Ocado now it's dropped Waitrose- what's the quality like now?

[JinglingHellsBells]

I know this is old news, but opinions please.

I used to order from Ocado but haven't since very much at all since they dropped Waitrose. Get WR deliveries.

Reason being I cook 90% from scratch and find M&S quite ready-meal heavy.

Having said that, Ocado does have a few things that I'd buy - mainly toiletries and some more unusual ingredients. I'm still paying for a delivery saver so wondering whether to get an occasional order.

BUT how do you find the quality of everyday fruit and veg ?
Are prices pretty much the same as Waitrose (I've done a quick comparison and they seem almost the same.)

I'm just about to go back to Sainsbury after 5 years with Ocardo! They have just tied to increase my smart pass to £9.99 a month from £3.99 a month and I'm afraid it's not worth it. The prices of food has crept up, and the range has slimmed down. So the combination is means it's a lot worse.

My only problem is that our Waitrose locally is tiny and that’s where they would deliver from so there isn’t a great choices there either

I stuck with Ocado through the pandemic. Even though I missed the Waitrose range. But when they decided to triple the cost of the smartpass I started using Waitrose instead.

Interesting to read other people's views. I'm about to cancel my smart pass after 17 years as the cost has sky rocketed and the range and quality gone massively downhill. Missing items and substitutions are also very high.

Just cancelled our smart pass after nearly 15 years. The ranges got smaller and smaller and the price got bigger and bigger! Switched to Tesco who rarely sub (and if they do, you don't pay any more for a more expensive product) have much better choice AND we're saving £20-£30 a week. I wish I'd done it ages ago!

I'd echo a lot of what's been said here. When they made the switch they pledged to match "each and every" (their exact words) Waitrose line with an equivalent, so there would be no diminishment of the range.

It started reasonably well, and I could indeed get an own label equivalent (either M&S or Ocado OL) at the same price. But that was short lived. Whilst branded stuff is still available, there are loads of things I can't get there now, and in lots of cases you can only get a branded product - which I'm not interested in. Things like tonic water (Waitrose OL is the best, IMO) - can only get branded; tomato puree - only branded; tinned tomatoes - only branded; specific spices/pastes (nduja, gojuchang) - only branded... Hardly any OL pasta - just macaroni, penne and spaghetti... I could go on.
None of these 'matter' per se, in that they're all things I can get in Lidl or Waitrose, but they've gone back on their pledge and that's what's annoying.

The 3 for £10 is nowhere near as good, as said upthread. And the quality of some of the M&S OL replacements is terrible - the bran flakes are vile (Lidl's are much better), the greaseproof paper came on a roll with no means of cutting - corners clearly being cut for cost.

I use it for convenience, but increasingly less often. And a brand new Lidl is on the verge of opening a couple of miles away, so I imagine my smart pass might be getting cancelled very soon.

We also hung in there, partly out of inertia as I couldn't face finding all my favourites on a new app. Going to knock it on the head too though, prices going up every order and the range just isn't what I hoped for- some really weird branded £££ stuff when i just need the value/ normal ranges.

I'm still using Ocado but only because when I tried to go to Waitrose online it was hard to get slots, the user interface was shite and I got loads of out of stocks.
But.
I miss Waitrose on Ocado EVERY DAY. I'd give my eye teeth for it to go back to how it was.
I always do a physical shop in Waitrose if I can.

I keep reading this everywhere
They must be gutted

For those who are now using Waitrose for deliveries, how have you found it getting delivery slots?

Ive tried to change to W once but was struggling to get a slot every week so ended up going back to Ocado, for the delivery not the quality.

Agree with others that the quality has gone downhill and I’m also spending more (I can see from past orders how the prices have increased).

We've been with Ocado for 15 years. We never buy ready meals. M&S expanded their ranges when it signed up with Ocado. We can still buy all the ingredients that we used to buy. They still sell the Ocado range, Natoora and lots of other ranges too. It's definitely not all ready meals.

Agreed Housewife2010, it's not all ready meals, it's just that the non-ready meal stuff is worse value, and some ingredients simply aren't available any more.

My kids love orzo pasta. Waitrose own brand is £1.70 per 500g. Ocado only have branded Garofolo at £2.40 per 500g. I like freekeh for lunch. Ocado don't have it any more.

