Ocado Anytime Smart Pass holders - have you received priority access yet?

[Milky77]

Email sent to anytime pass holders (at least) on Thursday

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We have experienced such extraordinary levels of demand in recent days that despite our best efforts, we simply have not had enough capacity to serve all our customers.
To put it into context, practically every Ocado customer, no matter how infrequently they may have shopped previously, is now looking to place an order every week. At the same time, with families at home, the average size of orders has almost doubled. This means there is an unceasing level of demand several times our current delivery capacity.
We’ve already taken decisive steps to manage this demand, closing our doors to new customers, and limiting customers to one delivery slot every seven days. However, despite these measures, we can see that not all Smart Pass customers have been able to book a delivery.
As an Anytime Smart Pass member, we consider you to be one of our best customers, so we’ve set up a temporary priority queue to enable you to book a delivery slot each week.
How you will get access:
We have divided all paying Anytime Smart Pass members who joined before 2020 into a number of equal-sized, randomised groups. You will be placed in one of these groups.
At spaced intervals, we will give each group access to the priority queue, enabling them to quickly get in and choose a slot for their weekly delivery. We will do this by sending each group an email and text message between the hours of 9am and 5pm, starting tomorrow.
Once you get your email, you’ll have the rest of the day to place and check out your order. Please wait for your message, as you won’t be able to access the priority queue at other times.
Please be aware that there is still high demand for slots, and you may not see full availability for all time slots. But, because we can now prioritise the customers we let on to the website, and each customer can only have one slot, you can be confident that there are enough slots – and groceries – to go around.
Our developers continue to work on a better solution which will allow us to manage this in a simpler way but, for now, this fix at least helps us to prioritise you in the short-term. It makes access fair, and helps to keep traffic to our website at manageable levels, ensuring you the best possible shopping experience in the circumstances.
Please note: our usually all-knowing Customer Service team can’t set-up or change this temporary process, so they won’t be able to tell you which group you are in, or when you will get your email.
Thank you for your continued understanding and patience. We all understand the huge responsibility placed on us, and we are working tirelessly to help feed the nation at this challenging time.
Your Ocado team
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Will be v glad to have a slot confirmed. I would have cancelled my Ocado subscription otherwise. As a customer who orders weekly and should also be screened, I was getting quite concerned what the next few months would be like.

Anyone had their priority access yet?

I got my first Anytime Smartpass priority email last Friday afternoon. No email today. So I tried the site at 4 o'clock and it said it was my priority time and I went straight in, no queue at all. I have an order booked for next week so I edited that, but the calendar shows no available slots for the rest of April. It all seems totally random and shambolic as to what each of us gets.

So much for all that comms last week about giving anytime pass members a priority!

SmartPass holders do seem to be being allotted a priority window sometime during a week (roughly a week after their last delivery), but Ocado aren't managing to alert them to it in time, if at all.

I've had an email:

Dear Ms Whabylon
We have been working extraordinarily hard to serve our customers and we are proud that, with our tremendous frontline colleagues, we delivered more food last week than we have ever delivered to UK homes before.
However, we know that many of you are not getting as much access to our delivery slots as you would like. We also know from your feedback that we haven’t done a good enough job yet of explaining what we are doing to help. We are sorry, and we know how frustrating it must be to not be able to find slots as easily as before. Trust us, it isn’t because we don’t want to be delivering more.
We’re hoping, once you’ve read this email, that you’ll have a much clearer picture of how and when to book delivery slots.
Booking your deliveries:
We consider you one of our most loyal customers, so we’re offering you the chance to have one delivery every 7 days.
Obviously, if you don’t really need a delivery that often, there’s no need to book every time. It will give us the chance to offer more slots to other customers who need them.
As there will need to be a gap of 7 days between deliveries, you won’t be able to see available slots 6 days either side of any slots you have booked. However, we will let you see slot availability two to three weeks ahead of time – so it’s easier to plan in advance.
If you are placing an order and you know someone locally who can’t get to the shops, consider adding a few items for them to your order.
When you do book a slot, we ask you to place an order and check out everything you need in one go. The cut-off time for editing orders is now 48 hours before delivery, but given the current circumstances we may need to bring forward the cut-off time.
At busy times, you may still have to queue so we can keep the website running smoothly.
These are quite big changes so please bear with us while we iron out any kinks and get all our customers into a new rhythm with their shopping. This should hopefully improve your shopping experience going forward.
We will also be giving other special categories of customers access to delivery slots.
If you have any questions, hopefully our dedicated FAQ page can give you any more information you need.
Finally, these are unprecedented times, and we really do appreciate your continued patience and understanding.
Ocado Customer Service team

