Ocado Slots

[LesLavandes]

Is anybody having difficulty getting a slot?

I pay an annual fee. No slots at all. I have tried since Sunday

They also brought my order editing forward so I missed the cut off. Called them and asked them to cancel it. I haven’t received texts or emails about it either. The order I was unable to edit was for tomorrow. I could then book a new slot also for tomorrow and I can edit to 10 on tonight. Makes no sense

So you didn’t see the mention of the order farce that was the M&S launch day then?

Hundreds of orders cancelled, orders which had been booked weeks in advance with the excuse that supply had outstripped demand.

Also, if you look on twitter people are constantly mentioning Ocado in reference to their order being cancelled last minute.

And several people on here who were regular shoppers and shielding told they weren’t entitled to priority slots because they didn’t spend enough...

NoCauseRebel do you shop with them? How have your orders been?

I absolutely get that different customers are having very different experiences which is why I’m asking about your personal experience

I’ve had no issues during lockdown for my weekly shop. I’ve got order coming tonight with nothing missing and no substitutes.

Throw in free Toblerone, Percy Pigs and Tony's chocolate I’m a happy customer and yes again I know not everyone is

Spurred on by this list I tried to book another slot - none available at all!

GU24Mum I’m North West where are you? I’m wondering if it’s regional

Are the still doing the colour coded access? I’m purple when I log in

I had my last scheduled delivery today and I’m unable to book any more slots. Normally I have a delivery every week.

I have used Ocado for many years and have a smart pass that I doubt I’ll renew because they have become so unreliable.

I did manage to get a Christmas slot but have cancelled it as I can’t rely on them to have anything in stock.

I’ve just booked deliveries with Tesco and Asda to cover the next few weeks and I will also use my local butcher.

Ontheboardwalk - we're in Surrey so perhaps there's been more of a surge here? Luckily we don't rely on it and I'll keep checking in case they are holding back slots and then releasing them. If I can't get a slot this side of Christmas though, I'll be cancelling my Smartpass!

I have got into the habit of booking 3 deliveries at a time, never had issues and was allowed to use the app after it shut down quite early. I think this may be related to the fact that my purchases are basically funding the CEO’s pension 😁, and have been for nigh on 15 years. Seriously though it must be a location thing

@Aragog

Added to which Ocado are renowned for cancelling orders at the last minute, regularly

Ten plus years of using them and never had that once.

Although they've had some issues over lockdown I have to say that overall I still rate them to the others I've used.

For almost all of,lockdown I had regularly weekly deliveries.
Before and during lockdown I've rarely had missing items or subs, nor since.
I've never had a cancelled order in that time.

They've been more reliable than any other supermarket delivery service, hence I still use them.

I agree. I had regularly weekly deliveries for all of lockdown, and they then started offering me slots more frequently.

I've got slots booked up to 3rd December every 5 or 6 days. I did see mention on the website that they may have to bring forward the edit time, but I've still got my regular edit time (they text 48 hours in advance to tell you the edit cut off). I assume it depends on demand in the local area.

I am supposedly a priority customer with Waitrose but can I get a delivery? Not a chance.

Over 10 years using them. Anytime smart pass holder £10/month one.

First lockdown the cancelled a delivery then didn’t give me priority access. I couldn’t get any slots with them until about June. Swore I wouldn’t use them but slunk back out of habit and ease. Now I see no slots available apart from the ones I have booked tomorrow and next Friday. Nothing else at all (live in South East). I also missed the Christmas slots - the email about them went into junk and I didn’t see it in time, they were all gone.

What is the point of being a smart pass holder if for the next two months I’m paying £20 and can’t get any deliveries.

The website is excellent, drivers great, very rare to have missing items or substitutions but their sense of customer loyalty is AWFUL.

