Ocado is penalising loyal "Reserved" customers while other supermarkets are rewarding them!

tiny_girl

I’ve been an Ocado Reserved customer for nearly 4 years and have only just discovered that I’ve been missing out on loads of promotions and discounts this whole time.  The sums involved may seem trivial but they’ve probably mounted up to a frightening total over the years.  I wondered if anyone else has had the same issue and if not, I want to make more people aware of it.

For background, if you have an Ocado Reserved slot, you select the day and 1-hour slot when you want your shopping delivered each week / fortnight / month (depending on your chosen frequency) and your "usual" order is automatically placed on your behalf 4 weeks in advance.  You can then edit it, usually up until the night before the delivery is due.  Super convenient and easy!  

Well, here’s the downside they don't tell you about.

If a promotion or discount is applied to a product in your order after the order has been placed, the discount isn’t automatically applied when your order is processed and delivered.  To get the discount, you have to edit the order, remove the item(s), re-add them and check out.  

Worse, you have no way of knowing if any of the items in your order are actually on offer because the offer doesn't show up when you view or edit it (see screenshots below). 

The only way you would know is if you remove and re-add every item (!) or happen to chance upon one of the scenarios below, which is how I found out about it.

1. You receive a marketing email about an offer on a product you’ve ordered.  You may then notice that the discount hasn’t been applied to your upcoming order.

2. The item is in a multi-buy promotion and you haven’t ordered sufficient quantity to qualify for the discount.  In this case, the offer might appear on the “Missed offers” page, just before checkout, but only if you haven’t bought enough to qualify for the multi-buy.  In the screenshot below, the products I ordered were in a 2 for £4 promotion but I wasn’t alerted to the discount because I'd already ordered 2, but I was still going to be charged full price.

3. If you don’t order something that you usually do order and it happens to be in a promotion with something you have ordered!  In this case, you may see the item you haven't ordered in “Offers on your favourites” before checkout.  When you click or tap on the offer, you will then see that a product you have ordered is also included in the offer but, again, you will be charged full price unless you remove and re-add it to your order. 
   
   This is what happened in the scenario below, because I hadn't ordered a Honey & Ginger Salad, which is in my favourites, it appeared in "Offers on your favourites" as I was checking out. I would otherwise have been none the wiser I was being overcharged by £1.40.  

Furthemore, if a product is on offer when your order is placed but you accidentally remove it after the promotion ends and later re-add it, the discount will also not be applied.  

Ocado Customer Services initially told me that, if I edited my order at all, any expired offers would automatically be removed at checkout, which seemed insane, but another agent has since clarified that it is only if you edit the item on offer that the discount is lost.  This at least seems logical, given that promotional offers are based on when the item is ordered, not when the order is edited or delivered, so I guess removing and re-adding an item and checking out is considered the point of order, which I guess is fair enough.  It is however annoying nonetheless.

So, while Sainsburys, Tesco and Coop are all offering sometimes substantial discounts to customers with loyalty cards, Ocado are doing the exact opposite and making it difficult for their most loyal, regular customers to benefit from offers readily available to the general public. Basically, unless an offer runs for more than 4 weeks, Ocado Reserved customers are highly unlikely to benefit from it.  

Incidentally, Ocado also don't price match on substitutions unless the original product was in a promotional offer that was applied to your order.  This means that your Ocado own-brand product might be substituted with an expensive M&S equivalent but you won't know until you check your bill.  This really grates with me, especially given that they claim they can't apply current offers when they process your order, yet they don't actually process the payment until the day of delivery, in case there are missing items or substitutions!  You can of course reject a substitution but you then don't have the product you need. People that order from Sainsburys tell me they give you vouchers to make up the difference, which seems fairer, because it isn't the customer's fault the supermarket had insufficient stock to fulfill your order (especially if it was placed 4 weeks in advance!), so why should the customer be forced to pay the difference?

Ocado may say that Smart Pass holders benefit from discounts not enjoyed by other shoppers but you can be a Smart Pass holder and a Reserved customer (like me) and still miss out. It’s like a disloyalty discount!

Has anyone else noticed this, or fallen into the same trap?

LinLui

I lost the will to live. 

If you put an "on offer" item in your basket and then it comes off offer,  then you still get the offer. It balances out. Equally since you don't have to confirm your order until quite late on,  you could, like,  look at what offers are on? Reserved delivery is a convenience,  not a commitment to buy. 

If you don't like Ocado, go somewhere else. But having experienced the competition,  for me it is great. 

sarah1972

tiny_girl said:

I’ve been an Ocado Reserved customer for nearly 4 years and have only just discovered that I’ve been missing out on loads of promotions and discounts this whole time.  The sums involved may seem trivial but they’ve probably mounted up to a frightening total over the years.  I wondered if anyone else has had the same issue and if not, I want to make more people aware of it.

For background, if you have an Ocado Reserved slot, you select the day and 1-hour slot when you want your shopping delivered each week / fortnight / month (depending on your chosen frequency) and your "usual" order is automatically placed on your behalf 4 weeks in advance.  You can then edit it, usually up until the night before the delivery is due.  Super convenient and easy!  

