Ocado

[bitchstewie]

Apologies for what might be dumb questions

I registered with Ocado last year "just in case" but never needed them.

Just had a quick look on their website and oddly there are delivery slots in my area tomorrow but nothing showing beyond then

Anyway my question was is there anything I need to be aware of or watch out for with them?

I'm staggered at the amount of choice and a little part of me is asking "how do they sell what looks like fresh bread" when I think of those giant warehouses full of automated baskets on conveyer belts.

Probably over-thinking it as it's just like buying stuff from Amazon these days

[Cotty]

Don't they just deliver for a supermarket, used to be Waitrose, but think they also deliver for Morrisons

[sherman]

You do realise the fresh bread unless its baked instore goes through at least 2 warehouses before getting to the store shelf which is essentially another warehouse.
Ocado just bypass the store shelf bit.

[Ham_and_Jam]

Been with Ocado for a couple of years now. Always been good quality produce with a first class delivery service and drivers.

Anything that is not perfect is always refunded without question (I don’t abuse the system so not sure how far there generosity goes!).

As far as delivery slots go, they normally have 2 weeks available, but the overwhelming shift to online during the lockdown has meant they have had to prioritise and ration the slots. Currently there are no slots in our area to view (I have one for next week), but they release them based on your eligibility and how recently you had a delivery. It’s not normal but does ensure it’s as fair as can be at the moment. Over the whole of the pandemic we have managed to get enough deliveries from Ocado with this system.

As far as ‘fresh bread’ goes, it’s as fresh as any supermarket, probably fresher as it’s straight from warehouse to door, cutting out the smaller store warehouse and shop floor.

They recently ditched Waitrose for M&S, so most M&S products are available through Ocado. I was initially disappointed at losing Waitrose, as they did have a lot of good own label products. However they have matched most of those and they are now branded Ocado. The extra M&S products however more than make up for the lost Waitrose products.

Overall I really like Ocado.

[Deep Thought]

bhstewie said:

Apologies for what might be dumb questions

I registered with Ocado last year "just in case" but never needed them.

Just had a quick look on their website and oddly there are delivery slots in my area tomorrow but nothing showing beyond then

Anyway my question was is there anything I need to be aware of or watch out for with them?

I'm staggered at the amount of choice and a little part of me is asking "how do they sell what looks like fresh bread" when I think of those giant warehouses full of automated baskets on conveyer belts.

Probably over-thinking it as it's just like buying stuff from Amazon these days

How would they not sell fresh bread? Brought in by the lorry load direct from the bakery and distributed out probably almost immediately.

Fresher than getting a Tesco delivery.

Dont think of it like Amazon, think of it like Tescos but without the need for bricks and mortar supermarkets. They distribute from vast warehouses.

[bitchstewie]

Sorry when I say fresh bread I mean what looks more like the "loose" stuff you'd get at the in-store bakery.

I don't mean a load of Hovis

[Deep Thought]

Cotty said:

Don't they just deliver for a supermarket, used to be Waitrose, but think they also deliver for Morrisons

No. They had a relationship with Waitrose for a long time but they were always an entitity in their own right.

50% of the Ocado Retail joint venture was sold to M&S for something like £750 million. This gave M&S the capability for home deliveries of their groceries for the first time.

Ocado Solutions offers their Ocado Smart Platform technology to other companies. They build Customer Fulfilment Centres, and supply the robots and technology to run them.

On the back of reselling their tech to other companies their shareprice has shot up from under £3.00 in 2017 to around £25 now.

[badgerade]

Only issue we've had with them is the later evening deliveries eg 9pm (which we've had more of since the slots are much harder to come by at the mo). For fresh meat/fish etc they have a 2 day rule, ie the use by date will be at least 2 days after the delivery date. Unfortunately they seem to include the delivery day as part of this, which is not great when the delivery hasn't arrived until 9/10pm..

Overall though, they're great. Reasonable substitutions, drivers helpful, easy refund process for stuff that's damaged etc.

[SlimJim16v]

Unfortunately every M&S item that we've tried so far, that has replaced the Waitrose equivalent has been st.

[bitchstewie]

OK so next dumb question.

It looks like they're releasing delivery slots a day at a time where I live.

Not sure as last night nothing was showing for today or tomorrow but right now slots show tomorrow

If I pick a slot it looks like they keep the slot open for 60 minutes so if I get everything in the basket in an hour all good.

If I don't does it keep the basket longer than a few hours i.e. come back tomorrow and it'll still be there?

[easytiger123]

SlimJim16v said:

Unfortunately every M&S item that we've tried so far, that has replaced the Waitrose equivalent has been st.

Despite initial scepticism, I've found more often than not the M&S stuff to be at least as good as the Waitrose products and in some (but not all instances) better.

[Puggit]

bhstewie said:

OK so next dumb question.

It looks like they're releasing delivery slots a day at a time where I live.

Not sure as last night nothing was showing for today or tomorrow but right now slots show tomorrow

If I pick a slot it looks like they keep the slot open for 60 minutes so if I get everything in the basket in an hour all good.

If I don't does it keep the basket longer than a few hours i.e. come back tomorrow and it'll still be there?

You have to check out - the money is not taken until much later. So load up, check out - you can still edit it until the night before delivery.

[NDA]

bhstewie said:

OK so next dumb question.

