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
Terms & Conditions

Whilst in place, these measures override the relevant provisions of our Terms & Conditions.
You’ve received this message as it contains important information about your ocado account.
Privacy Policy

© 2020 Ocado Retail Limited. Registered address: Apollo Court, 2 Bishop Square, Hatfield Business Park, Hatfield, Herts, AL10 9EX. Registered in England – company number: 03875000.

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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?

Substitutions you can still ask the driver to take away before you touch the delivery. This involved yodelling out what you want to reject, then going back behind your closed door whilst they look for it.

I really don't know what's happening with refunds though. I could not get on to the site to report that an item had leaked all over another. I emailed but still haven't heard anything, and this thread has reminded me to send the email again

So are they still sending out emails to offer slots? I have been waiting for 14 days whilst also trying to get on the site as a “non” priority.

I am literally going mad. I am so fed up with them, DONT SEND AN EMAIL TO SAY YOU WILL GET ANOTHER ONE TO GET ON AND DONT THEN SEND ANYTHING.

I logged on last night and saw slots for 26/27th April. Strange we are all seeing different availability, must be regional

I hadn’t had an email asking me to go on either

It’s all a bit ad hoc. I still can’t see anything beyond the next three days (it’s academic but there’s no available slots then).

I have booked a Tesco delivery for 22nd as a fallback but if I can’t get an Ocado delivery in a fortnight I will be cancelling my pass.

It’s shit, is what it is.
I’ve given up. Asda, Iceland and Sainsbury’s have all been in contact with us today - our details have been shared with them as we appear on the governments list- to offer us priority slots. So I will mow get a weekly slot with one of them. Ocado, who should be doing the same, despite over ten years of my loyalty are not even having the courtesy to call me back when they promise they would.
As soon as they fix their crap IT systems and I can log on I will be cancelling my SmartPass and deleting my account. I’ve already cancelled the direct debit.

Substitutions you can still ask the driver to take away before you touch the delivery.
I've specifically asked this on my last two deliveries and they have both said no. Today's one said 'no, the rules keep changing'. So I've got a £3 bag of rice...

DONT SEND AN EMAIL TO SAY YOU WILL GET ANOTHER ONE TO GET ON AND DONT THEN SEND ANYTHING.

This is it. Especially after the last email acknowledged that people were mostly annoyed by the lack of clear comms/instructions, and that they were setting out how it was going to work from now on!

Thanks for the understanding earlier

I still have the grey calendar of doom, no matter what day or time I seem to try the website. Have set an alarm to try at 6pm tomorrow, thank you!

I also have had no reply to the email I sent them on Fri 3rd about shielding and access.

@FlyingFlamingo - as you've managed to get a reply from them, I don't suppose you could share the date that you sent your email to them? Trying to decide if they're ignoring me.

We are out of bread, milk, and fresh vegetables. Fruit should see us through the weekend.

The earliest I could find a box delivery for those items is Saturday 18th

Earliest slot I could find with an alternative supermarket is the 28th, by which point we will also have run out of ingredients for the few things dd will actually eat.

Am finding a different site without my favourites or suggested list really difficult to navigate thanks to medication brain fog. Switching from the app to the Ocado webpage was bad enough(!)

@ButtonMoonLoon - I'm sorry that Ocado didn't get back to you.

Obsessively checking, even though I said I wouldn't, I was shown one day - with several slots available. Counting from my last delivery, this seems to indicate (because I can't remember what the gatekeeping page said) that I'm allowed one slot every ten days.

Still lots of things unavailable, but others have become available since I re-filled the trolley a few days ago.

Weirdly, I placed the order with a slight tremor of reluctance. Beyond seeing how much stress the current situation is causing people, I'm realising that I had perhaps come to rely on them far too much since moving to an un-foody location. I'd pretty much given up on local farmers' markets, rarely stepped into any supermarket (save the odd dash into into M& S) and was really only aware of online independent suppliers in the weeks coming up to Christmas. Being forced to re-interrogate food sourcing has reminded me of how much I've been either ignoring or unaware of. I feel a change coming on ...

