Ocado vs Waitrose christmas delivery

[CeibaTree]

I got an email from Ocado saying I could book a Christmas delivery slot, so I had a look and it's a £90 minimum spend with a £9.99 delivery fee (even for smartpass customers), so I looked at Waitrose and booked a free delivery slot for the 23rd with a £40 minimum spend. What are Ocado playing at - are they trying to discourage customers?

Ocado and the warehouse robots and deliveries have very rarely let me down

Waitrose and shop deliveries and pickers with missing items and dodgy dates have let me down many a time

I wouldn’t trust my Christmas delivery to a Packer in a Waitrose store the day before Christmas Eve

How did you get a slot? Our local Waitrose slots went within the first hour!

I didn't manage to get a Waitrose slot, full booked on day of release.

I booked a Waitrose slot for Wednesday 23rd December 7-8am (but will be up then anyway)

HOWEVER I got an email saying that they'd over booked that slot and I could either have a click and collect on 23rd (but in the afternoon) or delivery on 19th (which is a bit early for all the fresh stuff)

£9.99 delivery from Ocado is obscene but if they think they can fill the slots and people are desperate, they will get away with it

@Audreyseyebrows

How did you get a slot? Our local Waitrose slots went within the first hour!

I think I just got lucky - there was only time slot available on that date so I guess someone had literally just cancelled when I logged on!

@CeibaTree maybe I should keep checking in.

I can’t get a Waitrose slot and I’ve got priority booking because dh was shielded.

I check back daily (more like hourly).

I mostly shop online through Ocado and just wanted to underline what "Ontheboardwalk" said.

Ocado have much longer shelf life dates and fewer missing items than any other online supermarket by far. This is even more important to me at Christmas. I have used them since they started, (about 20 years?) and as far as I remember they have always charged for the Christmas slots, it's not because of Covid. I tend to add a couple of bottles of wine to make it up to the minimum spend.

I still can only get Click and Collect from Waitrose :-(

I'm in the NW. Registered for Waitrose today and got a Christmas slot no problem. I'm baulking at the £10 Ocado fee. I think its a real cheek when you're already paying smart pass monthly fee.

@XiCi

I'm in the NW. Registered for Waitrose today and got a Christmas slot no problem. I'm baulking at the £10 Ocado fee. I think its a real cheek when you're already paying smart pass monthly fee.

Yes that's exactly what I think too. OK the £90 minimum spend I could just about stomach as a one-off, but not with the £9.99 delivery fee on top!

@R0llonspring

I mostly shop online through Ocado and just wanted to underline what "Ontheboardwalk" said.

Ocado have much longer shelf life dates and fewer missing items than any other online supermarket by far. This is even more important to me at Christmas. I have used them since they started, (about 20 years?) and as far as I remember they have always charged for the Christmas slots, it's not because of Covid. I tend to add a couple of bottles of wine to make it up to the minimum spend.

I still can only get Click and Collect from Waitrose :-(

I think last year it was £2.99 for an Ocao delivery spot at Christmas though, I just £9.99 is taking the piss! I do take your point though, but I'm going to give Waitrose a go this year. Only time will tell if I regret that :)

Ocado Xmas delivery has been £9.99 for years, even for Smartpass holders.

I did get a Christmas food shop from Waitrose one year and it ended up being free because they acknowledged they’d fucked it up so spectacularly.

I’ve never had any problems with Waitrose Christmas deliveries. I am fairly lax about ingredients though. If they don’t have X then I’ll use/cook Y instead. That said I have ordered pigs in blankets for next week to make sure I have DD1’s only requirement. They started Uni this year, so if they can return for Christmas I want make sure I have their favourites.

Ocado deliver from a warehouse and Waitrose the local store.
I ended up doing my food shopping 3 years ago on the 24th as the Waitrose delivery didn’t turn up, hours later they emailed me to tell me the driver had gone sick, they gave me a £10 compensation voucher but I never used them again

I've missed out on waitrose and have no chance of ocado as they've not sold new smart passes since they even launched up here (though I noticed i could get a £1.99 slot, next week, on the same day i already have a waitrose delivery booked!)

Looks like my perennial sainsburys order for me and a slchlepp around the nearby M&S - or i was hoping so but saw a board about a sparks instore shopping booking system when i was queing (bloody queuing!) for my grocery shop, this morning.

I've booked an Ocado slot and will never use Waitrose for Christmas delivery after trying them two years ago and being utterly let down!

Luckily the delivery was on the 23rd not Christmas Eve, as they were five hours late (meaning I couldn't attend the show we had tickets for) and most of what I'd ordered was dated 24/12 so considering I was shopping for the Christmas week it was a complete waste.

I had used Ocado previously and will always do so after that. Its been £9.99 for years though and I don't think £90 minimum is anything at Christmas with all the extras you buy. Tbh, I'd pay £19.99 to not have to do an big food shop or the great service and few missing items Ocado always deliver.

Hmm you have all made me rethink whether using Waitrose is a good idea for Christmas. Well I do still have an Ocado slot reserved on the 23rd so I might just cancel Waitrose and suck up the £9.99 delivery charge. I really don't remember paying that much before and I've used Ocado for years, but maybe I am just feeling more frugal these days so actually notice these things!

Me too CeibaTree . I've now booked 23rd at Ocado and I'm going to choose nearer the time which to cancel. I'm in an area with very high covid rates so good to have options. I've no idea what things will be like at Xmas!

I’ve still not forgiven Waitrose, in a normal shop, not delivering me the 6 bread rolls I’d ordered. I can’t believe there was nothing in the shop they could have subbed them with

I did try Waitrose again a couple of weeks ago when they sent me some vouchers. Nope I’m staying with Ocado, loads of missing items and the dates were mainly that day or the nex

CeibaTree for peace of mind I’d personally pay for Ocado. I see it as a trade off for the anniversary £10 off wine or chocs voucher they’ve sent me this week

I've used Ocado for years too, has always been £9.99.

Waitrose unreliable.

And all that M & S food at Christmas!!!

Good plan CeibaTree & XiCi.

It looks like life is about to get even weirder again in terms of Covid and that slot may be worth it's weight in gold by 23rd December!

Have a lovely Christmas!

I have an Ocado delivery coming on Monday. Loads of M&S stuff out of stock though!! Probably just me ordering the same things as others but I haven't been able to get an Ocado delivery for ages and I was looking forward to seeing what M&S products I could buy. Really disappointed that so much is out of stock.

In the end I just couldn't stomach the £9.99 Ocado delivery fee so cancelled and took a chance with Waitrose. The only thing out of stock was a cheese selection, so I'm pretty pleased with them :) Hope everyone else got everything they need in their deliveries!

I've used Ocado for 13 years without a hitch but decided to use Waitrose this year because the delivery is free. Big mistake. The delivery is due in an hour and I've just had a message telling me that I had around 20 substitutions / missing items. Won't use them again.