Ocado are suspending their reserved order system

[Neednewwellies]

I’ve been using Ocado for 12yrs. We pay extra for a reserved pass. A week or so ago they emailed to say existing customers were priority and especially those with a reserved slot. Made a thing about supporting loyalty etc. Now today I’ve received an email telling me that not only is the delivering expecting tomorrow not coming but they’ve decided to suspend the reserved slots and it’s every (wo)man for themselves. Of course, there’s no slot available for weeks.
I’m angry and worried. Why not continue to prioritise those who have a set slot. Surely adding those thousands into the traffic of people desperately trying to get a slot will just make the situation worse? As soon as this is over I’ll be leaving them. No way will I continue to pay extra when they’ve behaved like this. How can they leave it until the day before to drop this on us? £150 a week plus the monthly fast pass fee to be treated like this. I wouldn’t even mind if they were on twitter holding their hands up but they’ve gone silent.

The sooner people realise that no supermarket delivery company is an emergency service and don't actually owe you anything, the better. They have enough vans to deal with a busy Christmas. That’s it. Some of you need to get a fucking grip and go shopping yourselves.

I would love to go shopping myself

Unfortunately the little detail of the leukaemia makes it highly inadvisable. Even with the government ‘shield’ letter and registered on the hub, I can’t find out how to get Ocado to recognise this (they say they are prioritising the vulnerable, but that’s not much help if the vulnerable among their existing customers cannot make themselves known and verify their circumstances)

Emails still unanswered

I’m sorry about your illness.

It still doesn’t change things. Ocado, etc are not an emergency service. They’re all doing their very best. Remember they are worried, have poorly family too.

It seems quite random - I got the email yesterday that i had priority access for the day but still had to wait in a queue for well over an hour to get onto the site. I wanted to edit an existing order.
But i still have my reserved delivery slot as normal and it seems ok, touch wood .
(It's for next week so a lot can happen before then.)

@iVampire 💐

I’ve managed to get on, looks like my delivery tonight will be arriving, there are a few subs. Also managed to edit my April 4th order however it wouldn’t let me book any more slots, it said non available from the 6th onwards. That’ll be regional. Still not had any emails from them!

Hope everyone gets sorted.

You can tell Ocado you are vulnerable by emailing (you can reply to your last confirmation of order) or, if you still have a delivery coming, by asking the driver to tell the management.

I had a text message from them this morning saying sorry I didn’t get on in the priority queue yesterday and saying I could access it today.

I did get on yesterday though.

I think their systems are completely out of whack. I know they are under pressure but up to now they’ve been bombproof. You’d have thought they’d be more resilient when online shopping is all they do.

I never said they were an emergency service.

I was pointing out why I, along with a number of other posters on this thread, can’t just
get a fucking grip and go shopping yourselves

Ocado are themselves saying on the ‘pause/queue’ web page that vulnerable customers have access. I am not asking for anything beyond that which they gave themselves chosen to publish as providing

I’ve not had any email from Ocado but when I tried their website earlier it said straight away ‘aYou have been given priority access to the website’ as we have released new slots today with a 29minute wait.
Of course when I got on there were no slots available.

I do have a midweek delivery plan, could this be why I have some sort of priority? Or have they somehow found out I’m a registered carer for my disabled daughter via DWP?

Heaven only knows

Lots are treating them, and others, as one. Whether you said it or not is immaterial. I’m saying they’re not. @ivampire.

It’s a tough time but it’s not up to them solely to make sure they deliver to you. They don’t have the resources - No supermarket does. How can they possibly? It’s not even promising to help all vulnerable people, as ever, it’s first come, first served. What would you have done if this service wasn’t available at all?

I just don’t think people get it at all.

They have 10 times the demand as usual and presumably lots of staff not working (like everyone else). I imagine they are doing their best! Not perfectly, but with good intentions.

Raging about this is pointless. I'm afraid we just have to roll with it at the moment. I don't really see why Reserved customers should be rewarded for loyalty at the moment. If you want to abandon Ocado afterwards then that's up to you. But personally I'll happy to stick with them as they work best for me.

I've actually not had a message yet saying that my Reserved orders aren't working. I've gone in and edited the one for next Thursday and there is one for the week after in the system too. I don't think they normally show further ahead than that. My order this Thursday was preceded by a confusing message saying there was a problem, but it came just fine. And amazingly only two items were missing!!