Fuck you, Ocado, really I'm done with you

Another week, another change. I've now gone from the be able to book 7 days in advance to this vague shit below. I'm in the book once every 10 days group. Can someone who can book every 7 days paste a copy of any email comms they got last night

We want to update you on how to get the best possible shopping experience with us at the moment.
We’ve made many changes across ocado. Com to give priority to our longest-standing, most loyal customers. In the past few weeks, we’ve given our loyal and regular customers almost 90% of our capacity. That’s up almost 10% from 81% this time last year. We are also doing everything we can to serve more than our fair share of extremely vulnerable customers identified on the Government’s shield list.
To make this email as helpful as possible, below are the changes that you need to know about.
Ocado Reserved has been switched off
Unfortunately, our Ocado Reserved service hasn’t been functioning as it should. The unprecedented demand we are experiencing has disrupted the system which had worked successfully for years. We have made the decision to pause the service completely until the technical problems have been fixed. Our teams are working to resolve the issues and restore the service as soon as possible. As we are unable to reserve a specific slot for you given the current high demand, until then you will need to book a delivery slot.
Booking a delivery
We’re offering you the chance to have one delivery every 10 days.
Even if you are in a queue when you visit the site, it doesn’t mean all available slots will be taken by those ahead of you in the queue. You will still have a fair chance. You may not get a slot every week, but we will try to make as many additional slots available as possible.
Seeing slot availability
If you’ve had a recent or upcoming delivery, you may not see future delivery slots. Delivery slots will not be visible 9 days either side of a delivery, in order to manage the frequency you’ve been promised.
If you don’t have any deliveries booked but still can’t see any available slots when you log on, it could be that you’re trying to view too far in advance, or we haven’t released extra slots yet.
If you have any questions, hopefully our dedicated Coronavirus FAQs page can give you any more information you need.
We’re pleased to say that we've worked hard with suppliers in order to start removing restrictions on most products. We’re still temporarily limiting certain products to one or two items per order but, as supply improves, the list is getting shorter every day.
We also want to take a second to say a huge thank you to all our collegues, especially those working round the clock to get groceries to as many customers as possible. They’re truly doing an amazing job.

And to you, our customers, we can't thank you enough for your patience and understanding during these unprecedented times.
Ocado Customer Service Team

And especially this bit

"We want to update you on how to get the best possible shopping experience with us at the moment."

The answer is don't shop with Ocado

Ok this is what I got last night, just the important bits:

Booking a delivery We consider you one of our most loyal customers, so we’re currently offering you one delivery every 7 days. You will also see slot availability up to three weeks ahead of time – so we encourage you to book multiple slots in advance to avoid disappointment. As part of this group, you will go straight through to the website every time. If you have to queue at all, it won’t be for long.

Seeing slot availability If you’ve had a recent or upcoming delivery, you may not see future delivery slots. Delivery slots will not be visible 6 days either side of a delivery, in order to manage the frequency you’ve been promised. If you don’t have any deliveries booked but still can’t see any available slots when you log on, it could be that you’re trying to view too far in advance, or we haven’t released extra slots yet.

Everything else the same in the rest of the email I think.

I have had exactly the same email as you Milky, previously having had the see 7 days ahead one.

I was able to book a delivery on Tuesday and then I was seeing slots 7 days after my next booked delivery (which was further away than the 7 days I was supposed to be able to see), so I think there has definitely been a change. Coincidentally I actually opted for a slot 10 days after my next delivery, but I did have the option of slots a few days before when booking.

Thank you everyone

@MustBeDueSomeBetterFeet. Wow at being able to see slots three weeks in advance. That's so different to what the once every 10 days group have. I'm almost stunned at the difference.

Curious that issues still remain for people. After the initial crashing of the site due to huge demand, I have not had any issues with Ocado. For the past week and a half, I can immediately get onto the site and I have been allowed one delivery a week (spaced a minimum of 7 days apart).

There is a lack of some products, but I can live with this .

I don't know if it helps me that I a very long-term users and have been doing weekly/biweekly shops for the past 16 years+.

