Ocado Delivery - or NOT as the case may be!

[Slaav]

Anybody else seen any deterioration in service with these guys or is it just us?

Always seemed to work like clockwork in the past but now is distinctly patchy and last night, no show at all. Van was delayed and then driver not contactable etc. Had this with Tesco a while back and havent used them since.

Would be interesting to know if this is an isolated incident or now the norm?

[Digger]

With Tesco I made sure my delivery charge was refunded if they missed the 2hr delivery slot. Imagine Ocado would do similar.

[DXB]

I've always had issues with them - including drivers not bothering to turn up & not letting me know they can't be bothered to deliver, awful substitutions, the wrong shopping, & missing/badly damaged items. Customer service has always been excellent though when I've had problems.

Tesco, bizarrely (given how much everyone else moans about their service), have always been fantastic. I have a feeling it's down to the local distribution centre & the local drivers more than the overall company though.

Editted to add: as Digger said, contact customer services. I got a load of vouchers when their driver didn't bother to turn up & didn't contact me to tell me he wasn't going to bother.

Edited by DXB on Tuesday 24th August 09:04

[mids]

Their IPO says it all really....

[Podie]

If you're outside London, use Waitrose - over £50 delivery is free.

[Grey Ghost]

mids said:

Their IPO says it all really....

Yep, and the two main price climbs were just where the Hedge Funds bought back stock to cover positions after shorting it on opening day

Poor company, poor management, poor service.....and that was before they went public. They are also now hampered (excuse the pun) by Waitrose (their original partner) now competing in their main market place and winning customers hands down.

[rfn]

Slav, as you're in Glos you should find you're in catchment area for one of your local Waitrose branches own service - WaitroseDeliver. Spend over £50 and they will deliver your shopping for free, too.

A lot of our customers have switched from Ocado to Waitrose, bizarre?

[mrmr96]

I thought Ocado and Waitrose were the same?!

[rfn]

mrmr96 said:

I thought Ocado and Waitrose were the same?!

Not So.
Waitrose has a financial investment in Ocado (well, actually the pension fund does, but that's irrelevant). Ocado also have a license to sell many of Waitrose branded goods (i.e. essential Waitrose etc). They don't have anything to do with Waitrose other than that.

[TUS 373]

In contrast, our experience of Ocado has been excellent. The drivers have called us in the past to say they are 10 minutes early and would it be alright to deliver even though it is slightly ahead of the chosen slot. Never had anything but excellent service from them, which is more than can be said than with Tesco.

[the-gofer]

Same here. We've used Ocado for three or four years now and as far as I can remember the only no-show we have had was during some really bad weather a couple of years ago. We got our delivery charge refunded and a fair old sized good will voucher of a few quid. They also gave us two free bottles of wine in our next order IIRC. I suspect it's just down to the drivers in the area. We also have very few problems with Royal Mail, Home Delivery Network etc.
Maybe people oop Norf are just pleased to have a job

[Roo]

TUS 373 said:

In contrast, our experience of Ocado has been excellent. The drivers have called us in the past to say they are 10 minutes early and would it be alright to deliver even though it is slightly ahead of the chosen slot. Never had anything but excellent service from them, which is more than can be said than with Tesco.

Same here.

[oldbanger]

I've never had any issues with the drivers, but the packing can be haphazard.

The latest delivery had food and toiletries packed with weedkiller and slug pellets. I made them take back all the food items. Customer services got a snotty email, and whilst I got an email reply, they didn't seem to be particularly bothered by the issue.

My biggest gripe with Ocado is their "product request" service. They generally claim that the items are not locatable (as in, they can't verify that they exist at all), even if they are common items and even if Ocado stocked them up till recently. A couple of times I went as far as supplying barcode numbers, but they then responded that they couldn't help and in future could I supply barcodes to assist?

OK I know that sainsburys et al don't offer a product request service full stop (I've asked), but I'd prefer that to being repeatedly being knocked back/fobbed off.

Edited by oldbanger on Tuesday 24th August 18:40

[Big_Dog]

Over 2 years we have never had a hint of grief. Always polite and always on time. (Really, I have no connection to ocado)

[Jasandjules]

Only had one delivery, thought it was very good, fellow called to say he was going to be late, went through the stuff and I like the way the bill tells you the expiry date (in date order!) of the products..

[Fort Jefferson]

Slaav said:

Anybody else seen any deterioration in service with these guys or is it just us?

We have used them for years, and they have been very good.

BUT the last four weeks have been anyhow.

Missing items and damaged stuff mainly.

[Orichalon]

Been using Ocado for many years, had absolutely no problems with them at all yet. Always on time, and quite often early.

[Nickyboy]

I'd say the only problem with Ocado is that their stuff doesn't come from store but from a distribution centre so they aren't going to be local and as such would be harder to keep to delivery slots depending on the distance they have to travel

[grumbledoak]

We use Ocado every fortnight, and have only had a single dodgy substitution in two years or so.

That said, I'm not recommending their shares...

[B0LLIKS]

i have always used tescos mainly because one of their drivers is realy rather nice.