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.

UPDATE

I've been looking at the site all morning (got up ridiculously early because I couldn't sleep) and about 20 minutes ago it said that I had a priority place again with a wait of 5 minutes.

Good news - my basket was still there.

Bad news - It says "no available slots" from tomorrow till Tuesday, 7th April and then has the chart with a dash through each slot and you can't click on a delivery slot at all.

What is the point of giving anyone a priority slot if there is no availability? It's like slow torture. I wish they would just tell their long term customers to get lost. At least then I could mentally shrug and write them off. It's the saying one thing and doing another that is doing my head in.

It wouldn't be so bad if I thought an extremely vulnerable person was getting food in my place, but they don't seem to be getting slots either.

@MotherOfDragonite

We are based in the north unfortunately but thank you.

I have not received any emails saying slots will be available, just no communication whatsoever and the site is either down with a message over the weekend, or I am number 35,000 in the queue. I wait over 4 hours and then there is no slots again. That is how desperate it is.

If it is true that Ocado have a list of vulnerable customers then I should be on it as I am in the highest group, receiving the texts daily telling me to taking up Sudoku...yes really somebody is actually sending me those from the NHS Coronavirus service - I just want to feed my family!! 😂😂

We have local facebook groups but there are lots more desperate elderly people, some heartbreaking stories. I have been a smart pass anytime customer for over 10 years and I feel they have really let us down.

So today I got confirmation of my Reserved order for this Friday

Bless em, I don’t think they know whether they’re coming or going

@APatchyTom fill your trolley with what you need now - things are selling out closer to delivery time - they warn you and pay heed, they speak the truth on this.

Suddenly seems back to normal.
I got in immediately to edit my order for next Saturday. I could have booked a slot for tomorrow but didn't need one. Am hoping the next order will last for 3 weeks.

It must be different for different areas of the country as it is asking me to come back tomorrow 🤷‍♀️

mooboy yeah I know but the thing is when I had the mail to say Reserved was cancelled, I went on to the site (no priority slot required) and booked a slot anyway!

I get kicked out of the site when try to get in, no emails about priority or reserved slots, no reply to my email from 25th asking very politely what is happening. This morning they have charged my credit card for goodness knows what.
No one else is making this big a mess of it .

crikeycrumbsblimey

Do you pay for a smart pass monthly? It is supposed to be those customers who are getting priority, but it's a complete shambles at the moment. I sent a polite, but to the point, email to them this morning. Don't suppose I will get a reply, but it made me feel better.

I just got in instantly. Said I had priority access. I don't know why. Apart from having (weekday) Smart Pass and Reserved. I don't even want to do it now - I was just getting in queue as I was expecting it to take a few hours!

irregularegular

Are there any slots available in your area?

I can get in to the site instantly too. Pretty useless if you can't actually get a delivery slot.

Did anyone else get the email from Ocado on Thursday, saying if you had a smart pass for anytime delivery pre 2020, that you'd be assigned a group, and they would release slots for each group to go online and book when it was their group's turn?

It went on to say Ocado would send out emails and texts to people about their group and when the slots will be released for their group to then go online asap and book one. It said they'd start sending texts and emails to people last Friday between 9am and 5pm. So 3 days ago and I've heard nothing about my group yet. Anyone else?!

I've heard nothing! Anyone else?

I have had a midweek pass with a reserved slot for 5 years now - from this who shit show has started I have not received on email from them!

hope40

I have the Anytime Smart Pass and received the email on Thursday. I received the email to say that I now had priority on Saturday at 3.21pm. I still have priority access, but it's as much use as a chocolate teapot because there are no slots available.

I have been happily editing a reserved order due on Thursday since before lockdown. Every change has had a confirmation.
Saturday evening they confirmed that although I could do this, see the order and had the confirmation, actually, it wasn't coming.

Meanwhile DS had a Morrisons slot for this morning so I added everything I needed to that. Considering they use the same IT system I can get straight into Morrisons with no queue and no hassle, edit the order and check out.
Order arrived, same drivers, even the same bags but a service thats 100% improved on what Ocado are currently doing.

I know where I'll be going when this is over.

That sounds really annoying. If they had diverted the slots to the elderly/ vulnerable initially it would be understandable.

I have shopped with Tesco online for years as have a large family and a physical disability (not a severe one but lugging heavy shopping is difficult and painful). I always spend a lot as need to feed a large number of people. Now unable to get a slot and half the food unavailable anyway.

I have reverted to using Sainsburys in store as we are both NHS clinical staff and they are doing a half hour first thing which is working very well so far.

@hope40 nope not even had the first email!!!!! this? I’ve had a smart pass for nearly 3 years!!!

@hope40 Nope I didn’t even get that email! Ocado really are covering themselves in glory aren’t they.

I can't even get into the website, it keeps kicking me off.. not even in a queue. What is going on??

I have today received a text saying I can log in as priority customer due to health so I have been able to edit my order for Thursday. No slots available though after this at the moment.

On a positive note I am absolutely humbled regarding what arrived this morning. Firstly a box of essentials was left on the doorstep which was a food package from the government. Later in the day a local taxi came with 2 bags of essentials which he said was from the local council. I was so overwhelmed with the services coming together like this and making our life that bit easier. I never requested these, they just came out of the blue.

As I mentioned even though my partner is at home, if he goes outside then it is too risky for him to stay in the same living areas as I have no immune defence whatsoever. I didn't want to have to spend months in separate rooms from my partner and son. He was considering going to Tesco this morning and going through how to do it with less risk, I was in tears as I was so worried, then food parcels arrived on my doorstep - I am so grateful.

As I said before, it is not a financial issue, just logistics so feel a bit embarrassed accepting these supplies but I will donate similar to food banks when I can get back to normal.

I had a text last night saying I had priority access to the website to edit my order due on Wednesday. Great, I did that. No slots after that, though.

i dont think you will get access to the next slot until after you have a delivery

No e-mail/slot here, although my order for Saturday came OK (ordered two weeks earlier).

We have smart pass (pay for slots in advance etc) we received an email stating that every smart pass person is put in a group and will receive an email each week or two weeks to get a slot. There will be a slot available for these paying people. Luckily we paid for it if you didn't I can imagine it would be a pain however can see their thinking. If I pay per year and can't get a slot but people who don't pay can I'd be annoyed and want my money back 🤷🏼‍♀️