Ocado smart pass trials, tribulations and tiers

[Milky77]

Background

On March 23, Ocado divided anytime and midweek smartpass members into random groups for access then realised that didn't work so divided us again into most loyal, loyal and near to miscellaneous tiers with having different levels of frequency for order delivery and indeed how many slots you can book in advance.

Certainly the most loyal and probably generally high average spend compared to local populations are the only ones being treated well. They are allowed to still book every seven days, can book 2-3 weeks in advance and are encouraged to book several slots over this time.

The rest of us are being treated with varying levels or service, disappointingly some have not had a single email since March 23 and still don't have access.

Those anytime pass members on the extremely vulnerable list by NHS England should be able to book every 7 days though aren't given the ability to book 2-3 weeks in advance. A few are apparently being called for fortnightly orders.

Ocado has been too greedy. They blame poor service on helping the extremely vulnerable but actually they let too many new and infrequent shoppers place orders putting too much stress on the system.

Complaints on social media are typically met with cut and paste replies. Both the call centre and chat comms have been shut down.

Those with weekly Reserved slots have had their places cancelled. The technology failed, or maybe actually wasn't fit for purpose anyhow

Here was our first thread
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/3862959-Ocado-Anytime-Smart-Pass-holders-have-you-received-priority-access-yet

Let's hope we don't go to a third

Top tip is to try other companies including Morrisons who also deliver from warehouses.

Good luck to all

So what happens when you click 'log in' from that page @Wordofwarning?

I wonder if the problem is because you have cleared cookies- I don't have to log in- when I access from my laptop it takes me straight to my home-page on Ocado without logging in- which I assume is because it recognises the cookies. I'll try form my phone and see if it's different as I never use my phone for ocado.

I also get the yellow line and the page of doom after seeing tantalising available slots for the few seconds I am allowed on the site before getting kicked off, @Wordofwarning

The message on the page of doom has changed though, it used only say you are not on the "priority access list", they've added "or general release list".

Yes- just tried from phone and get same page as you but I can log in with email and password and get into a short queue at the moment- only 5 minutes.

@FreakStar it tantalises next with a glimpse of the page in the time it takes for the page to laid - if I’m SUPERDOOPER fast I can press on book delivery and see slots under my address. I am sometimes able to click on it and the it takes me back to that page. I can do it again and again and again and probably by time 5 it just sticks on that one above eternally.

Ocado told me to clear cookies 🤦‍♀️.

Incidentally on the tantalising page it sort of shouts about how I’m and Anytime Pass holder. But chucks me out.

To put you in the picture, I have also spent every evening from 5.30pm endlessly refreshing. It gets to about 6 and goes directly to the above page. So I didn’t even have an option to queue 😬

freak For me it opens up the front page, shows me that the next available slot is the next day or the day after, then kicks me out to the '6pm / come back tomorrow' page. I am a new smart pass holder, mainly because they have only been here this year.

When I do get in, I can only book the next day.

I instead spend hours logging into Sainsbury's until they open up their general slots. (And I don't have to wait until the night before)

@wordofwarning I choked on my tea reading that 'yellow line of fuck you' 😂

And it isn't just Paul on Twitter who can't get a slot.

Well I managed to get an Asda order last night. Logged in after getting DC down at about 11pm and they had loads for next Monday. Result!

Until they sorted it for Samrtpass customers- in the days of the endless queue a couple of weeks ago mine did that- flashed up the homepage when I clicked log in and threw me back to the holding page if it wasn't my day yet. It sounds like you haven't been given access and no amount of refreshing will probably work. New Smartpass holders have not been given access- you have to have had one from at least 2019! Your only chance is going to be the release of slots at 6pm but I suspect you have to be lucky to get those!

