Ocado start to cheese me off....

Spark

I am trying to get one product that is only available at Christmas, and it's 3 times I have ordered it. First time they substituted it, and I have rejected the substitution, next time they just didn't delivered it, this time they have once again substituted it with the same product that I've refused the first time. The product was described yesterday as "available for orders made friday after 6am". So I was in for it to be available for this evening delivery.
I always check the day before that all items in my deliveries are still available, as the availability might have changed from the day my ocado deliveries are created. So, three times ordering the same "available" product, three times not delivered. I have the same problem with another product, this one is also only available at Christmas.
I've never had so many problems getting what I need in the past, it's like they have underestimated the demand or is it because I have just signed another year for the delivery pass and now I am at the back of the queue for goods that are scarce?
I really start to be cheesed off now, :mad:if I don't get what I need this year I will cancel my delivery pass and go elsewhere (waitrose looks more and more like a good alternative).

Phew!, I feel better now.

I feel I had a better service before I sign up for a delivery pass, one and a half years ago. They used to give a reduction in the price of your delivery and sometimes a bottle of wine in your next delivery if there were any problem with it, like if they were running late or had warehouse problems and needed to redeliver another day. It happened a few times this year (it never used to), but there were no reduction on anything, just a verbal apology.
Something has definitively changed. Maybe it's time for me to move........

shar46y

We are finding Ocado are not as good in terms of product range and availability as they used to be. We've been with them pretty much since they started up, I think 2003/4?

At first the range was not that big, but it expanded nicely over the years and we were more than satisfied with them. But in recent times (the past year maybe?) the range has shrunk again, quite a lot of pretty basic products we used to buy from them are no longer available and we end up having to pop into a supermarket to get them which is annoying as we used Ocado to avoid having to go to a supermarket in our leisure time.

We moved house a while ago and are now in a Waitrose delivery area, so it might be time to switch.

Ali_UK

Is it by any chance a Heston hidden orange christmas pudding? I've long suspected the staff snap them up (have a look on ebay, is comical!)

We use Ocado at work and they are NEVER on time, some of the substitutions are hilarious (well at least they give us a laugh on a Monday morning!) and the drivers insist on changing our delivery instructions every week - we've asked customer services to sort it but they keep trying to deliver to the wrong side of the building (not a huge deal unless you want to be charged a few thousand pounds for a broken marble step!).

I think we should make a move, I'm going to check if Waitrose will deliver, or we might even swap to Sainsburys....I've not been feeling the Ocado love for some time...

Spark

I have the same feeling, before I would praise them for their excellent customer service and there were rarely any missing items. Since the beginning of the year, missing items are becoming a regular feature, they had a warehouse problem a few times where I had to have my order redelivered two days later, I had late deliveries at 23:00 because they were running late (not good when you have to wake up at 4:30 to go to work) and that seems to happen more on monday nights, so I tried moving to saturday mornings, the missing items became more numerous and frequent, now I have moved to friday night, not too bad usually, but now I have problems getting my Christmas stuff.
Last year, Waitrose wasn't delivering in my area, but I've checked again a couple of months ago and now they do. The problem is that the shop that serve my area is a smallish one, so I won't have as many choices as if it was a bigger one. But they have products that I use to take in other shops and Ocado don't have.

vyle

out of interest, would this tie into the time that john lewis/waitrose sold their share in them?

flossy_splodge

Had an Ocado delivery for the first time yesterday as a gift from DD and was rather taken aback that when the delivery driver found the bottle of Appletiser had been leaking, he asked 'would you like to accept it anyway'????? :rotfl::rotfl:Sorry??

