I am pleased that they are prioritising vulnerable customers
But they aren't, not really. After weeks of talking about prioritising the "elderly and vulnerable", they aren't even using that language any more. They are only prioritising those on the government's "extremely vulnerable" list who they HAVE to prioritise, and then only if the admin has worked. But the elderly and the otherwise "merely" vulnerable have been thrown under a bus by Ocado in order to prioritise their bigger spenders. They're prioritising the lucrative not the vulnerable.
My father (late 70s, kidney disease, heart condition, hypertension, asthma but not on the extremely vulnerable list) hasn't been favoured with priority access - in effect, told to piss off and go to the shops with everyone else. Same for my mother (late 70s, vision problems). They don't have anytime passes and they don't spend enough to have made the grade for priority access. Despite having identified as elderly and vulnerable to the contact centre several weeks ago and been assured Ocado would be trying to help.
There are also plenty of people who use Ocado week in week out because of health conditions which aren't themselves a specific Covid-19 vulnerability, but make accessing physical shops nigh on impossible even at the best of times. These people also seem to have been thrown under the bus if they didn't make the cut for priority access because of their spending patterns.
Unfortunately many of the "vulnerable or elderly" (but not "extremely vulnerable") won't be Ocado's biggest spenders, due to household size. As they're not on the government list Ocado have been able to quietly ditch them while continuing to make pious noises.
I've been given the lowest grade of priority access by Ocado (a once a week look for any leftover slots in the next 4 days). Clearly I am one of their "not really loyal enough" customers despite having shopped weekly with them for years as I "only" spend around the £90-100 mark and don't bother with an Anytime pass. So it's unlikely I will be able to get any slots to give to my parents, as I'm only being allowed to access the crumbs left by the "most loyal" ie biggest spenders.
I wouldn't mind if they were helping the vulnerable. But they're only helping those who the government is forcing them to help. Not good enough, Ocado.
I will take any random slots I am able to get, to help my parents out, but my "clearly not really good enough for Ocado anyway" custom will be going to Waitrose or Sainsburys, who have both tried harder for the elderly and vulnerable, when all this is over.