Well, here’s the downside they don't tell you about.

If a promotion or discount is applied to a product in your order after the order has been placed, the discount isn’t automatically applied when your order is processed and delivered.  To get the discount, you have to edit the order, remove the item(s), re-add them and check out.  

Worse, you have no way of knowing if any of the items in your order are actually on offer because the offer doesn't show up when you view or edit it (see screenshots below). 

The only way you would know is if you remove and re-add every item (!) or happen to chance upon one of the scenarios below, which is how I found out about it.

1. You receive a marketing email about an offer on a product you’ve ordered.  You may then notice that the discount hasn’t been applied to your upcoming order.

2. The item is in a multi-buy promotion and you haven’t ordered sufficient quantity to qualify for the discount.  In this case, the offer might appear on the “Missed offers” page, just before checkout, but only if you haven’t bought enough to qualify for the multi-buy.  In the screenshot below, the products I ordered were in a 2 for £4 promotion but I wasn’t alerted to the discount because I'd already ordered 2, but I was still going to be charged full price.

3. If you don’t order something that you usually do order and it happens to be in a promotion with something you have ordered!  In this case, you may see the item you haven't ordered in “Offers on your favourites” before checkout.  When you click or tap on the offer, you will then see that a product you have ordered is also included in the offer but, again, you will be charged full price unless you remove and re-add it to your order. 
   
   This is what happened in the scenario below, because I hadn't ordered a Honey & Ginger Salad, which is in my favourites, it appeared in "Offers on your favourites" as I was checking out. I would otherwise have been none the wiser I was being overcharged by £1.40.  

Furthemore, if a product is on offer when your order is placed but you accidentally remove it after the promotion ends and later re-add it, the discount will also not be applied.  

Ocado Customer Services initially told me that, if I edited my order at all, any expired offers would automatically be removed at checkout, which seemed insane, but another agent has since clarified that it is only if you edit the item on offer that the discount is lost.  This at least seems logical, given that promotional offers are based on when the item is ordered, not when the order is edited or delivered, so I guess removing and re-adding an item and checking out is considered the point of order, which I guess is fair enough.  It is however annoying nonetheless.

So, while Sainsburys, Tesco and Coop are all offering sometimes substantial discounts to customers with loyalty cards, Ocado are doing the exact opposite and making it difficult for their most loyal, regular customers to benefit from offers readily available to the general public. Basically, unless an offer runs for more than 4 weeks, Ocado Reserved customers are highly unlikely to benefit from it.  

Incidentally, Ocado also don't price match on substitutions unless the original product was in a promotional offer that was applied to your order.  This means that your Ocado own-brand product might be substituted with an expensive M&S equivalent but you won't know until you check your bill.  This really grates with me, especially given that they claim they can't apply current offers when they process your order, yet they don't actually process the payment until the day of delivery, in case there are missing items or substitutions!  You can of course reject a substitution but you then don't have the product you need. People that order from Sainsburys tell me they give you vouchers to make up the difference, which seems fairer, because it isn't the customer's fault the supermarket had insufficient stock to fulfill your order (especially if it was placed 4 weeks in advance!), so why should the customer be forced to pay the difference?

Ocado may say that Smart Pass holders benefit from discounts not enjoyed by other shoppers but you can be a Smart Pass holder and a Reserved customer (like me) and still miss out. It’s like a disloyalty discount!

Has anyone else noticed this, or fallen into the same trap?

I have totally disagree. 

If when you order the item and it is on offer, Ocado honour it. All other supermarkets charge you the price on the day so if the offer has ended, so has your bargain price.

You say Furthemore, “if a product is on offer when your order is placed but you accidentally remove it after the promotion ends and later re-add it, the discount will also not be applied” 

Which is quite right. 

Also you say “Ocado Customer Services initially told me that, if I edited my order at all, any expired offers would automatically be removed at checkout, which seemed insane.” 

Not at all, exactly the same as most if not all supermarkets 

You also say “Ocado don’t price match subs, neither do Sainsburys or Waitrose” 

Actually neither do Asda or Tesco really, I  ordered chicken thighs today with Asda which were subbed for breasts (‘much smaller pack) so had to be rejected so in theory not matched at all, I ordered 6 pints of milk, subbed for 4, ordered Caesar salad subbed for carrot salad (‘already cheaper) 

One thing I would never do is be a reserved customer, I order weekly what I need from Ocado 

I also noticed you circled 2 x £2.70 items in your basket and then showed that they were on 2 for £4, but you failed to circle where it says you have saved £4.47 with offers? So one would presume that you, have in fact been charged the correct price.

Emmia

sarah1972 said:

tiny_girl said:

I’ve been an Ocado Reserved customer for nearly 4 years and have only just discovered that I’ve been missing out on loads of promotions and discounts this whole time.  The sums involved may seem trivial but they’ve probably mounted up to a frightening total over the years.  I wondered if anyone else has had the same issue and if not, I want to make more people aware of it.

