Online shopping delivery slots during crisis

Splints1

I have always done my online shopping through Ocado and have also paid £49.99 for a smart pass, which effectively covers all delivery costs for 6 months at a time plus a few other benefits. My latest smart pass was renewed on 18th March for the usual £49.99 but when I tried to book a delivery slot the next day it quickly became clear that I won’t be getting any online shopping for a very long time and will have to go out to the shops instead. So I asked Ocado to refund me the smart pass cost which they did. However, almost simultaneously, they sent me an email saying that they were going to prioritise delivery slots for the vulnerable, NHS workers followed by their smart pass members.
I therefore asked them to reinstate my smart pass membership and now mysteriously it is £59.99! 

A 20% hike in the price can’t be an annual inflation linked rise so hopefully it is just pure coincidence that this has happened during this crisis and Ocado aren’t trying to profit even more from people’s misfortune?

itm2

paullinter said:

I have always done my online shopping through Ocado and have also paid £49.99 for a smart pass, which effectively covers all delivery costs for 6 months at a time plus a few other benefits. My latest smart pass was renewed on 18th March for the usual £49.99 but when I tried to book a delivery slot the next day it quickly became clear that I won’t be getting any online shopping for a very long time and will have to go out to the shops instead. So I asked Ocado to refund me the smart pass cost which they did. However, almost simultaneously, they sent me an email saying that they were going to prioritise delivery slots for the vulnerable, NHS workers followed by their smart pass members.
I therefore asked them to reinstate my smart pass membership and now mysteriously it is £59.99! 

A 20% hike in the price can’t be an annual inflation linked rise so hopefully it is just pure coincidence that this has happened during this crisis and Ocado aren’t trying to profit even more from people’s misfortune?

I was planning to cancel my Asda delivery pass (which auto-renews monthly), as it's effectively useless at the moment, but am now wondering whether Asda might do something similar.
???

Debran

itm2 said:

I was planning to cancel my Asda delivery pass (which auto-renews monthly), as it's effectively useless at the moment, but am now wondering whether Asda might do something similar.
???

Me too, though I won't hold my breath.

Lanzarote1938

How do you get registered for online shopping as vulnerable? We are both over 70, husband has blood cancer and I am registered blind. I sorted out a Morrisons delivery a couple of weeks ago but will need another delivery from somewhere in the next couple of weeks.

JezR

The cost of Ocado Smart Pass to an individual seems to vary a lot. Some of this is down to location but most relates to what terms you orginally signed up to as there used to be significant discounts available to take it up (and its previous incarnation as the 'delivery pass') which are no longer offered but those with them seem to retain on renewal. Six months for £49.99 was the normal full price a couple of years ago, but they don't have an easily accessible price list to see when this has changed.

grumpyoldwoman

Lanzarote1938 said:

How do you get registered for online shopping as vulnerable? We are both over 70, husband has blood cancer and I am registered blind. I sorted out a Morrisons delivery a couple of weeks ago but will need another delivery from somewhere in the next couple of weeks.

From what I can gather from Sainsburys website if you live in England you need to register on gov.uk as vulnerable and then maybe they can check and allow you to have deliveries. Here's the link about registering https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus-extremely-vulnerable 
If you've already had the letter from the government saying you're in the vulnerable category then you should be able to get prioritised delivery slots, but how you prove it is anyone's guess. 
I hope you manage to get it sorted.

Lanzarote1938

We have both had the letter.  Will try Sainsburys tomorrow. Thanks

JulieM

grumpyoldwoman said:

I've just received a Morrisons Food Box, inside was penne pasta, microwave rice, a large loaf, 1kg carrots, 3 peppers, 3 onions, broccoli, potaoes, 2 packs of back bacon, 2 packs of sausages, a block of Cathedral City cheese, a litre of Cravendale milk, pasta sauce, boiled ham, butter, 2 tins of soup, a tin of baked beans, 2 kitchen rolls, and 4 toilet rolls.

Not sure if it would feed two people for a week unless you want bacon and sausage every day but it's a good selection, although when I ordered it it said there would be some fresh meat, chicken or beef, and there isn't any. Husband's just suggested making sausage meatballs to go with the pasta and sauce. 

I think you were just unlucky, my box arrived this morning and I'm very pleased with it considering the situation with shortages, I doubt whether I could have picked the same amount up in one supermarket visit. The meat is diced beef, bacon, 2 large chicken breasts, and Richmond sausages. Nothing fancy but can be dressed up with some herbs and spices to make some decent meals. I can't say I'm a fan of Morrisons as I find their food a bit ordinary but full marks to them for coming up with this idea at a time when food is not easy to come by.

Debran

Last year Richmond sausages came out bottom of the branded sausages test carried out by Which?  Their thick pork sausages were found to contain the minimum amount of meat legally allowed and still be called pork sausages (42% pork).  It was even less than the supermarket own brands, which were also tested.

easy

Debran said:

Last year Richmond sausages came out bottom of the branded sausages test carried out by Which?  Their thick pork sausages were found to contain the minimum amount of meat legally allowed and still be called pork sausages (42% pork).  It was even less than the supermarket own brands, which were also tested.

You know what?  Given what is going on at the moment I think we all need to be willing to compromise,  and graciously accept whatever is handed over.