Ocado delivery missing items

[burntheleaves]

Is it reasonable to expect that a grocery delivery company figures out how to ensure customers get what they order?
Out of 6 packets of fresh sausage meat stuffing (2x3 different kinds ordered to ensure we got something) ALL of them have been removed from my delivery today as being out of stock.
Seriously? It's not that difficult. It's a PRE-ORDER. The order went in weeks ago. Cut off for the order was 2 days ago. How in gods name are they so crap that they ran out of ALL the stuffing FOR A PREORDER?

Although I've no idea how Ocado works we don't have that where I live

Again, Tesco are different for some Christmas items. The previous two years, I've pre-ordered meat & poultry for Christmas & it really is specific to the customer & reserved. It even comes with your name on it.

And there's a cut--off date after which you can't change your order. I found that out the hard way the first time I did it: I put two large meat items in when I booked the slot, thinking I'd decide later what I really wanted but these looked nice - then I found I was too late when I went to change it & we ended up with both!

I really couldn’t cope with the uncertainty of not knowing what will turn up. I’ve only ever done an online order once (at the start of COVID). I read so many threads on here about missing items and stupid subs. My orderly mind simply couldn’t handle it.

Plus I quite enjoy supermarket shopping!

See I do it every week, and have done for about 15 years. Ocado are pretty good usually. Almost no subs or missing items on normal deliveries. I’d sooner take the fail than spending hours traipsing around a supermarket.

Agreed. Normal weekly shop subs are very rare. Christmas I assume there will be some some subs/missing items so always have the order on the 23rd. The Good Life / Margot’s Christmas in a van made a big impression clearly.

Sqinsburys have really good customer service if you call up, you'll probably get a voucher back.

Ditto.

My Ocado order came bang on time this morning with nothing missing and two acceptable substitutions. I had already got the cocktail sausages and sausagemeat and they're in the freezer. I never leave those till the last minute in case I don't get them at all.

Ocado are generally extremely reliable for (a) turning up on time and (b) not having missing items or substitutions. A few times recently I've ordered satsumas, which I love, and they've sent easy peelers instead. I don't love those so have handed them back. Why say they're in stock if they're not? A trivial issue overall, though. I've been shopping with Ocado for well over 20 years now and am generally a happy customer.

I would never trust online groceries at Christmas. The rest of the year, well maybe but my theory is it’s more expensive to do online. I’ve got all my Christmas food, everything that I wanted by physically shopping myself. Yes it’s time consuming but less stressful than wondering what’s going to be missing.

Make some extra stuffing and roasties. You won't have been charged for it. There's too many problems in the world for that to be one of them.

Out of stock on one mid-range bottle of champagne which we needed for a specific family celebration. Aware this is not the biggest problem in the world but ffs you could have substituted one of several other brands!

I have a large Ocado order coming tomorrow morning. It doesn’t matter that much if things don’t arrive as we are having Christmas dinner elsewhere. They are usually quite good but one thing that annoys me is that I only order cream when I need it and it can sometimes be substituted for Emlea. I hate Emlea and it tastes nothing like cream.

I don't understand why people are so inflexible about trivial food issues. Be glad you'll have a full plate!

There does seem to be an issue with sausagemeat this year; my area none in Asda, none in Tesco, none in Lidl. Managed to get some in Sainsbury's at 6am. Definitely a shortage, no idea why.

People who say that they would rather shop in person must have serious time on their hands. It is no more reliable going to a supermarket as they can be out of stock too.

Same. Pre ordered for Christmas weeks ago and was charged £10 for the Christmas delivery slot. Lots of missing items all key for the main Christmas meal. A couple of substitutions offered but they weren’t suitable or were ridiculously expensive.

I emailed customer services and asked for my additional Christmas delivery charge to be refunded as I now had to go out and buy all the missing things which defeated the object. They refunded me immediately and called to apologise.

That’s shocking! We get Tesco deliveries and on multi-buy deals they break the discount down by item so if they don’t have them all in stock, you only pay the amount per item you would have had they had them all.

So many people commenting on how it's done, who clearly have no idea how it is actually done at Ocado.

I've been shopping with Ocado for 20 years with overall positive success for my Christmas delivery.

My order was delivered this morning, all items were on the van. One item was refunded as it was damaged when the driver removed the bag from the tote.
I was following Ocado on Twitter yesterday and it seems some people didnt receive any of their chilled goods. Driver told me a chiller area in one of the distribution centres had broken down.

Ordered online.
😂

There was loads in our Sainsburys when I was in there today (about 11am).

Ocado don’t do pre-order, so I don’t understand this at all. If they did, it wouldn’t be for packets of sausage meat! I ordered my shop weeks ago if that’s what you mean, but I have Ocado reserved and smart pass, so mine are booked in weeks ahead anyway. My pannacotta was a mess on delivery and I requested a refund, which has been totally straightforward in the past. I had a small crème fraiche missing that’s all, but we’ll struggle on 😂

Waitrose do food to order through their entertaining section online, so I can understand someone being a bit miffed if something put through that was missing. Cut off date was 15th for that. But Ocado, nope.

My large Ocado order arrived early (the driver had called ahead to ask if that was ok), not a single item was missing, really good use by dates, well packed and saved me hours of aggro in the the supermarket.

But it's PRE-ORDERED. Many many weeks in advance. So they have plenty of time to get the items

Added to which wouldn't you just remove some from each order rather than all from one order?

In any case we need at least 4 minimum

This is the first year I have relied on a delivery for my Xmas shopping. I use Morrisons. I understand they have had delivery issues today, but I had mine delivered yesterday with no issues.

I couldn't stand the stress of not knowing if there were going to be oos items, so I have also done a lot of the shop over the last 3 weeks, so all I had delivered yesterday was the turkey, veg and some salad/coleslaw type bits to go with for Boxing Day tea. And I knew if it arrived yesterday and the turkey was oos at least I have a large supermarket in driving distance today!

But what is the point of online ordering if things are missing? If you're in the supermarket you can choose an alternative from similar items that are in stock. It seems that the online ordering system is unable to do this.

I've only ordered online a handful of times and every single time there has been something missing that I've been charged for, fresh produce has been on the use by date and/or a ridiculous substitution.

But the sausage meat problem is easy to solve as you can just buy sausage meat and remove the skins, cheaper and a better quality product too - pretty much all the sausage meat is quite low quality whereas if you buy Finest range sausages you get more meat and less crap in them. Same for pigs in blankets too - cheaper and better quality to make your own.

The morning of. We get an email notifying out of stocks and substitutions every delivery early in the same day