For background, if you have an Ocado Reserved slot, you select the day and 1-hour slot when you want your shopping delivered each week / fortnight / month (depending on your chosen frequency) and your "usual" order is automatically placed on your behalf 4 weeks in advance.  You can then edit it, usually up until the night before the delivery is due.  Super convenient and easy!  

Well, here’s the downside they don't tell you about.

If a promotion or discount is applied to a product in your order after the order has been placed, the discount isn’t automatically applied when your order is processed and delivered.  To get the discount, you have to edit the order, remove the item(s), re-add them and check out.  

Worse, you have no way of knowing if any of the items in your order are actually on offer because the offer doesn't show up when you view or edit it (see screenshots below). 

The only way you would know is if you remove and re-add every item (!) or happen to chance upon one of the scenarios below, which is how I found out about it.

1. You receive a marketing email about an offer on a product you’ve ordered.  You may then notice that the discount hasn’t been applied to your upcoming order.

2. The item is in a multi-buy promotion and you haven’t ordered sufficient quantity to qualify for the discount.  In this case, the offer might appear on the “Missed offers” page, just before checkout, but only if you haven’t bought enough to qualify for the multi-buy.  In the screenshot below, the products I ordered were in a 2 for £4 promotion but I wasn’t alerted to the discount because I'd already ordered 2, but I was still going to be charged full price.

3. If you don’t order something that you usually do order and it happens to be in a promotion with something you have ordered!  In this case, you may see the item you haven't ordered in “Offers on your favourites” before checkout.  When you click or tap on the offer, you will then see that a product you have ordered is also included in the offer but, again, you will be charged full price unless you remove and re-add it to your order. 
   
   This is what happened in the scenario below, because I hadn't ordered a Honey & Ginger Salad, which is in my favourites, it appeared in "Offers on your favourites" as I was checking out. I would otherwise have been none the wiser I was being overcharged by £1.40.  

Furthemore, if a product is on offer when your order is placed but you accidentally remove it after the promotion ends and later re-add it, the discount will also not be applied.  

Ocado Customer Services initially told me that, if I edited my order at all, any expired offers would automatically be removed at checkout, which seemed insane, but another agent has since clarified that it is only if you edit the item on offer that the discount is lost.  This at least seems logical, given that promotional offers are based on when the item is ordered, not when the order is edited or delivered, so I guess removing and re-adding an item and checking out is considered the point of order, which I guess is fair enough.  It is however annoying nonetheless.

So, while Sainsburys, Tesco and Coop are all offering sometimes substantial discounts to customers with loyalty cards, Ocado are doing the exact opposite and making it difficult for their most loyal, regular customers to benefit from offers readily available to the general public. Basically, unless an offer runs for more than 4 weeks, Ocado Reserved customers are highly unlikely to benefit from it.  

Incidentally, Ocado also don't price match on substitutions unless the original product was in a promotional offer that was applied to your order.  This means that your Ocado own-brand product might be substituted with an expensive M&S equivalent but you won't know until you check your bill.  This really grates with me, especially given that they claim they can't apply current offers when they process your order, yet they don't actually process the payment until the day of delivery, in case there are missing items or substitutions!  You can of course reject a substitution but you then don't have the product you need. People that order from Sainsburys tell me they give you vouchers to make up the difference, which seems fairer, because it isn't the customer's fault the supermarket had insufficient stock to fulfill your order (especially if it was placed 4 weeks in advance!), so why should the customer be forced to pay the difference?

Ocado may say that Smart Pass holders benefit from discounts not enjoyed by other shoppers but you can be a Smart Pass holder and a Reserved customer (like me) and still miss out. It’s like a disloyalty discount!

Has anyone else noticed this, or fallen into the same trap?

I have totally disagree. 

If when you order the item and it is on offer, Ocado honour it. All other supermarkets charge you the price on the day so if the offer has ended, so has your bargain price.

You say Furthemore, if a product is on offer when your order is placed but you accidentally remove it after the promotion ends and later re-add it, the discount will also not be applied.  Which is quite right. 

Aldo you say Ocado Customer Services initially told me that, if I edited my order at all, any expired offers would automatically be removed at checkout, which seemed insane. Not at all, exactly the same as most if not all supermarkets 

You also say Ocado don’t price match subs, neither do Sainsburys or Waitrose. Actually really neither do Asda or Tesco really, I  ordered chicken thighs today with Asda which were subbed for breasts (‘much smaller pack) so had to be rejected so in theory not matched at all, I ordered 6 pints of milk, subbed for 4, ordered Caesar salad subbed for carrot salad (‘already cheaper) 

One thing I would never do is be a reserved customer, I order weekly what I need from Ocado 

We don't use the reserved service we just book the same day/time each week and whip up the basis of the order from our "favourites" list" adding or amending as needed 

sarah1972

Emmia said:

sarah1972 said:

tiny_girl said:

I’ve been an Ocado Reserved customer for nearly 4 years and have only just discovered that I’ve been missing out on loads of promotions and discounts this whole time.  The sums involved may seem trivial but they’ve probably mounted up to a frightening total over the years.  I wondered if anyone else has had the same issue and if not, I want to make more people aware of it.

