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.

@JaneEyre7, thousands of people saying the same online. They would have lots a lot of custom due to the change from Waitrose to M&S anyway but they will now rightly lose thousands more.

Well I hope yours comes, Flamingo. I’ve already been told mine isn’t coming. I now need to venture out tonight to see what I can get.

Because having money is all that matters and sod the vulnerable?

Thanks alloutoffucks

I said ‘no’ because I’m OK for this week, and don’t want need a free food parcel, and didn’t want to clog that system as others might need it more. But if going back on and saying ‘yes’ might unlock the ability to actually book a supermarket slot, then I’d better go back in and change it and see what happens

I've just gone into my account, and have manually created orders from my reserved list. They've both checked out for the next 2 weeks, so fingers crossed.

If they get cancelled, so be it but they do show as active.

I said yes because I don't want a food parcel, I just wanted access to online delivery slots. And the only option was to say you don't have someone who can get you food. I assumed they would contact us and not just drop off a food parcel? I really don't want them to waste money on doing this for me.

The email I had from Ocado earlier today said ‘unless you have had confirmation your reserved order has been processed’ then it will not be delivered.

Which has been Ocado’s position for the last week/10 days or so. The reserved slots didn’t generate properly due to advance bookings taking all the slots, and unless the confirmation of order email was sent, then the order didn’t exist.

That seems to be the same position for now - if you have had a confirmation email, then the delivery will go ahead, but from now on, the reserved system is suspended, and future bookings need to be made manually when/where possible.

I haven’t had an email yet - am in the North West. I wonder if it varies by area or if the emails are just coming out in tranches?

We’re not in the extra vulnerable category but with an asthmatic 18 year old in the family we were hoping to avoid shops (though realise the extra-vulnerable should get priority). It would be great if we could go for fortnightly shops as pp suggested - surely that would be more efficient for everyone.

The supermarkets can't identify the vulnerable - but the government should be able to

Maybe this is at govt request, to stop current customers, so they can restart with the 1.5 million shielded ?

Or of course, maybe their tech is just swamped, too many drivers and packers are isolating / not turning up etc

I am a Ocado smartpass customer with a reserved slot, and the email I got from Ocado seemed clear: the system has broken rather than them choosing to stop the reserved slots, and for now they've suspended the reserved slot system (because it wasn't reliably working) and it'll be back when they've fixed it.
All this is really annoying and inconvenient but I find if hard to be angry given this situation is unprecedented.

@iVampire I also assumed they would focus first on those with unmet care needs. I don't have those.

Is there some kind of filtering happening? I don't have a queue at all - I just go straight through to Ocado.

I am not aware of signing up for anything but I am caring for a highest risk, profoundly disabled person and am unable to go to the supermarket so it's very welcome.

@alloutoffucks, I’ve said repeatedly on here that I’m not talking about the vulnerable. Of course the vulnerable need to be taken care of but that’s not what Ocado have said. They want to equalise my chance of getting a slot with someone (non vulnerable) who only signed up 3wks ago and normally shops elsewhere. So cancelling my order the day before for that reason will make me leave. I don’t see that as unreasonable at all.

I went to Sainsbury's this afternoon, no queues, everything I wanted available.

If you can give up on Ocado - they are profiteering imo.

I think they they should ditch the reserved slots and prioritise the vulnerable now like Sainsburys have done

Tried to see if I could sign my grandma up via the link on the Sainsbury's website. Apparently it's not enough to be in your 90s, you need to have a severe medical condition too to be vulnerable!

My email says Unfortunately, unless you received confirmation that your order had been processed, this means your Ocado Reserved order will not be going out for delivery.

To me that reads that my placed and confirmed order is coming but I can’t assume that future automatically generated orders will come. If I were to have the exact same order each week and not edit it, just assume it will arrive then I’m guessing it wouldn’t.

Let’s see if it comes.

@greathat Yes it is those who are at greatest risk of dying if they get it and have been told not to go outside at all.

And they ARE prioritising vulnerable.

"If you have been notified by email that you have priority access to the site, please log in to view the slots available to you.

We are releasing these gradually, but demand continues to be high so they will sell out quickly. Unfortunately, we can't guarantee there will be slots available for everyone.

Unfortunately, there are currently no new delivery slots available for general release."

I think they should have delivered your order tomorrow as that is very annoying short notice but I don't think anyone other than the vulnerable should have a guaranteed slot every week at the moment. I used to order weekly from Ocado but was only able to get a slot 3 weeks in the future a few weeks ago and now am not reordering until it's all over to leave slots for people who can't get to the shops - so not me.

@alloutoffucks I thought that included elderly? I've got a load in my shopping that's for her. We're a family of asthmatics so I didn't particularly want to be heading to a crowded supermarket. Son and I both have been hospitalised with pneumonia in the past so I've not really left house for a week, other than to collect prescriptions

@Neednewwellies what does it say if you log on to Ocado? Is your order just not there?

Asda do recurring slots if you have their delivery pass. They still seem to be active - I just set one up for my parents for every fortnight

Oh no it doesn't. Thought I'd heard on radio it did!

I am an Ocado reserved customer and I have not received a single email from them about any of this!