twitter.com/Ocado/status/1246111924556890112

This guy says anytime pass members should still have priority!

So that clarifies things a bit

Sorry Milky x post. I'm an anytime pass member so I think that's what's meant by "most loyal customers" in the email I posted.

I just tried with another email address I have registered but never used and it throws me out. My anytime address at least keeps me in the queue.

I am on the site now. I am in London. I have smart pass, but not priority (was given free 6 months in February). Loads of slots available up to the 22nd April.

That's a helpful email @bore. Thank you

My order has arrived.

Only one missing cleaning product and only two tins subbed.

So at least I know now not to try the site again before next Thursday - when I should be able to order for relatives.

I don't understand how you're getting weekly access and yet I've had nothing?

Can't even cancel my smart pass as no way to contact them

No email here, not able to log on the site at all. Anytime smartpass holder for years.

I have given up, it’s not important in the scheme of things but I don’t understand where all the slots have gone. It has to be new customers.

vegans we're you going to continue with Ocado when Waitrose left? I think it's just hastening my leaving tbh

I was, I was excited about having M&S food delivered.

I imagine they will email everyone eventually, I'm astonished that I received one.

I've just had the same email as @BoreOfWhabylon above and have been able to go in and book deliveries for Monday 13th and Monday 20th.

Maybe they're going alphabetically? Or region to region?

Fingers crossed for everyone else trying to get slots.

I'm at the end of the alphabet and in SW if that helps.

I’ve just received the same email after having no communication whatsoever for a while. I don’t see any available slots though. Having said that, I already have deliveries booked on 8th and then 20th. I wonder from what point I’ll be able to book a slot for 27th?

After trying to book a slot earlier, I refreshed the Ocado page again (about 3 hours after I first tried) and checked for new booking slots - and was given three full days of slots from 14-17 April. So it went from nothing at all to multiple slots. They must release the new slots in blocks at set times. (I'm in the S.E., not London).

You have to remember when your priority day is as it seems they don't remind you - I've now set a reminder on my phone for next Friday.

I just had the 'loyal customer' email too.

I am an anytime pass holder and still haven't had an email to tell me it's my turn to be able to access the site and book a slot. I have been on the site a few times and never been able to get in. I don't have any deliveries booked and my last one was probably 2 or 3 weeks before lockdown (I only tend to shop with Ocado once or twice a month as Iive alone and can't reach the minimum spend every week)

I can now get in, got the email.
No slots showing until I clicked calendar/ certain dates now highlighted and I was able to book one!

I'm the middle of the alphabet and in the Midlands lol so who knows? Maybe it's by how long you've had your smart pass and/or been a customer? I've been shopping with them for about 7 years I think and had a smart pass for the entire time.

It's a total shambles. Re that email about supposedly being able to book 2-3 weeks ahead, that definitely isn't true for us. I managed to book one slot for monday (though there were LOADS showing as available for the next three days). Now there's absolutely no availability showing at all. But though we've been anytime pass holders for years we haven't actually had an email re delivery slot, I just happened to look. So why did it just let me book one?! I get that this is complicated for them, but they need to stop promising stuff they can't actually carry through.

By some miracle, I went to the site to randomly check again and finally got a slot for my mum for 17 April. I’m going to the post office tomorrow to post a parcel of tuna, rice, crackers etc. I wish you all luck xx