For background, if you have an Ocado Reserved slot, you select the day and 1-hour slot when you want your shopping delivered each week / fortnight / month (depending on your chosen frequency) and your "usual" order is automatically placed on your behalf 4 weeks in advance.  You can then edit it, usually up until the night before the delivery is due.  Super convenient and easy!  

Well, here’s the downside they don't tell you about.

If a promotion or discount is applied to a product in your order after the order has been placed, the discount isn’t automatically applied when your order is processed and delivered.  To get the discount, you have to edit the order, remove the item(s), re-add them and check out.  

Worse, you have no way of knowing if any of the items in your order are actually on offer because the offer doesn't show up when you view or edit it (see screenshots below). 

The only way you would know is if you remove and re-add every item (!) or happen to chance upon one of the scenarios below, which is how I found out about it.

1. You receive a marketing email about an offer on a product you’ve ordered.  You may then notice that the discount hasn’t been applied to your upcoming order.

2. The item is in a multi-buy promotion and you haven’t ordered sufficient quantity to qualify for the discount.  In this case, the offer might appear on the “Missed offers” page, just before checkout, but only if you haven’t bought enough to qualify for the multi-buy.  In the screenshot below, the products I ordered were in a 2 for £4 promotion but I wasn’t alerted to the discount because I'd already ordered 2, but I was still going to be charged full price.

3. If you don’t order something that you usually do order and it happens to be in a promotion with something you have ordered!  In this case, you may see the item you haven't ordered in “Offers on your favourites” before checkout.  When you click or tap on the offer, you will then see that a product you have ordered is also included in the offer but, again, you will be charged full price unless you remove and re-add it to your order. 
   
   This is what happened in the scenario below, because I hadn't ordered a Honey & Ginger Salad, which is in my favourites, it appeared in "Offers on your favourites" as I was checking out. I would otherwise have been none the wiser I was being overcharged by £1.40.  

Furthemore, if a product is on offer when your order is placed but you accidentally remove it after the promotion ends and later re-add it, the discount will also not be applied.  

Ocado Customer Services initially told me that, if I edited my order at all, any expired offers would automatically be removed at checkout, which seemed insane, but another agent has since clarified that it is only if you edit the item on offer that the discount is lost.  This at least seems logical, given that promotional offers are based on when the item is ordered, not when the order is edited or delivered, so I guess removing and re-adding an item and checking out is considered the point of order, which I guess is fair enough.  It is however annoying nonetheless.

So, while Sainsburys, Tesco and Coop are all offering sometimes substantial discounts to customers with loyalty cards, Ocado are doing the exact opposite and making it difficult for their most loyal, regular customers to benefit from offers readily available to the general public. Basically, unless an offer runs for more than 4 weeks, Ocado Reserved customers are highly unlikely to benefit from it.  

Incidentally, Ocado also don't price match on substitutions unless the original product was in a promotional offer that was applied to your order.  This means that your Ocado own-brand product might be substituted with an expensive M&S equivalent but you won't know until you check your bill.  This really grates with me, especially given that they claim they can't apply current offers when they process your order, yet they don't actually process the payment until the day of delivery, in case there are missing items or substitutions!  You can of course reject a substitution but you then don't have the product you need. People that order from Sainsburys tell me they give you vouchers to make up the difference, which seems fairer, because it isn't the customer's fault the supermarket had insufficient stock to fulfill your order (especially if it was placed 4 weeks in advance!), so why should the customer be forced to pay the difference?

Ocado may say that Smart Pass holders benefit from discounts not enjoyed by other shoppers but you can be a Smart Pass holder and a Reserved customer (like me) and still miss out. It’s like a disloyalty discount!

Has anyone else noticed this, or fallen into the same trap?

I have totally disagree. 

If when you order the item and it is on offer, Ocado honour it. All other supermarkets charge you the price on the day so if the offer has ended, so has your bargain price.

You say Furthemore, if a product is on offer when your order is placed but you accidentally remove it after the promotion ends and later re-add it, the discount will also not be applied.  Which is quite right. 

Aldo you say Ocado Customer Services initially told me that, if I edited my order at all, any expired offers would automatically be removed at checkout, which seemed insane. Not at all, exactly the same as most if not all supermarkets 

You also say Ocado don’t price match subs, neither do Sainsburys or Waitrose. Actually really neither do Asda or Tesco really, I  ordered chicken thighs today with Asda which were subbed for breasts (‘much smaller pack) so had to be rejected so in theory not matched at all, I ordered 6 pints of milk, subbed for 4, ordered Caesar salad subbed for carrot salad (‘already cheaper) 

One thing I would never do is be a reserved customer, I order weekly what I need from Ocado 

We don't use the reserved service we just book the same day/time each week and whip up the basis of the order from our "favourites" list" adding or amending as needed 

Yep, same as me 

tiny_girl

sarah1972 said:

tiny_girl said:

I’ve been an Ocado Reserved customer for nearly 4 years and have only just discovered that I’ve been missing out on loads of promotions and discounts this whole time.  The sums involved may seem trivial but they’ve probably mounted up to a frightening total over the years.  I wondered if anyone else has had the same issue and if not, I want to make more people aware of it.

