To be appalled by Ocado delivery charge

[UntamedWisteria]

£6.99 ! regardless of when you order. Just tried to book an order for a month's time.

You used to be able to sometimes get a £0 charge if you didn't mind having an unpopular slot. Even during lockdown.

I've been a customer for almost 20 years - time to move elsewhere. Maybe Waitrose? What are they like?

I've just gone back to Ocado. The delivery charge and the smart pass prices have gone up around here but I use them because the delivery is always on time, I've never had a substitution and the items generally have reasonably long dates on them. The reliability of them makes it worth it to me.

I thought Ocado and Waitrose were the same company.
You live and learn

Shallowsubmarine My anytime SmartPass is staying at £5.99 (according to a recent Ocado email). I've been using them for ten years.

The variation in subscription charge is astonishing though.

jessstan2
I am now allowed a weekly slot but there are still many others who can’t get any slot despite paying for a delivery pass.

@Shallowsubmarine

Ocado have tightened up their passes. They no longer do mid-week ones and their monthly one is now £9.99 no exceptions. I’ve been with them for years and years and when I tried to get it down a bit they just cancelled me

When did that change? I'm currently paying £6.99 a month which was discounted. I'd still pay £9.99 a month though as I have a weekly delivery so it pays for itself

I regularly pay that for tescos. Sometimes it's cheaper but wouldn't make a post on £7 for pick pack and delivery. Better than me going myself.

wowfudge that's not the case.

I always spend well over £70, and was looking for a delivery slot a month in advance - all £7.99.

And no, I'm not paying £9.99 or £15.97 a month when I've been used to paying between £0 and £2.99 for the past 20 years. I'm moving my custom elsewhere.

That's not the case for you - it definitely is where we are. You must live in a higher demand area. There are 99p slots available for us a couple of weeks in advance. Granted they're pretty late on, but that's not an issue for us.

I’m a long term smart pass holder.

They were great during lockdown.

But I am worried about the move to M&S. I buy a lot of Waitrose products.

We're in Gloucestershire so our Ocado deliveries either come from Bristol or Coventry. Both are around a 60 mile round trip at least, and on top of that our shopping is picked, packed, refrigerated and put onto my doorstep.

We pay £6.99 a month. I'd say it's a bloody bargain to be honest and we've had no issues with supply through lockdown.

Sainsburys have no delivery charge for orders over £100 on Monday - Thursday after 2pm,

I have a smart pass and always wondered if it was worth it but after lockdown and mostly consistent deliveries throughout, I won’t question it now!

I paying 2.99 a month with smartpass and get free delivery on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday which works for me, plus deals

Why don t you do that?

Ocado have paused new smart passes so that's not an option. I do have a delivery booked at an anti social time for .99
We used to use morrissons until they swapped to doing it like the other supermarkets then lots was out of stock online and more didn't turn up when it arrived.
Tbh the idea that its not being picked over in a supermarket by lots of other customers also puts me off. I like that the produce has had minimum human contact at the moment.

I use cheap slots with Asda - usually £1.50 or £2. However, I would pay more if necessary because it is someone doing the shopping for you (half an hour?) and then it being sorted, put into a van and driven to your house. I personally think £6.99 is still probably less than what it costs in staffing (at least 2 people are working to get your shopping to you - the picker and the driver) plus fuel plus vehicle maintenance.

I pay £40 a year for morrisons anytime pass. But stuff being out of stock has got a lot worse and I think is linked to picking in store when it used to be direct from a warehouse. I was hoping it was just covid, but it hasn’t recovered. And oddly my delivery will come, without stuff....and I go to the supermarket the same morning and can get the missing stuff. 🤷‍♀️

I’d like to use tesco but they don’t deliver to me from my nearest branch.....they use a smaller, further away one with a much smaller range.

@Chloemol

I paying 2.99 a month with smartpass and get free delivery on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday which works for me, plus deals

Why don t you do that?

I'd love that - but if you read my posts, that's not on offer to me.

Maybe it's a regional thing.

I only pay £2.99 a month for the Ocado Smart Pass (because we've had it for years) and can get multiple weekly deliveries (normally - just 1 a week at the moment).

I think smart passes are only a tenner a month if you join now - if you order weekly that's cheaper than other delivery companies.

I have found recently that they have loads of slots still the day before and offer them cheap. I could get free delivery tomorrow or Monday, or £1.99 on other times. Have a look what you can get tomorrow and then hold your nerve for the day before you actually need it.

Well. At least they pick from a warehouse so they actually deliver what you ask for!
Just signed my Mum up for a delivery pass at a tenner a month, that 2.50 per delivery. It's important to her that what she orders turns up because she can't just pop out.
Horses for courses.

We pay £2.99 pm for any anytime pass, can have a delivery every 2 days at any time.

But otherwise it’s supply and demand. The charges reflect it.

Sainsbury's do free delivery mid week if you spend over £100

Tesco has gone from £2-£8 for a slot to a flat fee of £4.50

I suspect that Ocado would rather you pay for a delivery pass - I bet it's not much more than £6.99?

I suppose £6.99 is expensive for a delivery. But I always look at the delivery charge in comparison to how long it would take me to do a big shop myself.. 15 minutes drive each way, plus at least 45 mins in the supermarket - 1hr 15 mins at least. £7 is less than I get paid per hour, so in perspective, it's not bad IMO.

Ocado smart pass is £3.99, I just checked my emails and had one saying the money had been taken.

Rest assured Ocado isn't making any losses! Terrible company that have proved how awful they are this year with the way they treated their regular customers by denying them slots.