Project Online Grocery Ordering: Success! (#1?)

Well, I promised an update when I finally managed to make an online grocery order all on my own, and today, that was my biggest achievement.

The lucky site was….

Emart.

As I related a while back (first here, then here), Homeplus rapidly fixed one text field on its website when Lime ranted about how I wasn’t able to register, and then was told, “Oh, sorry, nothing can be done!” and then emailed the Korean Head Office. (Suddenly a software change was possible… but it was sloppy, and while foreigners now can register at Homeplus/Tesco, they can’t actually buy anything, even on their own credit cards. I’ve emailed the Tesco Head Office in UK, and I’ll update if I get a response. You can email them too, at <>. The more people email, the more likely something will get done.)

Okay, back to Emart: I have to say, honestly, the Emart website is a little less user-friendly than the Homeplus/Tesco site. You have to really pay attention to the categories you browse, and some of the groupings seem less than, er, self-evident to me. But overall, it’s quite navigable, and you can always search stuff without a problem.

Registering at the Emart website was easy. Maybe I’ll take some screenshots if I walk some friends through it, and do an actual walkthrough. (Unless I can find one online.)

The difficult part, though, is the final page where you place the order. That took me an hour to get all the information sorted in. They asked for all kinds of stuff that the Homeplus/Tecso page didn’t ask for, like a bank account for refunds (in case something you order is out of stock) and notes for the delivery person and the recipient, I think it was. I thought I entered my address in the registration process, but I had to type it again in full to get my order placed. Yet, oh, the sweet relief when I used my 공인 인중서 and credit card to pay for the order, and it went through.

(At this stage in the ordering process with the Homeplus/Tesco website, the order would go through, the charge would be placed, and then onscreen an error report would come up and the charge would be revoked immediately. My phone buzzed a lot during that process, a text message for each charge placed or revoked.)

I’ll report back later — hopefully tomorrow night, on whether the delivery service worked all that well… you cannot reserve a specific time like with Homeplus/Tesco, but I did write a note instructing the delivery person to leave it by my door if I wasn’t home. Definitely Emart is thinking about housewives who’re supposedly home all day. (And, oddly enough, there was a checkbox at the top of the order form giving you the option not to show prices — for individual items, I presume — on your receipt. How’s that for ensuring marital bliss… or, at least, marital peace?

I have to say, in the end, that when the order went through, I felt not just relieved, but a sense of achievement. Not a great achievement, but I did something I’d never done before. I should do that sort of thing more often!

(By the way, my second-biggest achievement today? It was 120 minutes of exercise. at 9:50 am I climbed Wonmi Mountain–40 minutes to top and back down, with only a few extremely short breaks to catch my breath and dodge the mountain-sprinting grannies; in the evening, 30 minutes on the stationary bike, and 50 minutes doing weights and stretches. All in all? I’m pooped. But I feel like I did something. However, two days in a row of weights, pushing my limits, I’m up for a day off that. I think I’ll do the mountain tomorrow morning, do my classes (5 class hours tomorrow, and a few office hours), and then go for a walk (or maybe do the mountain again, or perhaps do the stationary bicycle but skip the weights, as I think from the dull ache in my arms, I’ll need to do so). And come home to my lovely groceries before my front door, if there’s any justice in the universe.

But for now, off to bed. Hopefully I won’t dream about bulb-headed Catholic aliens who take over Earth. Last night, I dreamed I’d accidentally shot an alien bishop and they were hunting for me. I was hiding out in an abandoned apartment buyilding, but with their supernatural powers, it was only a matter of time until they would catch me. I don’t know why all my dreams are so bloody weird.

6 thoughts on “Project Online Grocery Ordering: Success! (#1?)

  1. Heh, your dreams make me think of the Futurama movie I was watching last night…

    Kudos on the workout! I’m doing nothing that impressive at the moment…

    1. Futurama movie? Maybe I should search the movie for clues… I’m guessing it’s Buffy-induced, in part.

      As for the workout… thanks! I’m about to do a morning hike again. Just, you know, waking up…

  2. Thanks,

    I knew about that one, but heard the prices were radically marked up. I’ll have a look, if you’re recommending it.

    Got to update on the Emart delivery… which is very, er, scattered.

  3. I recommend it for how easy it is to order food to your door (no alcohol, though, damn their hides!)

    As for the markup, it’s no worse than CostCo is. Although, if you want free delivery, you’ll have to pay with a bank transfer. No freebies with credit card (and delivery costs make the trek to the ATM worth it).

  4. Darth,

    Thanks for the pointer. I have an ATM not far from me on campus, so it’s no big deal. Do they deliver same day, next day, or random and scattered like Emart? Wait, I’ll just look for myself when I get time.

    Thanks again!

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