For background, if you have an Ocado Reserved slot, you select the day and 1-hour slot when you want your shopping delivered each week / fortnight / month (depending on your chosen frequency) and your "usual" order is automatically placed on your behalf 4 weeks in advance.  You can then edit it, usually up until the night before the delivery is due.  Super convenient and easy!  

Well, here’s the downside they don't tell you about.

If a promotion or discount is applied to a product in your order after the order has been placed, the discount isn’t automatically applied when your order is processed and delivered.  To get the discount, you have to edit the order, remove the item(s), re-add them and check out.  

Worse, you have no way of knowing if any of the items in your order are actually on offer because the offer doesn't show up when you view or edit it (see screenshots below). 

The only way you would know is if you remove and re-add every item (!) or happen to chance upon one of the scenarios below, which is how I found out about it.

1. You receive a marketing email about an offer on a product you’ve ordered.  You may then notice that the discount hasn’t been applied to your upcoming order.

2. The item is in a multi-buy promotion and you haven’t ordered sufficient quantity to qualify for the discount.  In this case, the offer might appear on the “Missed offers” page, just before checkout, but only if you haven’t bought enough to qualify for the multi-buy.  In the screenshot below, the products I ordered were in a 2 for £4 promotion but I wasn’t alerted to the discount because I'd already ordered 2, but I was still going to be charged full price.

3. If you don’t order something that you usually do order and it happens to be in a promotion with something you have ordered!  In this case, you may see the item you haven't ordered in “Offers on your favourites” before checkout.  When you click or tap on the offer, you will then see that a product you have ordered is also included in the offer but, again, you will be charged full price unless you remove and re-add it to your order. 
   
   This is what happened in the scenario below, because I hadn't ordered a Honey & Ginger Salad, which is in my favourites, it appeared in "Offers on your favourites" as I was checking out. I would otherwise have been none the wiser I was being overcharged by £1.40.  

Furthemore, if a product is on offer when your order is placed but you accidentally remove it after the promotion ends and later re-add it, the discount will also not be applied.  

Ocado Customer Services initially told me that, if I edited my order at all, any expired offers would automatically be removed at checkout, which seemed insane, but another agent has since clarified that it is only if you edit the item on offer that the discount is lost.  This at least seems logical, given that promotional offers are based on when the item is ordered, not when the order is edited or delivered, so I guess removing and re-adding an item and checking out is considered the point of order, which I guess is fair enough.  It is however annoying nonetheless.

So, while Sainsburys, Tesco and Coop are all offering sometimes substantial discounts to customers with loyalty cards, Ocado are doing the exact opposite and making it difficult for their most loyal, regular customers to benefit from offers readily available to the general public. Basically, unless an offer runs for more than 4 weeks, Ocado Reserved customers are highly unlikely to benefit from it.  

Incidentally, Ocado also don't price match on substitutions unless the original product was in a promotional offer that was applied to your order.  This means that your Ocado own-brand product might be substituted with an expensive M&S equivalent but you won't know until you check your bill.  This really grates with me, especially given that they claim they can't apply current offers when they process your order, yet they don't actually process the payment until the day of delivery, in case there are missing items or substitutions!  You can of course reject a substitution but you then don't have the product you need. People that order from Sainsburys tell me they give you vouchers to make up the difference, which seems fairer, because it isn't the customer's fault the supermarket had insufficient stock to fulfill your order (especially if it was placed 4 weeks in advance!), so why should the customer be forced to pay the difference?

Ocado may say that Smart Pass holders benefit from discounts not enjoyed by other shoppers but you can be a Smart Pass holder and a Reserved customer (like me) and still miss out. It’s like a disloyalty discount!

Has anyone else noticed this, or fallen into the same trap?

I have totally disagree. 

If when you order the item and it is on offer, Ocado honour it. All other supermarkets charge you the price on the day so if the offer has ended, so has your bargain price.

You say Furthemore, “if a product is on offer when your order is placed but you accidentally remove it after the promotion ends and later re-add it, the discount will also not be applied” 

Which is quite right. 

Also you say “Ocado Customer Services initially told me that, if I edited my order at all, any expired offers would automatically be removed at checkout, which seemed insane.” 

Not at all, exactly the same as most if not all supermarkets 

You also say “Ocado don’t price match subs, neither do Sainsburys or Waitrose” 

Actually neither do Asda or Tesco really, I  ordered chicken thighs today with Asda which were subbed for breasts (‘much smaller pack) so had to be rejected so in theory not matched at all, I ordered 6 pints of milk, subbed for 4, ordered Caesar salad subbed for carrot salad (‘already cheaper) 

One thing I would never do is be a reserved customer, I order weekly what I need from Ocado 

I also noticed you circled 2 x £2.70 items in your basket and then showed that they were on 2 for £4, but you failed to circle where it says you have saved £4.47 with offers? So one would presume that you, have in fact been charged the correct price.