@Mominatrix I’m afraid lots of people on here have been regular customers too and are still having issues

@WinstonWolf I think I sent it last weekend and got a reply on Wednesday. Don’t hold your breath though for a useful response!

I appear to be able to see 3 days ahead every day now, not just on a Thursday. It doesn’t really help though because I prefer to book ahead so I have been staying up until midnight to book Tesco 3 weeks in advance. I am far too much of a stresshead to leave booking a shop until we are down to our last 3 days of food!

@Milky77 I'm as surprised as you are. I'm a midweek pass holder, and probably spend £200 a month over two shops (alternately shop with Tesco).

Therefore, I'm not sure what the underlying logic is to the decision for me personally.

I am in an area where people don't generally shop with Ocado. I'm right between two of their hubs (so deliveries can come from either). I have small children (not sure if this is obvious from my shopping habits). I'm one of their Star Reviewers.

I'm immensely grateful as I am asthmatic (not severe enough for the shielding list, but enough that I'm self-isolating, plus have a father with heart problems and mother who's asthmatic) but I imagine I won't need a slot every 7 days anyway so won't use it that regularly and will shop for others.

Being able to see the slots so far out is the best bit for sure, as it alleviates any anxiety I have over food supplies but that being said, I have found loads of good small local suppliers, former commercial wholesalers who now delivery, etc, so all is not lost.

Since 20th March I’ve had no access to the site, I received an email on 26th March telling me I was a valued priority anytime smartpass holder. I was surprised and thrilled to know I was going to be able to continue using them. In that email they said I could expect a further email/text to tell me when I would get access to the site to book. These would start on 27th March. It’s 10th April, since then I’ve had one further email to inform me of this;

“We want to make sure you carry on getting good value for money during these unprecedented times, so we’re making changes to the way you receive Low Price Promise vouchers and giving you longer to redeem them.
We’ll carry on checking your comparable shopping against the listed prices at tesco.com. If it’s not already cheaper at Ocado, as always, we’ll give you a voucher for more than the difference. However, instead of sending you a voucher after every shop, we’ll now save up all your vouchers and email you a combined voucher every month. Plus, you’ll have more time to redeem each monthly voucher - up to 28 days.
You will find more detail on these changes in our updated Terms & Conditions.
Ocado Customer Service team”

That’s it. No other communications from them. I’ve sent emails to them and had no response. I’ve been on Facebook and twitter and had standard responses. I’ve been told to dm them and then not been replied to or had the same standard response. Then been ignored.

I’m well aware I’m not in the vulnerable category and so shouldn’t get priority, however they offered it to me and I am buying for another vulnerable person so don’t want to be going to four different supermarkets to find products whilst also looking after children.

I will be clear - I have no problem with the other supermarkets who have been clear about their priorities. What I’m having a problem with is being lied to, not communicated to AND seeing those in the vulnerable category unable to access the site.

In addition, last night on Facebook they put the info about loyal customers. Saying how brilliant they are - well loyalty doesn’t appear to extend to 10+years. They have obviously ignored that group of people.

So now I’m pissed off, having to put a vulnerable person at risk (who incidentally is ALSO a long term anytime smart pass holder who can’t get access to the site).

So.... I hope this is remembered, how loyalty is repaid. From being a really fabulous company that I had nothing but praise for to one is turn my back on if they burst into flames. How people have treated others in this pandemic will be remembered for a long time. Ironically I have more communication from Sainsbury’s (who i don’t have an account with) than Ocado.

I was previously in the 7 day group and got the same email as @MustBeDueSomeBetterFeet last night. The three week thing is accurate, I have been able to book one slot per week until the end of the month and seem to go straight through every time.

My shops are expensive for my area I suppose, I have an anytime smart pass and not many people seem to use Ocado in my area.

Oh, I am also a Star Reviewer. Maybe that is a major factor?

That could well be a factor @fallpoetry

I pay £9 a month for an anytime pass. That's definitely not a factor!

Demographically we would spend less on average as there's only two of us.

First order with them was 5 years ago and have had an anytime pass since then. Clearly we are replaceable