But if they do cancel my orders then so be it...Yes if it happens just before it is due and I have very little food in the house then I won't be particularly happy. But worse things happen! Very few of us are actually going to starve. There is food in the shops (or at friends' houses). It might not be we planned but it's not the end of the world.

Well yesterday mine turned up after all. Not really much in it but at least it had milk and bread albeit both were substitutions. About 25 items ordered weren’t available and lots more substitutions. So now I’m wondering about the random email the day before telling me that unfortunately they had cancelled my order due the following day. Who knows.

And why shouldn’t existing customers who’ve shown loyalty for 10yrs + get priority? Not over the vulnerable and shielded of course but over everyone else who’ve recently joined because they’re trying anywhere and who’ll no doubt return to their normal shopping habits after this is over. I won’t be staying with Ocado after this, not because they’ve rightfully prioritised the shielded group, although that seems patchy too if @iVampire’s case is anything to go by but because they’ve not prioritised fast pass customers over those just joined due to CV.

Zoo membership. I've already lost 3w

I had to read this a few times to believe it. I’m shocked and unbelievably disappointed at this attitude.

People are dying in large numbers, people are struggling to breathe and there aren’t enough hospital beds to care for them, bodies are being put on ice so they can be cremated quickly before infecting others and people are concerned they are not getting the full benefit of their annual zoo pass.

What makes some people so self absorbed.

I'm in the shielding group. Had the letter etc. I can assure you that no delivery slots are going to those in this group. I've emailed all the supermarkets and those that have replied have confirmed that there is no priority

Sadly it’s really showing how self absorbed people really are @theschoolonthehill. The entitlement is staggering.

@dame I am beginning to hate people.

Me too. Twats.

I find it hard to slate any company unless they are using the situation to their advantage and being greedy.

As like in my job, I work in customer services and had to let down customers. We also didn't keep everyone informed to any changes or why. I agree that's crap service but right now there is no service!! We've all been sent home now and last week had 2 people in trying to do everything.

It's just a unique situation we are in sheff 'normal rules' and 'normal service' go out the window.

In this situation I agree with cancelling any reserved slot but not with any outstanding orders.

Glad to hear it turned up. I think it was a badly worded email that didn’t make it explicitly clear that orders that were checked out were ok. That was how I read it, but it was confusing.

I got an email yesterday saying that I could book a slot.
I’ve got a delivery coming next Friday anyway so I didn’t need it. I left it for a couple of hours and then realised that I could place an order for my mum. When I went on I still had the whole of Sat 11th to choose from.

I think there's a lot of confusion over what's going on with Ocado.

Reserved slots have currently been suspended - we lost ours, as did my parents.

If you are an Anytime SmartPass customer, and have been since before 2020, you will get priority access for 1 delivery per week. Access to book a delivery is being given in groups to help them spread out the load on the website and warehouses.

If you weren't an existing Ocado customer prior to this crisis starting, you won't be allowed to sign up and won't be getting a delivery.

Compared to the other supermarkets it's quite different with Ocado, if you think about it. Sainsbury's, et al, are encouraging customers to visit the shops if they can. Ocado don't have shops so they have to prioritise existing customers who are paying through the nose for an Anytime pass, otherwise they will have no business remaining when this is over. It's no good them letting new customers have deliveries and then their business being decimated, so they're not.

Great post @downtownabby.

It's no good them letting new customers have deliveries and then their business being decimated, so they're not.

And neither do they owe anyone that service, either.

They will lose a lot of their loyal customers when this is all over. People shopping with them just during the pandemic will unlikely stay.

@FlamingoAndJohn, I think it’s varying from area to area. I went in last night after the order came to try and book another one. I was given priority access but there was no slots available over the coming 3wks. I’ll try again today and if no luck, tomorrow.

Oddly we lost our usUal slot, then had one for 24 April. Now we have from 8th April

But from Sept they are dropping waitrose anyway so not sure we will stay then. M&S too expensive and not a fan of morrisons.

I've been a customer of theirs for years - I just want some communication - even a general facebook post about what their policy is during this odd time - surely they have a Comms person?

I suspect the new customers are not as profitable as their old customers - they must be conflicted.