Annoyed at OCADO?

[AvrielFinch]

Okay mildly irritated really.
I had an Ocado home delivery and did not notice until the delivery that I am now being charged 10p a bag on top of the delivery charge. Fine probably my fault for not reading the small print properly. And if you hand back your carrier bags to the driver with your next delivery you get 10p back for every bag.

But the amount of bags they charged me for is way more than the number provided. I asked online for a refund and am still waiting for a reply.

But if you are going to charge 10p a carrier bag at least get the number right. Even a stranger looking at my order would realise that the amount of bags makes no sense unless you were putting 1 carrot in each bag.

I love Ocado, they usually deliver what you’ve ordered, certainly more times than any other.

They deliver in carrier bags, and should be thanked for that large mercy

Their range is huge and they deliver M&S

I returned 5 bags and was refunded 5 bags. I was charged for more bags than were delivered though.

The best online grocery service I have found and I’ve tried a lot. Never had any quibbles on refunds for anything. Their customer service, lack of substitutions and price promise voucher makes them far ahead of the rest for me. Plus I like my shopping arriving bagged.
The drivers have always offered to unpack for me too and are much more friendly and polite than other services.
I am surprised you are having an issue. Have you tried actually calling and speaking to a human about it? I have found them extremely helpful.

It will keep happening but it’s easy enough to just get a refund. It is one of my bugbears, they must make a fortune from all the extra bags the charge for 😂 Personally, I find it worth putting up with for the convenience of rarely having substitutions because they food comes from a warehouse rather than a shop, long use by dates and their great customer service - they will happily refund anything that isn’t up to scratch with no quibbles.

The first time I noticed the issue (charged for 12 bags for 16 items in 5 bags) I complained and I was told it was carefully calculated by an algorithm. A friend who used to work for them told me the algorithm is pretty much the number of crates your shopping is in x 3 😂 So if you have large items, stuff that comes in the sealed silver bags instead, like household goods, things that don’t need bags as they have handles, like loo rolls or multi packs of drinks, or a few items from each type of section that have different bags (cupboard, fridge, freezer), the algorithm guesstimate is wildly wrong. I believe the drivers often repack the bags to make carrying them easier too.

Ah the algorithm makes sense!! Now I am wondering if I have been over charged in the past and not realised.

I got refunded £3.50 for bags at the weekend. There is no way I gave bag 35 bags! I love Ocado and have been using them for years. Very few problems and if there is a problem it's sorted very quickly.

I've tried most of the supermarket deliveries and imo Ocado is the best.

I think they are good, so much better than Waitrose. I refuse to use Tesco, as having worked in their supply chain, the way they treat their suppliers is appalling so they are not getting any of my money.

I've been with Ocado over 10 years now. They really wobbled during Covid. But both before and after are really good. My local warehouse is the Dartford one and I quite often get late deliveries if an evening timeslot. My mum is mid morning - early lunch and they are inevitably early. I return the bags, and clearly state how many. Often - not always - the number is rounded up. I add in the scrunchy plastic for recycling, which is great - saves me a trip elsewhere. Customer Services are lovely and the drivers too. Helpful, polite, friendly. Rarely not. It is really easy to get hold of their CS staff - unlike most high street stores now. My BIG beef is their silly way of packing wine - loose or in poor card carriers that are too flimsy. Yes I could order less wine, but ....

The drivers never check how many bags you give back vs what you tell them - so just say it’s xx whatever they charged you for next time

I've often wondered whether they separate items in case people keep kosher?

Also...didnt realise they also take back scrunchy plastic. Is that even for wrapping and packaging that isnt theirs??? Winner if so!!

I think quite often the drivers consolidate items into fewer bags which can be annoying

How many bags are we talking here?

Yes any scrunchy plastic. But they (fairly) don't give any bag refund on that. I just keep mine in a bread bag next to the ocado bags, so can grab it all at the same time.

I've never been charged for more bags than I've received and often get refunded for a few more than I hand back. I like it that ocado still give you 10p for any carrier bag from any retailer, regardless of the size.

I've always found Ocado to be brilliant. On the very rare occasion something has been missing or damaged, I've had immediate confirmation of a refund. It's extremely rare to get a substitution, and when they do substitute, it's always been with something very close to what I had ordered. A couple of months ago, the driver forgot to give me my bag of frozen food, and customer services arranged for another delivery the next day, and gave me a voucher for £10. The drivers are always happy to carry my shopping to wherever I want it, and I've yet to have a grumpy driver in nearly 20 years.