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.

I wish there was more transparency about this.

I think the vast majority of delivery slots, for most supermarkets, were all cleared some time ago in preparation for the shielded people to be able to get priority.

Of course it is an unprecedented logistical undertaking and it will a) take a while to set up b) effect existing customers who aren't in the shielding category and c) cause a lot of inconvenience in the meantime.

I just wish we knew a bit more about what is going on.

• I suspect they are cross referencing delivery pass holders who have signed up to the vulnerable person gov website to then open up slots to them? Other people in the vulnerable category will then be given allocated slots from supermarket who is tasked with serving a certain area?

I think the aim would be for all vulnerable people to end up with a regular (2 weekly slot)

• this is just my musings and based on anything at all.

Just logged onto Ocado - I have priority access - no idea why! Does everyone have the same screen?

I had my reserved order cancelled. Am a single parent isolating with 2 unwell kids. No family nearby to help me. Tried to be sensible and didn’t stock up too much. Didn’t try other supermarkets as relied on Ocado. Can’t even access the priority for reserved customers for today.

Oh and a minor thing but it’s my son’s birthday this weekend as well.

No idea how I will get food now

@Namechangedforthis1357 I don’t think anyone says vulnerable people shouldn’t be prioritised.

But I would like to know if my delivery is arriving or not.

If it isn’t I will have to go to the shops this evening. If it is, I won’t. But it seems Ocado won’t tell me. I can’t get on their website. They won’t answer phone calls.

It’s crap.

And I’m not impressed that the only likely way I will likely find out is by whether a van turns up tonight or not.

Just logged onto Ocado - I have priority access - no idea why! Does everyone have the same screen?

I got a text off Ocado an hour ago that said "You have been given access to the ocado.com priority queue for today. You have the rest of the day to place and check out your order".

I'm not really sure what it means to be honest - I am a long-term customer with a smart pass thing, so possibly something to do with that. But either way, I can't get onto the site at all as the queue is "paused" and has been for the last hour.

I got a slot for 20th April this morning. Couldn't believe my eyes. I was sure there was no way as when I was in the queue it said no slots available and only editing basket possible. Decided to check anyway and there was a whole day of slots on 20th. No other days though. Couldn't believe my eyes. Booked it and did my entire shop, no reserving with just a few items today! The site was moving very slowly and I kept thinking the screen had frozen but eventually managed to check out. Took an hour though and I was absolutely terrified it was going to freeze and/or I would get kicked out.

I think availability is really dependent on where you live. I got on earlier in the week (after queuing and got a slot for the next day) and everything I ordered was delivered. I don't have a reserved slot but am a regular smart pass customer.

I now seem to have priority access - I am 8,251 but still don’t know if today’s delivery is coming. I assume it isn’t. However I won’t be able to book another one because my reserved spot will still be showing next week! As it did yesterday.

Joins OPis being thoroughly pissed off with them.

I was thinking of going to Waitrose after they swapped to M&S anyway.

I'm a long standing Ocado smart pass customer, I received that email yesterday , after waiting 2 hours and still not getting a slot , I haven't been able to get a slot for 3 weeks!
I sent an email saying I wanted to cancel as I'm not paying for a service I cannot use!

I can’t even get on the website. Because of “queue-it” I keep on getting a cached home page and can’t click on anything. This is worse than the virtual queue.

I’ve just had the email and text to say that my delivery is coming.
It was a reserved order, it was not cancelled.
Any news on yours @Neednewwellies?

I haven’t received any emails or texts about priority access and I can’t get on the site.
I’m just cross that my order today isn’t coming and the didn’t even tell me until yesterday. I will now spend today going shop to shop stocking up as much as I can like everyone else. I think the biggest problem by far has been their shocking level of communication.

I can’t get on to amend tomorrow’s order which I desperately need to do!

The queue for me was paused about 11am? When according to the queue, I only had eight minutes left to wait! It’s still paused now. Anyone else?

@FlamingoAndJohn, well it’s due between 1-2 but I received an email yesterday saying it wasn’t coming. Interestingly, only one other person upthread received the same email. But others didn’t receive any communication and still didn’t get theirs whilst others didn’t get the confirmation email and still got theirs. On the FB page, there seems to be all sorts of random emails going around inc people told their order will not come and then it does. So maybe there’s hope! No consistency it seems. Again, let me be clear that if they emailed to say I was say, only getting one reserved slot a fortnight or even a month and the others were going to the shielded group then I’d have no issue with that as of course they need to be protected. But at least I’d then know and not be sat with 3 children and run down provisions expecting a delivery the following day.
Glad your delivery is coming! Thanks for the goodwill. The more they get out the less people in the supermarkets which can only be good for all of us.

I've been queuing for hours this morning, and it's just saying paused and has been for a while now

Yes paused here too

ive paid for a mid week smart pass since before 2020 and have a weekly delivery and have not received any emails from Ocado.

I’ve still not had any other emails but I have just received my email receipt for tonight’s delivery. Everything there as well

I’ve been a weekly Ocado customer for at least 8 years and have not received any messages about priority access. I’m getting quite pissed off because we are not get anywhere in the queue. Why are some long term customers getting emails and some aren’t? All I got was an email from the Chief Exec apologising for delays.

I've been in the queue since 6.30am. It's been paused for about two hours now. I need to log in to see if my order for Sunday is still there and to edit it if it still is.

@FranGoldsmith is this what your screen looks like? If so, and you haven’t yet done it, click the link in the text to Log In.

As you received your priority text today you must have been in the first batch of SmartPass members who will be grouped and then allocated priority log in each day.

I get the impression all Smart Pass members (pre 2020) will be getting this once a week.

If you try this, please let us know how younger on and what the earliest available slot is for you. I do realise it may vary by area, not sure how they do it, actually.

Yellowbutterfly1 I wonder if the priority email was only for Anytime SmartPass rather than Mid-Week SmartPass. Anytime SmartPass costs more.

Tellmetruth4 you say you’ve been a loyal customer for years but don’t say if you’re a SmartPass customer. That might explain it.

@mooboy and those who see ‘priory access’ thing when they log in, would you mind sharing the screenshot with us?