@FreakStar I've had one from at least 2018 if not 2017 and it still chucks me out

I swear I give up now 🤷‍♀️ If I ever get past the yellow line I’ll come back with joy and a certain amount of smugness (deserves I think 😂) but I’ve just had my phone tell me my average daily usage and it’s over 10 hours for the last week. AT LEAST 70% is Ocado related and the rest probably MN 😂

I also haven't had any emails since the original one from the CEO on 25 March except one saying they have extended the validity of the "low price guarantee vouchers" to 28 days. Which reminds me, as well as £7 worth of those, I have a couple of unused £20 off your shop vouchers from signing up new customers which are close to their expiry and haven't had a refund for the smashed wine bottles and dented tins in my last delivery that the driver dropped. Maybe that's why they don't want me back!

It sounds like you haven't been given access and no amount of refreshing will probably work.
This is exactly the point being made by several people - there are Smartpass holders who still haven't been given access, we aren't stupid or doing something wrong, or just in an area with no slot, we literally don't have access and cannot even log in. Thanks to the complete lack of communication from Ocado we have no idea whether we will be given access at some point, or if we will never get access.

New Smartpass holders have not been given access- you have to have had one from at least 2019! Your only chance is going to be the release of slots at 6pm but I suspect you have to be lucky to get those!

Not a new smartpass holder, have had mine for 4 years. I am not holding out any hope of getting a slot at 6pm!

Incidentally having followed a twitter link earlier on this thread I saw Ocado have tweeted that I can get a refund on my Smartpass for March if I couldn't get a delivery - why have I not had an email from them to tell me that? I am getting regular emails from Sainsburys about what they are doing around coronavirus and I am not even a home delivery customer, just a nectar card holder.

Having looked further down their twitter feed I have now found a blog
blog.ocado.com/
and a coronavirus FAQs page
help.ocado.com/hc/en-us/sections/360002011078-Coronavirus-Covid-19-

@RichardMarxisinnocent this is not exactly. Perhaps they know we have nectar cards????? I’ve been a smart pass holder since before 2010 I think it’s been so long they’ve forgotten I have one!

If only they’d tell us if they are still sending out access or not it would be helpful. I could swear and shout and tell them to fuck off and then be quiet. However there is a tiny glimmer of hope (like seeing two of your lottery numbers appear) each and every time you refresh your emails.

And then hope is dashed 🤔

Incidentally having followed a twitter link earlier on this thread I saw Ocado have tweeted that I can get a refund on my Smartpass for March if I couldn't get a delivery - why have I not had an email from them to tell me that?

They communicated it in the "loyal, 14 days" email (which obviously not everyone got, regardless of loyalty or logic). So basically they've told the people who can use their Smartpass how to get a refund, whilst conveniently not telling those who can't!

It not not 😱😱😱😱

@Wordofwarning completely agree, all I really want to know is are they still giving out access or not, so I know whether I am wasting my time trying to log in. Every time I click login and see the homepage I wonder if today is the day it won't throw me back to the page of doom. And then it does.

@richard sorry to say it but I don't think you are going to get access if you haven't already unless Ocado change their stance. It is partly why I shared Paul's post earlier. Ocado didn't even ask for a DM for his postcode or anything else. It was very much if you can't get in you aren't a priority.

Of course I do hope for you and others who can't get access they still change their stance.

Thank you @Milky77, I think you are probably right that I am not going to get access, but it's pretty crappy that I am reaching that conclusion based on these MN threads, rather than being informed by Ocado.

I just re-read the original email and it says "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." Obviously this is now not what is happening but would be nice if they told me.

I'm not very technical, but I wonder how the page knows who is and isn't a priority member if they haven't logged in yet- it must be using cookies or something like that-it's sounding like a technical issue to me rather than that they have selected some people not to have access. Have those that can't log in tried using a different browser you have never used before so it has no record of you? Clutching at straws for you!

It's terrible how they've treated you and others.

My account auto logs in on chrome so it knows who I am as soon as I click login, and probably even as soon as I access ocado.com.

I have tried IE where I logged in from scratch as have never logged in from there before, also tried my work laptop where I also have never logged in before. I did get to see the login screen where I could type in my username and password, but once I clicked log in (and thus the site knew who I was) it was straight back to the page of doom.

It's definitely based on people's accounts