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

The 9th and 10th were open for me after I canceled an order the previous weekend.

@tangledyarn do you have the vulnerable letter from NHS England? I sent Ocado that

@ceara you have nothing to apologise for. Emotions are heightened at the moment and there's obviously a few people trying to stir things up.

I agree with you on your comments about Ocado. Yes after much grief I'm finally sorted but that doesn't mean I'm happy with their service when they've ditched other regulars. Vulnerable or not, it's shit customer service. Ocado comms have been terrible. That what a pickle post couldn't have been worse. Ocado have shown their ethics or lack thereof.

@milky77 No sorry I wasnt clear, am not shielded, just in the vulnerable group, the problem is I am unwell at the moment and have a chronic Illness that makes standing in queues and doing a big shop in a supermarket very difficult at the best of times, but understandably I dont suppose they can just take my word for it!

@quarantino I went back through a couple of orders. I haven't saved 10% on anything for ages it seems.

@tangledyarn yes that's the problem. Lots of people are trying it on. You can register on the vulnerable database on Gov UK website and then supermarkets may contact you. You have to say you need help with shopping. Ocado may also be able to verify you after that.
In any event have you tried other supermarkets? Morrisons are doing well to help vulnerable people and you don't have to be a regular customer with them.

@flykngfamingo that's the epitome of Ocado. You should love us so much you will want to pay for our magazine.

I used to get offered one of those magazines when I checked out as a free promotion. I always declined it and would then get a second message asking if I was sure I didn't want it.

I do think it depends where you live, understandingly so. The greater the demand where you are, the more difficult it will be to get deliveries. Bigger population means more vulnerable. Where I am the slots have been fine and I've managed a delivery every week even before the emails went out. But that's reasonable because where I live it isn't busy. Partly because Ocado only started around here a few years ago I think, and we are pretty rural by most standards

Pressed send too soon. I've been offered every 7 dats but I don't think that's because I'm a big spender (although I have a midweek pass), but because they have the means to do it

I have begun to notice the rather hair-raising rise in prices - for relatively mediocre, mass produced products. It probably is inevitable - but when one already feels slightly knocked about by them, with the shopping experience somewhat tarnished, the fact that any savings compared to old skool shopping are rapidly diminishing does give one pause ...

I’ve had the 10% off loads of stuff in my upcoming order.
I’ve also noticed that some offers are back in now.

Milky77. Places really need to make it more known that there are 2 lists.
The one on the Gov website is only for people on the ‘Extremely vulnerable shielded list’.
So many on the long ‘vulnerable’ list seem to think that it means they have to register on the Gov website and will receive food boxes and priority for online orders. This is not the case, at the moment the World and his wife will say they are vulnerable which in some ways we all are but it unfortunately does open itself up for a lot of abuse.

@Yellowbutterfly1, that's exactly it. The government list is only for those who are "extremely vulnerable" to Covid-19.

But it's throwing everyone who is merely "vulnerable" to the wolves. Plenty of people have health conditions which don't make them "extremely vulnerable" to Covid-19, but do mean they can't access a physical supermarket even in normal times, which is why they use online grocery shopping. People with sight problems (like my DM) or mobility problems, for example. Others don't quite make the shielding list but according to govt advice (and common sense) should be avoiding going to the supermarket just now if at all possible - like my DF (late 70s, early stage kidney failure, hypertension, heart condition and moderate asthma but not quite bad enough for the shielding list). But computer says no, no online delivery for them. @Tangledyarn I don't think Ocado will help you here, sadly. I get it, my DH has a chronic condition and wouldn't manage the queueing and standing about but luckily he has me to shop, he would be stuck otherwise.

@Milky77 I wouldn't register on the government website as I dont quite meet the shielding requirements. We are managing.. I have dp who can shop locally (cant drive) it's just there was a period of 3 weeks where neither of us could leave the house anyway due to covid19 so we were a bit stuck. Hopefully I'll be up to driving him to the supermarket soon and he can do the queue waiting!

Shame @tangledyarn. Glad you have a workaround.

I thought the Gov website was for the vulnerable and the NHS England list and letter for the shielded. Thanks for the corrections. 😊

@Milky77 its very confusing! Its totally right that the government and ocado have identified a group of people who are most at risk (although it doesnt seem to even be helping a lot of those people yet :( but its just left a lot of people who are really vulnerable for other reasons in a really difficult situation (not even including myself in that) I am worried about people who are totally alone, it must be really frightening.

I had to send about 30 messages to Ocado to get them to recognise I should be shielding @tangledyarn. It took soooo much energy and I am not going to forget that for a long time.

Still I know I'm one of the lucky ones because I'm not classed as just vulnerable and know how to fight my corner. Ocado have left many of their customers high and dry.

I can't help but wonder if in the winter we have another lockdown, what's the risk of them treating other customers badly? It's quite high imo because they don't seem sorry at all for the most part. If they won't admit mistakes were made how do I know they won't happen again? Have lost a lot of faith in them

Nice to see the press picking up on the difficulties people are facing getting basic essentials, particularly the vulnerable who don't qualify for the govt "extremely vulnerable" list and can't access either deliveries or physical supermarkets.
www.theguardian.com/society/2020/apr/19/disabled-people-left-off-coronavirus-vulnerable-list-go-without-food

That's atrocious. It makes me so mad. I'm glad the press have picked it up. I hope some good comes out of it.

I received this yesterday! Absolutely disgusting

Sorry @HavenDilemma, but if I, as a weekly shopper with Ocado, got bumped out because you, as someone who rarely shops with them got priorityI would be pretty pissed off. When all this is over Ocado will need their regular customers to maintain their business. Pissing off regulars in favour of occasional shoppers is not going to be good for them, I can see their perspective on this and am grateful for them honouring loyalty.

Are you vulnerable and priority, @freakstar?

No, and I'm all for vulnerable customers getting priority over me, but not non-customers!

Ceara That is such sad reading, and just the tip of the iceberg. Many vulnerable people don't have access to the internet either.

The other difficulty is that people do not know where to access help, it is a real worry.

Work wise I am involved in trying to access help for those that need it but it is just a tiny slither of the population.

HavenDilemma, where/how did you do your regular shopping before lockdown?

All of the online shopping services have the vulnerable list, don’t they?