To think Ocado are on their way out?

[AlternativePerspective]

They treated many of their customers shockingly during the pandemic. Broke the app and haven’t brought it back, and I have been told there is no timeframe as to when it will be brought back, they roll out a boiler template that it’s gradually going to be rolled out to a small selection of customers to ensure it works.

This is the only online only supermarket, and they’re the one who have failed the most spectacularly.

M&S are supposed to be online with them from Monday but with no app for many people shopping with them won’t be an easy thing to do so they won’t bother. Added to which M&S are looking to cut their costs anyway.

I speculated to my DP the other day that I will be surprised if Ocado are still around in a year’s time.

It’s a shame. They used to be a flagship online shop, now they’re the worst online supermarket.

As I said earlier, Ocado eventually confirmed I was on the govt provided list, but told me I hadn't spent enough with them/used them often enough in the past to be allowed to use them.

That is a bit harsh. Did you have the smart pass thing?

I’m also surprised a list so sensitive can be shared without your consent but maybe it’s fine and data law doesn’t stop it (no idea)

Yes, it is truly awful to have too many customers come to you and make a shitload of extra money

The point being made was that they didn't have the slots and means to deliver the huge increase in people trying to order.

Well.. we had weekly slots during lockdown and have had the app back for weeks now. So no complaints from us!

I remember switching to Ocado years ago because of 1) range of products available, 2) quality, 3) less missing items than other supermarkets

Maybe it’s geographically specific? I couldn’t get a slot with anybody EXCEPT Ocado during lockdown. Managed to get one Tesco about mid-July (needed dairy free stuff) but otherwise, thank goodness we were with Ocado otherwise we would have been pretty stuffed. A lot of my neighbours, including shielding people, had exactly the same issue.

I’ve been using ocado for a while and it works fine for me. Swapped to Sainsburys a couple of times and oh my, I’d forgotten what that’s like. Subs galore. What a let down. Made me realise how fab ocado is.

I've had the app back up and running for a few weeks. Also had good service throughout lockdown with a shop delivered every seven days. Have been very impressed.

@Xenia

I would never want to use an app for something as that involves more time and involved a download. It is much quicker on a computer just to go on a website surely?

I can't compare for ocado but the sainsburys app is much quicker than trawling through their Web store. It does lack some functionality eg access to reviews and the navigation can sometimes be a bit random but everything loads so much faster than the actual website. Same for the M&S app.

@Friendsoftheearth

I am a loyal customer of ocado, have been since their inception, and had wonderful service over the lockdown.

But I can't stand M&S food apart from their sandwiches, all the packaging, lack of organic produce, the disgusting plastic ready meals. Ir reminds me of hospital food, and not in a good way. It is not for me at all. So from next week I won't be shopping with ocado anymore.

I will be sad actually, and wish it is was different, but I will take this moment to overhaul my shopping habits completely and buying from the farmshop from now on. It is the kick I needed to shop from sustainable local farms now I haven't got the convenience of Waitrose deliveries so easily any longer.

I initaly thought the same but did you know that M&S is replicating the most popular Waitrose products? Their range has been increased massively and you can find an M&S substitution in many cases that wouldn't (currently) be in an M&S store.

I've had the app back for weeks. I didn't get notified about it, I just tried to log in out of curiosity and voila, it was there. They have also been extending the deadline for finalising orders.

Re the comment earlier about Morrison's, doesn't Ocado run that delivery system as well?

@MarshaBradyo

As I said earlier, Ocado eventually confirmed I was on the govt provided list, but told me I hadn't spent enough with them/used them often enough in the past to be allowed to use them.

That is a bit harsh. Did you have the smart pass thing?

I’m also surprised a list so sensitive can be shared without your consent but maybe it’s fine and data law doesn’t stop it (no idea)

No, no smart pass. I'd used them weekly in the past when my agoraphobia was too bad for me to get out, then had a year or two of not needing to, up to lockdown.

There's provision under the DPA for govt/local authorities to share relevant info to enable support services; supermarkets need to delete all the info after Covid is over though.

www.theguardian.com/business/2020/apr/07/uk-supermarkets-contacting-vulnerable-patients-must-delete-data-when-crisis-abates

@LovelyLovelyMe

Do you think other M&S products, such as stuff from their beauty range, will be included in the Ocado site? I hope so!

I was hoping this but not showing up on the app yet...

Dependent on location but I always liked AmazonFresh and Amazon Pantry including Hello Belly etc along with Abel & Cole, Hello Fresh, Waitrose and Co-op (amongst others) works well for fresh food and pantry staples deliveries. However still no patch (Covid dependent) on walking in and selecting produce in say Whole Foods or large Waitrose etc. Used to live in SoCal USA and still miss Trader Joe's!

@edgeware

Were you posting about this the other day as well?? I am a long time customer and have had no problems at all during lockdown. Have managed to get slots all the way through. The app thing is annoying but only a mild inconvenience since using the website works just fine. Am still happy with them.

Same here. There was only one week at the very beginning of lockdown I couldn’t get a delivery slot.

@Nanasueathome

I buy Daylesford from Ocado too

I got their chicken for the first time the other day, it was a revelation.

PatriciaPerch

You can do it on checkout, step 3:

Ocado were fantastic for me during lockdown - we didn’t miss a single weekly slot. DS was on the priority list for the supermarkets but we didn’t need to be as Ocado continued delivering to us.
I only see online delivery growing with all supermarkets including Ocado.

@Aragog

meercat23

Duchy will go on 1 September. It is now a Waitrose brand and has been for a good while.

Is this correct? Not that I buy it very much but I have just gone on to edit my order for September and a lot of the Waitrose Duchy Organic products are showing as available to include in my trolley. It is a partnership between Waitrose and the Duchy, so maybe they are not outwith the September Ocado offering. Am confused

It's more annoying that some people have the app and some don't.

It does seem to depend very much where you are in the country. Either that or they've used an algorithm that made very arbitrary decisions between customers. I didn't think I was a high spender but I do buy the vast bulk of our food from Ocado, and have done for something like 15 years. I have a Smart Pass. Thanks to all of that, and probably a large element of luck, I ended up on the priority list and have had no problems getting a delivery for months now. Hardly any substitutions in the last few weeks, and even when they did have a few back in the spring/early summer, they weren't disastrous.

I'll be hanging on with Ocado for a while, as I confidently expect another lockdown, local or national, at some point in the next few months. No car here, and my husband, while as fit as a butcher's dog, is in his 60s and has mild asthma, so I want to avoid as much outside contact as possible if cases go back up again. I buy mostly own brand food and Ocado has been steadily increasing its own offerings for years now, so even if the M&S stuff is disappointing/too expensive we should be fine.

First experience of Waitrose was very good!
Two kindly chaps with ties and shirts arrived with all of our things, I had two free gifts and it all came from my local store, so felt quite personal. One of the drivers lives in the next village.

So 10/10 so far

You just order via the web. There's no difference to using the App.

@TSSDNCOP

You just order via the web. There's no difference to using the App.

There are differences. One click additions being the main one for me plus barcode scanning.

Ok Soup, fair enough. Admittedly I don't use those so I wouldn't have known the impact of their non-availability.

They've made an absolute fortune over lockdown and M&S have just paid £750 mill for their services so they're not going anywhere.

I realise we were really lucky getting regular slots throughout the lockdown period but I also understand that they simply didn't have enough slots, drivers or supplies to service everyone who wanted to be at that time.

As an aside, I had a Tesco order for the first time last week (needed a top up of their GF food & my local didn't have any) - let's just say I'll be sticking to Ocado!