Like you, I previously assumed the discount was automatically applied and included in the offers total but the £4.47 in savings relates to savings on other items, not those that haven't been applied to my order.  When you do take advantage of an offer, the price per item that you see in the order is adjusted, as well as being included in the "total savings". 

Here's a screenshot now I have removed and re-added the items and you'll see what I mean.  The Tuna Salads are now priced at £2 each and the total savings has now gone up from £4.47 to £5.87 i.e. by £1.40, which was the amount by which I would have been overcharged if I hadn't found out about the offer and removed and re-added the items. 

Incidentally, when I checked out my order, I still wasn't alerted to the 3 for £4 on lentils, so that isn't failsafe either.  I deliberately didn't add more tins because I wanted to see if they would tell me I was missing out, but they didn't.  I will now go back in and edit it to add them.  

 

tiny_girl

sarah1972 said:

Emmia said:

sarah1972 said:

tiny_girl said:

I’ve been an Ocado Reserved customer for nearly 4 years and have only just discovered that I’ve been missing out on loads of promotions and discounts this whole time.  The sums involved may seem trivial but they’ve probably mounted up to a frightening total over the years.  I wondered if anyone else has had the same issue and if not, I want to make more people aware of it.

For background, if you have an Ocado Reserved slot, you select the day and 1-hour slot when you want your shopping delivered each week / fortnight / month (depending on your chosen frequency) and your "usual" order is automatically placed on your behalf 4 weeks in advance.  You can then edit it, usually up until the night before the delivery is due.  Super convenient and easy!  

Well, here’s the downside they don't tell you about.

If a promotion or discount is applied to a product in your order after the order has been placed, the discount isn’t automatically applied when your order is processed and delivered.  To get the discount, you have to edit the order, remove the item(s), re-add them and check out.  

Worse, you have no way of knowing if any of the items in your order are actually on offer because the offer doesn't show up when you view or edit it (see screenshots below). 

The only way you would know is if you remove and re-add every item (!) or happen to chance upon one of the scenarios below, which is how I found out about it.

1. You receive a marketing email about an offer on a product you’ve ordered.  You may then notice that the discount hasn’t been applied to your upcoming order.

2. The item is in a multi-buy promotion and you haven’t ordered sufficient quantity to qualify for the discount.  In this case, the offer might appear on the “Missed offers” page, just before checkout, but only if you haven’t bought enough to qualify for the multi-buy.  In the screenshot below, the products I ordered were in a 2 for £4 promotion but I wasn’t alerted to the discount because I'd already ordered 2, but I was still going to be charged full price.

3. If you don’t order something that you usually do order and it happens to be in a promotion with something you have ordered!  In this case, you may see the item you haven't ordered in “Offers on your favourites” before checkout.  When you click or tap on the offer, you will then see that a product you have ordered is also included in the offer but, again, you will be charged full price unless you remove and re-add it to your order. 
   
   This is what happened in the scenario below, because I hadn't ordered a Honey & Ginger Salad, which is in my favourites, it appeared in "Offers on your favourites" as I was checking out. I would otherwise have been none the wiser I was being overcharged by £1.40.  

Furthemore, if a product is on offer when your order is placed but you accidentally remove it after the promotion ends and later re-add it, the discount will also not be applied.  

Ocado Customer Services initially told me that, if I edited my order at all, any expired offers would automatically be removed at checkout, which seemed insane, but another agent has since clarified that it is only if you edit the item on offer that the discount is lost.  This at least seems logical, given that promotional offers are based on when the item is ordered, not when the order is edited or delivered, so I guess removing and re-adding an item and checking out is considered the point of order, which I guess is fair enough.  It is however annoying nonetheless.

So, while Sainsburys, Tesco and Coop are all offering sometimes substantial discounts to customers with loyalty cards, Ocado are doing the exact opposite and making it difficult for their most loyal, regular customers to benefit from offers readily available to the general public. Basically, unless an offer runs for more than 4 weeks, Ocado Reserved customers are highly unlikely to benefit from it.  

Incidentally, Ocado also don't price match on substitutions unless the original product was in a promotional offer that was applied to your order.  This means that your Ocado own-brand product might be substituted with an expensive M&S equivalent but you won't know until you check your bill.  This really grates with me, especially given that they claim they can't apply current offers when they process your order, yet they don't actually process the payment until the day of delivery, in case there are missing items or substitutions!  You can of course reject a substitution but you then don't have the product you need. People that order from Sainsburys tell me they give you vouchers to make up the difference, which seems fairer, because it isn't the customer's fault the supermarket had insufficient stock to fulfill your order (especially if it was placed 4 weeks in advance!), so why should the customer be forced to pay the difference?

Ocado may say that Smart Pass holders benefit from discounts not enjoyed by other shoppers but you can be a Smart Pass holder and a Reserved customer (like me) and still miss out. It’s like a disloyalty discount!

Has anyone else noticed this, or fallen into the same trap?

I have totally disagree. 