My DD however uses them a lot in London and seems to rate them so maybe it is affected by where you live?:rotfl:

Spark

I don't think it would affect me more than your DD because of the location, as the goods must be coming from the same depot.
I use to rate them highly two years ago, I would never have thought of changing, and I am quite understanding if something happens, like snow, the van can break down, exceptional shortage of staff, or just "one of those days" where everything seems to go wrong etc.....
It's when it's happening too often that I start to get cheesed off.
And I thought of those sales of shares this year, and that maybe it is related to that, but it doesn't seem to have improved since then.
Sometimes the problem is just a change of management. Put the wrong person at the wrong place, and everything goes downhill.
I am just wondering if the fact that you are tied up to a delivery pass don't have an influence about how you are prioritised, very easy to put a little note on the computer about customers, maybe I should call them and make a fuss every time something happens, and I would have a better service.
I had my delivery last night, I told the driver to tell them to stop sending me that substitute as it is not what I want.
Another thing was missing but I always got some in advance, just in case, so that's not too bad.
The product I am trying to get didn't show out of stock yesterday afternoon, it didn't show out of stock last night after I had my delivery, and it doesn't show out of stock now neither. So what are they playing at?
Something else bugs me, why is it that on every other groceries website you can chose at least whether you want a substitution or not, but not on the ocado website? Maybe it's time for them to upgrade their website too.

gregg1

Spark wrote: »

I am trying to get one product that is only available at Christmas, and it's 3 times I have ordered it. First time they substituted it, and I have rejected the substitution, next time they just didn't delivered it, this time they have once again substituted it with the same product that I've refused the first time. The product was described yesterday as "available for orders made friday after 6am". So I was in for it to be available for this evening delivery.
I always check the day before that all items in my deliveries are still available, as the availability might have changed from the day my ocado deliveries are created. So, three times ordering the same "available" product, three times not delivered. I have the same problem with another product, this one is also only available at Christmas.
I've never had so many problems getting what I need in the past, it's like they have underestimated the demand or is it because I have just signed another year for the delivery pass and now I am at the back of the queue for goods that are scarce?
I really start to be cheesed off now, :mad:if I don't get what I need this year I will cancel my delivery pass and go elsewhere (waitrose looks more and more like a good alternative).

Phew!, I feel better now.

I feel I had a better service before I sign up for a delivery pass, one and a half years ago. They used to give a reduction in the price of your delivery and sometimes a bottle of wine in your next delivery if there were any problem with it, like if they were running late or had warehouse problems and needed to redeliver another day. It happened a few times this year (it never used to), but there were no reduction on anything, just a verbal apology.
Something has definitively changed. Maybe it's time for me to move........

We have used ocado for five or six years and have recently stopped shopping with them. For quite a while they were excellent compared to other home delivery companies but we got fed up with items which were in stock at the time of ordering but did not turn up with no substitutions or substitutions which cost a lot more.

We too only noticed this change when we signed up for the delivery pass. We have also had ongoing problems with bad packing where items have been squashed, leaked or broken. Services has certainly deteriorated.

It has been in the press recently about them experiencing delivery problems.

upsadaisy

Ocado are experiencing problems in their warehouse. Basically the equipment is over used and cannot cope. Also they treat their employees shockingly bad and I suspect this leads to the poor packing we are seeing of late.

Though employees would not be able to get their hands on any products before the customer. They cannot remove anything from the warehouse or purchase.

Spark

I got my stuff today, fourth time lucky. I had to make 2 extra orders in the last 2 weeks to arrive to get them. (My stubbornness will kill me one day). Maybe the fact that I said something to the driver has done something.
I think I will avoid Ocado for my Christmas shopping next year, obviously they can't cope.
Has the attitude towards Ocado employees changed since they sold their shares? Are they more under pressure now because they need to make a profit for the shareholders?
If the service to the customers deteriorate, they will lose customers and lose money, and now that Waitrose have become a direct competitor, that's adding to their problem.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/sep/19/ocado-shares-plunge-waitrose-competition

frivolous_fay

shar46y wrote: »

We are finding Ocado are not as good in terms of product range and availability as they used to be....
At first the range was not that big, but it expanded nicely over the years and we were more than satisfied with them. But in recent times (the past year maybe?) the range has shrunk again, quite a lot of pretty basic products we used to buy from them are no longer available and we end up having to pop into a supermarket to get them which is annoying as we used Ocado to avoid having to go to a supermarket in our leisure time.

I'm with you there. Random items that we used to buy have mysteriously vanished from our favourites, and their website. EG. we can no longer get bog standard arborio rice - we have to buy the organic version! Er, no thanks... my bill's high enough already!

It's finally starting to grate on me as well that I can only buy a pack of lemons when I only need one - all in all, definitely time to switch.