I mean, in the grand scheme of things this isn't one of the great injustices of all time. But it is annoying.

This thread has given me the kick to actually cancel and defect to another provider. Have booked Waitrose this week. Order was a bit painful as obviously I couldn't use the instant shop option but it's worth it. See ya Ocado!

Being pedantic, but it wasn't Ocado that dropped Waitrose OP, it was the other way round. It was an end dated JV as Waitrose always planned to build up it's own on-line service.

You need to book ahead with Waitrose, they seem to run a 3 week delivery schedule and I try to always have 3 shops booked. Otherwise you can forget getting a delivery, that's my only bugbear.

You get the odd missed item but they're far more reliable than Ocado.

I found the same as many other posters: I really missed the Waitrose items I used to buy and didn't want breaded chicken instead for starters. I now shop at Morrisons.

Ocado isn't that bad, it's just not as good as it was.

But they've lost some of my spending, as I now get a Waitrose every couple of weeks

Agree that tinned stuff is nearly all branded now (Waitrose is brilliant for tinned pulses), they only do small jars of marmite, and M&S brand tonic is nowhere near as nice as Waitrose (they did have a Schweppes offer, but that's gone now)

Ocado isn't that bad, it's just not as good as it was.

I agree. The fruit and veg that we buy are great from Ocado but I do miss the Waitrose options. Some M&S items have been good.

Recently Ocado’s lack of fruit and vegetables was surprising- especially over Christmas. (But I wasn’t sure if this was just an Ocado problem) There were literally no frozen vegetables available - we usually buy the Picard frozen roasted veg, frozen broccoli and now the M&S Frozen roasted Mediterranean vegetables but none were available over Christmas.

We do get a mid-week fresh fruit & veg top-up delivery from Able & Cole which is excellent, reliable and probably massively overpriced.

we do also get the occasional groceries from Amazon Fresh when needed.

M&S expanded their ranges when it signed up with Ocado. We can still buy all the ingredients that we used to buy. They still sell the Ocado range, Natoora and lots of other ranges too. It's definitely not all ready meals.

I agree with this also. M&S have a lot more items available via Ocado than in their shops (or the ones that I used to go to). I have about a dozen Natoora cloth bags from that buy 3 items get the cloth bag free . I love their white peaches.

The only reasons I haven’t cancelled my Smart Pass and defected to Waitrose are:

• the One-Click add to order. I hate having to check out an entire order if I only want to add one thing.
• the fact that they still pack in bags (and take them away again next time). It’s much easier to take a delivery in rather than having to scrabble around on the doorstep in the cold.

I agree with the posters above who refer to a narrowing range of products and fewer “ingredients”. I may downgrade to a midweek-only pass though.

I much preferred Ocado when it stocked Waitrose products, but have stuck with it because when ordering directly from Waitrose instead the service has often been really poor - missing items, damaged items leaking over everything, broken bottles of wine/beer, wrong products etc. I also generally find stock levels better at Ocado. However I wish M&S produced more foods without palm oil.

The last few weeks deliveries from Ocado have been very questionable in quality and incredibly short shelf lives on fresh produce so I've just cancelled our smart pass after 15 years as I'm fed up of dodgy items and having to claim refunds.
It definitely doesn't work for us anymore and I will just get Natoora and other bits sporadically delivered or pop to Whole foods for a treat !
I also irrationally hate their " good news no missing items " emails as surely that's not something I should be thrilled they have got right but standard practice!!!

We’ve switched from Ocado to Waitrose recently. Waitrose are hard to get slots for during lockdown ( although driving for the click and collect order was an exciting day out at that point). But I’ve found it easier and easier to get delivery slots. I always have a choice of multiple Saturday and Sunday slots if I book by Wednesday.

We buy most of our meat at a farm shop, but I find the Waitrose range of fish and other fresh goods excellent, with a really wide choice. Also easy to pick up toiletries, pet food, magazines etc.

I think they are also really good at communicating with the customer base. I enjoy their little weekend newspaper and the ideas in the magazine and on the website.

We have just received a £15 for the next 2 shops offer from Ocado to come back as we are not ordering as often, anyone else receive the offer?

I’m going against the grain because I think I prefer their M&S pairing

Thanks for the push. I’ve just cancelled my Smart Pass.