If when you order the item and it is on offer, Ocado honour it. All other supermarkets charge you the price on the day so if the offer has ended, so has your bargain price.

You say Furthemore, if a product is on offer when your order is placed but you accidentally remove it after the promotion ends and later re-add it, the discount will also not be applied.  Which is quite right. 

Aldo you say Ocado Customer Services initially told me that, if I edited my order at all, any expired offers would automatically be removed at checkout, which seemed insane. Not at all, exactly the same as most if not all supermarkets 

You also say Ocado don’t price match subs, neither do Sainsburys or Waitrose. Actually really neither do Asda or Tesco really, I  ordered chicken thighs today with Asda which were subbed for breasts (‘much smaller pack) so had to be rejected so in theory not matched at all, I ordered 6 pints of milk, subbed for 4, ordered Caesar salad subbed for carrot salad (‘already cheaper) 

One thing I would never do is be a reserved customer, I order weekly what I need from Ocado 

We don't use the reserved service we just book the same day/time each week and whip up the basis of the order from our "favourites" list" adding or amending as needed 

Yep, same as me 

This is what we used to do.  I may go back to doing this now too. 

Even that's quite confusing though because they have 2 "Regular" lists on the website.  One "Your Regulars" adds items you tell them you want every 1/2/3... weeks to your trolley on a Monday and you then have to add any other items you want and check out but, if you have a Reserved slot, you have to go to a different page "Your Suggested Order" to tell them what to order on your behalf.  I complained a few weeks ago that they'd "discontinued" an M&S Pizza and therefore removed it from my weekly Reserved order, when they had in fact replaced it with an identical product, which they hadn't added, so I didn't get it.  They assured me it would be added to my order from now on but I now see they've added it to "My Regulars", not my "Suggested Order" because every Monday I see there's a Pizza in my trolley but it hasn't actually been added to any of my Reserved orders  

I think I might go back to using My Regulars because at least then I will know that I'm benefiting from the current offers and will be able to choose for myself what gets added to my order each week... It's a shame because Reserved otherwise seems like a very convenient option.

Emmia

tiny_girl said:

sarah1972 said:

Emmia said:

sarah1972 said:

tiny_girl said:

I’ve been an Ocado Reserved customer for nearly 4 years and have only just discovered that I’ve been missing out on loads of promotions and discounts this whole time.  The sums involved may seem trivial but they’ve probably mounted up to a frightening total over the years.  I wondered if anyone else has had the same issue and if not, I want to make more people aware of it.

For background, if you have an Ocado Reserved slot, you select the day and 1-hour slot when you want your shopping delivered each week / fortnight / month (depending on your chosen frequency) and your "usual" order is automatically placed on your behalf 4 weeks in advance.  You can then edit it, usually up until the night before the delivery is due.  Super convenient and easy!  

Well, here’s the downside they don't tell you about.

If a promotion or discount is applied to a product in your order after the order has been placed, the discount isn’t automatically applied when your order is processed and delivered.  To get the discount, you have to edit the order, remove the item(s), re-add them and check out.  

Worse, you have no way of knowing if any of the items in your order are actually on offer because the offer doesn't show up when you view or edit it (see screenshots below). 

The only way you would know is if you remove and re-add every item (!) or happen to chance upon one of the scenarios below, which is how I found out about it.

1. You receive a marketing email about an offer on a product you’ve ordered.  You may then notice that the discount hasn’t been applied to your upcoming order.

2. The item is in a multi-buy promotion and you haven’t ordered sufficient quantity to qualify for the discount.  In this case, the offer might appear on the “Missed offers” page, just before checkout, but only if you haven’t bought enough to qualify for the multi-buy.  In the screenshot below, the products I ordered were in a 2 for £4 promotion but I wasn’t alerted to the discount because I'd already ordered 2, but I was still going to be charged full price.

3. If you don’t order something that you usually do order and it happens to be in a promotion with something you have ordered!  In this case, you may see the item you haven't ordered in “Offers on your favourites” before checkout.  When you click or tap on the offer, you will then see that a product you have ordered is also included in the offer but, again, you will be charged full price unless you remove and re-add it to your order. 
   
   This is what happened in the scenario below, because I hadn't ordered a Honey & Ginger Salad, which is in my favourites, it appeared in "Offers on your favourites" as I was checking out. I would otherwise have been none the wiser I was being overcharged by £1.40.  

Furthemore, if a product is on offer when your order is placed but you accidentally remove it after the promotion ends and later re-add it, the discount will also not be applied.  

Ocado Customer Services initially told me that, if I edited my order at all, any expired offers would automatically be removed at checkout, which seemed insane, but another agent has since clarified that it is only if you edit the item on offer that the discount is lost.  This at least seems logical, given that promotional offers are based on when the item is ordered, not when the order is edited or delivered, so I guess removing and re-adding an item and checking out is considered the point of order, which I guess is fair enough.  It is however annoying nonetheless.

