub of peppermint choc chip ice cream”, while one person had ordered ice cream cones, only to receive “three bottles of diet ginger ale”.

In 2020 another woman went viral on TikTok for revealing Woolies had sent her bread instead of triple-A batteries – despite her being allergic to wheat.