It looks like they're releasing delivery slots a day at a time where I live.

Not sure as last night nothing was showing for today or tomorrow but right now slots show tomorrow

If I pick a slot it looks like they keep the slot open for 60 minutes so if I get everything in the basket in an hour all good.

If I don't does it keep the basket longer than a few hours i.e. come back tomorrow and it'll still be there?

The supermarkets are prioritising vulnerable customers - so if you're at home self-shielding (and are on the government list) then you'll log in and see more slots than someone not on their list. Available slots are then gradually released after this.

As someone else has noted, you need to 'check out' with your basket (i.e. provide a credit card number) within an hour of getting a delivery slot - or you lose the slot. The basket can be edited many times - so you can add or subtract from the basket up until the day before delivery. As long as you check out each time. The payment is taken immediately before delivery.

[bitchstewie]

NDA said:

The supermarkets are prioritising vulnerable customers - so if you're at home self-shielding (and are on the government list) then you'll log in and see more slots than someone not on their list. Available slots are then gradually released after this.

As someone else has noted, you need to 'check out' with your basket (i.e. provide a credit card number) within an hour of getting a delivery slot - or you lose the slot. The basket can be edited many times - so you can add or subtract from the basket up until the day before delivery. As long as you check out each time. The payment is taken immediately before delivery.

Thanks and yes makes sense.

There were slots showing this morning then there weren't then there were so I've just done the shop.

God it's like being a kid in a sweet shop

[Mr MXT]

Ham_and_Jam said:

Been with Ocado for a couple of years now. Always been good quality produce with a first class delivery service and drivers.

Anything that is not perfect is always refunded without question (I don’t abuse the system so not sure how far there generosity goes!).

We got a leaky bottle of bleach which wasn’t spotted until we unpacked and it went all over my sleeve. They credited me the cost of a new jumper.

Very impressed with Ocado, by far the best of the ones we use (Ocado, Morrison’s, Sainsbury’s, Tesco)

[Ham_and_Jam]

Mr MXT said:

We got a leaky bottle of bleach which wasn’t spotted until we unpacked and it went all over my sleeve. They credited me the cost of a new jumper.

Very impressed with Ocado, by far the best of the ones we use (Ocado, Morrison’s, Sainsbury’s, Tesco)

I agree, we have used most online supermarkets, and still tend to use them in rotation. Mainly for variety, but also in the first lockdown deliveries were difficult so we spread our orders over the main 4. Now we get Ocado every second week, and one from any of the others in the other week. We’ve found them to be best in the following order (generalising quality and service):-

1. Ocado
2. Tesco
3. Sainsbury
4. Asda

We stopped getting anything from Morissons as they were just so inconsistent and poor.

[Dashnine]

We have used Ocado for a number of years as we found them best a long time ago and haven't bothered trying the others since.

They have an advantage that by using a warehouse in that when you order your items they are available and 'reserved' for you, whereas with the superstore based deliveries, someone is wheeling a trolley around the store on your behalf (unless other supermarkets have also moved to a warehouse operation). So if a member of the public comes in and takes the last item of what you had ordered, that's a missing item or (an often crazy) substitution.

Ocado generally have much lower missing or substituted items as no-one else can pinch 'your' item before it's picked for your delivery.

We're having a few issues with M&S goods instead of Waitrose but it's a huge ramp up to the volume and type of items Waitrose supplied. M&S are getting there, there are a few Waitrose favourites we miss but not enough to make us switch to Waitrose online (yet).

[bitchstewie]

So whilst trying to work out how Ocado release slots I tried randomly at all kinds of times over the weekend and there were no slots showing.

I tried this morning and there are slots showing most of Thursday so I reserved one and put together a basket that I can change until Wednesday evening.

Is this normal?

I'm trying to understand if they release slots based on demand/availability or if they literally deliver to a certain area on particular days?

[Dashnine]

bhstewie said:

So whilst trying to work out how Ocado release slots I tried randomly at all kinds of times over the weekend and there were no slots showing.

I tried this morning and there are slots showing most of Thursday so I reserved one and put together a basket that I can change until Wednesday evening.

Is this normal?

I'm trying to understand if they release slots based on demand/availability or if they literally deliver to a certain area on particular days?

Yes, make sure you checkout your basket though, otherwise you'll lose the slot. Payments not actually taken until delivery.

Slots do change, they'll have a system telling them when slots are running out and can probably assign another van to the area. We can get deliveries on any day of the week, but have a 'free deliveries on Tue, Weds or Thurs' pass, paid for every 6 months. If you're in a more rural or less likely to use Ocado demographic then they may only assign a van on certain days.

[PorkInsider]

bhstewie said:

So whilst trying to work out how Ocado release slots I tried randomly at all kinds of times over the weekend and there were no slots showing.

I tried this morning and there are slots showing most of Thursday so I reserved one and put together a basket that I can change until Wednesday evening.

Is this normal?

I'm trying to understand if they release slots based on demand/availability or if they literally deliver to a certain area on particular days?

Yes, quite normal.

Also note that if you book a delivery for a particular day because that's all you can get at the time, you might well find that you can change the slot if you go back to it later.

I'm sure they deliver to all areas every day - or at least they do here. Having used Ocado for years they've definitely been on every day of the week and, outside pandemic times, you can often choose from every day of the week when booking a slot.