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.

(and i’m not in the shielded group, but i was disabled (blue badge, arthritis) and immunosuppressed and housebound before all this started. not sure how supermarkets are identifying their own vulnerable people. it’s not info i’ve ever offered them)

Someone with asthma may be vulnerable, but I doubt there are even enough slots for shielded group. They are talking about literally delivering food parcels to some. - no choice of food.

@LittleBearPad, yes but late. I normally get it on a Saturday morning after my Friday delivery. I didn’t get it until around 5pm on Saturday but I did get it. I went in yesterday and edited my order, taking off toilet roll and cheese and adding tuna, chocolate and extra wine. Bizarrely, it also told me I’d exceeded my allowance of Houmous when I tried to add a second tub of that. I didn’t know there had been a run on houmous. So all seemed well until the cancellation email.

I work and am perfectly capable of walking and buying my own food, but I have been told to stay in the house for at least 12 weeks so I don't die.

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g If your DH is in shielded group, you get a text then letter. There is info online of criteria for this group.

Agree, Gasp0de.

As I said earlier, I had a delivery booked for tomorrow, then it got cancelled, it’s now showing as back for delivery, but who knows whether it will turn up.

It is frustrating. I am a single parent, self isolating with 3 disabled children. I understand that these are unparalleled circumstances, and that current levels of service (across all delivery services) cannot meet demand.

I do, however, need to be able to make plans to feed us all - not on fresh, luxury goods (though that would be nice!) but just staples. If my delivery isn’t coming, I need to know in good time to be able to make alternative arrangements.

Having been a loyal Ocado customer with delivered twice a year for years and years I agree with you OP. If I thought they prioritised the vulnerable I would be ok with it but not sure they are that organised at the moment. I think they will lose loyal customers when this is over too.

The process is NHS identifies shielded group, shielded group get text then letter, you have to register as shielded group at gov.uk and it asks you questions about help you need. Gov.uk works with supermarkets. I don't know yet how well this last bit is going to work.

The whole supermarket delivery system needs a massive overhaul. It's so inefficient.

With most people at home, why don't they just state the time and day once a week that they will deliver to a particular street or area? Then you take that slot or go to the supermarket yourself?

Keyworkers could choose a time.

We pay extra for a reserved pass.

No you don’t. You pay for a Smart Pass, you don’t pay extra for reserved.

The reason for cancelling Reserved is simple. You don’t really reserve the slot, you simply have a recurring order. The order is created 6 days in advance unless you force it’s creation in advance. In the normal run of things there are enough slots so you can be sure that you will get your regular slot.
Right now there are a lot of people booking slots so they can’t promise that there will be capacity to honour your regular slot.

And from reading sainsbury's thread, half of MN seemed to think they were vulnerable because they had young kids, or their DP was a key worker, etc.

Is this 100% sure?! I have an Ocado due tomorrow and have not received any such email

Ocado had such goodwill going into this but their communication has been abysmal. Be honest with us! We know these are very tough times. Just give us the truth, regardless of how unpalatable it is, and then we'll have some certainty and can work with that.

Yes, this absolutely. As I keep saying, if Ocado had emailed and told me my slot was needed for someone vulnerable then I would have accepted that. Of course I would. Who wouldn’t? But don’t tell me it’s effectively just being reabsorbed into the pot to make it fair to everyone who is trying to get a slot. That’s not acceptable. Especially after your BS email last week acknowledging loyalty and saying customers with fast pass reserved slots would be first in the queue (again after the shielded group)

I do wish people would stop fucking editing their orders though. It clogs up the already oversubscribed system. Just accept you get what you bloody ordered first and that’s it!

A weekly order at the moment is too often. Every fortnight seems much fairer.

Are you vulnerable or elderly or an NHS shift worker? If not then it's only fair delivery slots are reassigned

@FlamingoAndJohn, yes, I’ve acknowledged that what I’m paying for is the fast pass. However, long standing customers with reserved slots especially those with fast passes should get priority over non vulnerable new customers who’ve just signed up to try and get any sort of online order. Ocado emailed last week to say as much but have now backtracked. If my slot is being made available to all those people who just signed up in the last month then fine but every one of us should then leave after this when all those customers return to their normal shopping habits.

I’ve just checked. The two orders I have that are both part of my Ocado reserved are still there.
As I understand they are suspending Reserved for FUTURE ORDERS not current orders that have been placed as part of your regular reserved slots.

Reassigned to who?

I'm assuming high risk people won't get any preferential treatment so will no have to go out into the crowds they've been told to avoid, instead of getting food delivered

They haven’t taken on new customers in about two weeks.
I expect lots of people who get occasional or monthly orders are adding extra orders.

I'm really pissed off that mine has been cancelled. Customer for 10+ years, spend on average £200 plus Fetch, pay for a smart pass and use reserved.

Not one slot available.

@FlamingoAndJohn, mine is still there too but I’ve had an email saying it will not be coming tomorrow even though it was saying I could edit it up to5pm this evening.
@crispysausagerolls, I don’t create an order from scratch. I have an order generated every sat morning based on what Ocado think I’ll want/need based on previous orders. I thought it responsible to edit off the loo roll as we have enough.

@FlamingoAndJohn unfortunately that is not what they are saying on Twitter- they were saying any order generated via reserved will not be delviered but their email about it was unclear and I agree the orders still show on your account- but I assume from what OP says will be cancelled some point soon.

I have went on site. It says if you have had an email saying you are a vulnerable customer to log on using a code. So yes your slot will have went to someone vulnerable. You need to just go out shopping. This is one occasion when your money does not buy you priority.

I’ve just checked my order for tomorrow and it’s still showing as coming.