So, while Sainsburys, Tesco and Coop are all offering sometimes substantial discounts to customers with loyalty cards, Ocado are doing the exact opposite and making it difficult for their most loyal, regular customers to benefit from offers readily available to the general public. Basically, unless an offer runs for more than 4 weeks, Ocado Reserved customers are highly unlikely to benefit from it.  

Incidentally, Ocado also don't price match on substitutions unless the original product was in a promotional offer that was applied to your order.  This means that your Ocado own-brand product might be substituted with an expensive M&S equivalent but you won't know until you check your bill.  This really grates with me, especially given that they claim they can't apply current offers when they process your order, yet they don't actually process the payment until the day of delivery, in case there are missing items or substitutions!  You can of course reject a substitution but you then don't have the product you need. People that order from Sainsburys tell me they give you vouchers to make up the difference, which seems fairer, because it isn't the customer's fault the supermarket had insufficient stock to fulfill your order (especially if it was placed 4 weeks in advance!), so why should the customer be forced to pay the difference?

Ocado may say that Smart Pass holders benefit from discounts not enjoyed by other shoppers but you can be a Smart Pass holder and a Reserved customer (like me) and still miss out. It’s like a disloyalty discount!

Has anyone else noticed this, or fallen into the same trap?

I have totally disagree. 

If when you order the item and it is on offer, Ocado honour it. All other supermarkets charge you the price on the day so if the offer has ended, so has your bargain price.

You say Furthemore, if a product is on offer when your order is placed but you accidentally remove it after the promotion ends and later re-add it, the discount will also not be applied.  Which is quite right. 

Aldo you say Ocado Customer Services initially told me that, if I edited my order at all, any expired offers would automatically be removed at checkout, which seemed insane. Not at all, exactly the same as most if not all supermarkets 

You also say Ocado don’t price match subs, neither do Sainsburys or Waitrose. Actually really neither do Asda or Tesco really, I  ordered chicken thighs today with Asda which were subbed for breasts (‘much smaller pack) so had to be rejected so in theory not matched at all, I ordered 6 pints of milk, subbed for 4, ordered Caesar salad subbed for carrot salad (‘already cheaper) 

One thing I would never do is be a reserved customer, I order weekly what I need from Ocado 

We don't use the reserved service we just book the same day/time each week and whip up the basis of the order from our "favourites" list" adding or amending as needed 

Yep, same as me 

This is what we used to do.  I may go back to doing this now too. 

Even that's quite confusing though because they have 2 "Regular" lists on the website.  One "Your Regulars" adds items you tell them you want every 1/2/3... weeks to your trolley on a Monday and you then have to add any other items you want and check out but, if you have a Reserved slot, you have to go to a different page "Your Suggested Order" to tell them what to order on your behalf.  I complained a few weeks ago that they'd "discontinued" an M&S Pizza and therefore removed it from my weekly Reserved order, when they had in fact replaced it with an identical product, which they hadn't added, so I didn't get it.  They assured me it would be added to my order from now on but I now see they've added it to "My Regulars", not my "Suggested Order" because every Monday I see there's a Pizza in my trolley but it hasn't actually been added to any of my Reserved orders  

I think I might go back to using My Regulars because at least then I will know that I'm benefiting from the current offers and will be able to choose for myself what gets added to my order each week... It's a shame because Reserved otherwise seems like a very convenient option.

We don't use "your regulars" as I find it gets messed up and you end up with things you didn't mean to order / in a volume which is more than you'd order 

6 blocks of butter was the thing that stopped us doing the "your regulars". 

tiny_girl

LinLui said:

I lost the will to live. 

If you put an "on offer" item in your basket and then it comes off offer,  then you still get the offer. It balances out. Equally since you don't have to confirm your order until quite late on,  you could, like,  look at what offers are on? Reserved delivery is a convenience,  not a commitment to buy. 

If you don't like Ocado, go somewhere else. But having experienced the competition,  for me it is great. 

It might balance out if you always order the exact same things every week but Reserved customers will only see offers that were valid 4 weeks in the past.  If you think that the offers are often seasonal (e.g. people order more salads in the summer months), you may not want to take advantage of an offer that was valid 4 weeks ago, but you would have missed out on it when it was actually running.  Yes, you can check every single item in the order to see if it's on offer, but that's quite laborious and kind of defeats the purpose of having the order placed for you.

I suppose you can look at it both ways but, the way I see it, I'm being overcharged for items that would have been discounted for any non-Reserved (and therefore less loyal) Ocado customer at that point in time.    

Marmaduke123

Best to keep things simple I think. I'm a happy Ocado customer with a midweek Smartpass, and find I can usually book the same day/time each week, a couple of days beforehand. I use Instant Shop, and amend it as necessary at the time, and edit the order again the day before delivery. It works for me.

tiny_girl

Marmaduke123 said:

Best to keep things simple I think. I'm a happy Ocado customer with a midweek Smartpass, and find I can usually book the same day/time each week, a couple of days beforehand. I use Instant Shop, and amend it as necessary at the time, and edit the order again the day before delivery. It works for me.

Yes, I think ditching Reserved might be the way to go.  Thanks everyone for the suggestions x