Ocado, how many items? Am I being dense?

[AJPTaylor]

Had an email yesterday from Ocado saying they were increasing the number of slots I could access to one every 7days. They were doing this by restricting the number of items it's allowing people to order. I cannot for the life of me find out anymore detail on this. Is it a restriction on the number of items overall (like Tesco) or a limit of how many of each item (like only 2 of anything). I have put a modest basket together to hold the slot but don't want to do a full shop without understanding the rules!

Are you sure it said the number of items? They have stopped selling some heavy things like bottled water so they can deliver more, could it be that?

Ocado seems to be changing its policy daily, its chaos. I must have been told half a dozen different things by them over the past month, none of which actually seem to have happened/be happening. My latest from them (a couple of days ago) was that I could order once every 14 days, but with no mention of a restriction on the size of the order. I don't know how the other supermarkets are faring but Ocado seems to have been particularly crap with its comms.

The email says "the number of items in each delivery". But does not say what the number is!

I couldn't find an item number in the email either. Ridiculous!

Yes, I have gone from nothing to one every 10 days to one every 7. Even managed to book a slot for delivery to aged parent 4 hours away but they had run out of most of the stuff she is missing

On Monday I managed to get a slot for the next day. I suppose at least it's easier to find a slot now!

They really seem to have over-complicated the whole process. I'm not a smart pass holder but buy pretty regularly and have managed to get two deliveries since 18 March. No regular emails detailing slots to offer - just a couple early on explaining the suspension of the app and then the priority of vulnerable people. I have done a lot of queuing in the virtual lists which open on set days after 6. Once I've 'won' a slot there has been a lack of flour, yeast and general baking stuff I was expecting but I also haven't been able to buy any or little frozen goods. Everything was out of stock for my last delivery over the Easter weekend - Frozen chips, peas, pizzas, ice cream, pastry, prawns, fish fingers. Everything I tried to select and across all brands was showing as out of stock - I thought this was odd at the time but was this another restriction? I was only able to book vans without freezer capabilities on the route or were they trying to stop bulky deliveries?

Maybe they realised that by restricting people to one delivery a fortnight, they were going to order twice as much as they would with a weekly order.

I've had a weekly order for the last three weeks, I don't have a smart pass (at least I didn't, I've now got one for £2.99 a month.

Ocado have really pissed me off to be honest. I’ve had a smart pass for 18 months and I can’t get a slot at all. Seem to be able to get a Tesco slot if I check a few times a day relatively easily. Won’t be renewing my thick pass, that’s for sure.

Why is it so different for people? I have no smart pass (although
I have had in the past) and have no problem getting a slot -
I even had a text yesterday from them reminding me to book my next slot before they put them on general release. I can't get a new smart pass though and delivery has been ramped up to £6.99 which is a disgrace.

I've been lucky with Ocado. We have an anytime smart pass and I've been able to continue with our regular weekly orders through lockdown. We now have our next three weekly slots booked. Yeast seems impossible to get and there's a 3kg limit on flour. The prices have shot up as there are fewer offers, but we feel lucky to have our regular slots.