My theory is that if you had the foresight originally back in February to keep booking 4 weeks in advance and large enough orders then the software was more likely to predict that you are a priority customer. As this latest lockdown was foreseeable the people I know who are Ocado customers have all been booking 4 weeks in advance, they also did not let their Xmas slot email go to Junk Etc - so these are the kind of other customers you are competing with. There are only so and so many slots

musicaldilemma you know what that actually makes more sense than the other theories I’ve seen on here

I cancelled Ocado smart pass in Dec after many years when they tried to put up my smart pass to £9.99 and I used Waitrose for my main shop (they were rubbish) for a couple of months. I went back to Ocado in Feb when they offered me a years anytime pass for £60 for a year

No doubt I would have been seen as a new smart pass customer but did immediately set up 4 weeks of a big shop. I’ve had no issues during the first lockdown and can still have daily deliveries (albeit need to do a week in advance now) and have booked up to the 4th December

Your theory makes sense to me

I’ve just cancelled my smart pass and am giving up on Ocado for now. I love the service when it works but at the moment I can’t get slots, so many things are out of stock and I end up having to order more expensive brands when it’s an expensive place to shop already.

I also think musical is right. I was moaning about this with a friend and she does as you say and hasn’t had any issues. Big foodies and spend a lot too.

How far ahead are people able to book at the moment? I was able to do 3 weeks but my last slot is now the 20th. If I try to change the slot there is plenty of availability the week after but I can’t book another slot only change it.

Also stock availability is AWFUL the benefit of having 3 weeks of deliveries booked is that I could add out of stock items to week 3 but now items are just permanently out of stock. I love Ocado and throughly they did ok through lockdown but since the M&S switch it’s impossible to do a normal (cheapish) weekly shop all the cheap brands are out of stock and I have no interest in paying double what I normally do for the expensive super duper organic version.

After a few days of not being able to see more than about 3 days ahead i now have availability up to 25th. Have booked with Sainsburys now though for next week as didn't want to wait for slots to become available.

They've just emailed to say they want to put my smart pass up from £3.99 a month to £7.99. After the total fiasco this year I think they are mighty cheeky fuckers and I'm likely to be looking elsewhere

My reserve order placed automatically this morning so I now have a slot every Thursday to the 10th December. I can't book anything outside of those slots.

I can book daily till the 9th Dec. I'll admit my weekly spend has gone through the roof. I’m getting what I’ve ordered so am sticking with it for now

I would be wary of the reserve orders though. They were the first to get cancelled during the last meltdown. I don’t think the software could cope.

I too can see many slots, I’ve got slots booked once a week until Christmas, always have 4 booked at any one time. I’ve been with them since the beginning and spend 100-200 quid a week. I do agree that availability of stuff has noticeably changed since Waitrose dropped out but I wonder if they are still working out patterns of demand and so this may improve?

@musicaldilemma

My theory is that if you had the foresight originally back in February to keep booking 4 weeks in advance and large enough orders then the software was more likely to predict that you are a priority customer. As this latest lockdown was foreseeable the people I know who are Ocado customers have all been booking 4 weeks in advance, they also did not let their Xmas slot email go to Junk Etc - so these are the kind of other customers you are competing with. There are only so and so many slots

I think you are right. Since Feb I have booked as far in advance as they've allowed which most of the time has been 4 weeks. When they sent emails prompting me to book in advance, I did so. I've always got slots easily and I got the app back quickly too. I guess what you do allows them to predict what you will want in future, and as there is demand the software has to make assumptions about how to apportion deliveries.

@musicaldilemma

My theory is that if you had the foresight originally back in February to keep booking 4 weeks in advance and large enough orders then the software was more likely to predict that you are a priority customer. As this latest lockdown was foreseeable the people I know who are Ocado customers have all been booking 4 weeks in advance, they also did not let their Xmas slot email go to Junk Etc - so these are the kind of other customers you are competing with. There are only so and so many slots

I think that's right. I can have 2 deliveries a week and I book 3 weeks in advance. As soon as one delivery has arrived I book the next available slot. One of the deliveries per week is delivered to my adult daughter and her children, who are in our bubble. We are also fairly high spenders on there. My deliveries are around £150 a week and my daughter's is usually just under £100.

I know how fortunate we are and I'm just waiting for Ocado to limit us again. The start of lockdown was so stressful. Despite being smart pass customers I had to really fight for a delivery at all.

We had to try Asda a few times and the quality and choice was terrible.

I have hardly used them since they took over M&S and prefer to stick to waitrose in my town going when it's quiet or click and collect.