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

We've always been big supporters and to be honest I wouldn't even mind if they had dropped us down a tier but it would have been nice to know not be left worried that DM got an email and we didn't. Communication really is key.

Milky Not sure if Yorkshire is up my way, but I can get on at 6pm for any remaining slots for the next day. There is always a full compliment of slots, so don't think they are restricting the areas as such.

Just that it is impossible to meet their criteria.

Yes the comms have been horrendous - that ‘What a pickle’ page when the site was down was so tone-deaf, the social media response has been terrible (I don’t blame the people working on replying to messages, they’re only using what’s been scripted), emails and holding screens vague and inconsistent...and so on.

I managed to get a slot just after midnight (and checked this morning to make sure I hadn’t dreamed it!) but I think this’ll be the last time I use them. Been a customer for 14 years but because I don’t have a smart pass and only spend about £200 a month I feel ignored and let down. I only used them this time as they and Tesco are the only supermarkets I’m signed up with, and Tesco has no slots.

Well 5 mins have passed. Nothing has changed I still get the you're not allowed in list. I despair. I've never been so stressed about food shopping!

I manged to get a slot for yesterday (just logged on one evening and to my surprise there was no wait to get onto the site and there were slots) I've just logged on tonight to double check my order as I had what I thought was a missing item (seems I just didn't order it) and managed to get a slot for the 24th - so it seems that I am now in the one slot every 14 days group? Seems totally random who is and who isn't able to get a slot

We have zoom here but we are in the “once a week” group so I haven’t had to use it recently. I have had a look though and there are generally slots available.

I was a fairly regular user of zoom before COVID though! Would do 1-2 zooms a week and a big Ocado once a week.

@decisionsdecision what other shops have you tried? Morrisons and Asda seem to be doing well

@Milky77 it put me in a queue and they were all gone by the time I got on there. Such a bummer. Will have a look again elsewhere.
I'm not part of the vulnerable group but have serve anxiety so getting out at the best of times is really hard let alone now.
Oh well we will keep on trying!

Are there any differences with zoom @rhayader

Definitely try other shops also early in the morning is better rather than at peak times. I have booked slots at 2am 4am etc

@Milky77

Zoom is the same price but the product availability is lower. You can only get small sizes of products but the range is surprisingly massive. They sell much more than the local Tesco express. I just typed in “cheddar” and there are 40 products that are cheese before you get to “mini cheddars” to give you an idea of the range available.

Zoom obviously comes on the same day (pre COVID I once had a shop turn up in 16 minutes from click to doorbell but now it’s more like 3-4 hours but you get an delivery slot). It also comes in giant brown paper bags which is nice.

That's good to know. Thank you!

Hi all just here to share my Ocado experience. I have been a customer since 2010 and started with smaller orders back then but in the last couple of years the weekly shop has been between £100-200. When the virus kicked off I was unable to get a slot and was desperately trying due to my vulnerable parents - I wanted to set them up with a regular delivery. For a good few weeks I couldn’t. Then I got an email saying I was able to book one every 7 days - this has been fantastic for my parents who are high risk so cannot go to the supermarket. I pay £10.99 smart pass a month and for the weight it has lifted off my shoulder I am happy to pay this. We are now getting them a regular delivery and if needed we could take one of the weekly slots but we have local farm shops for most things. People are saying they are saving money during this pandemic by not going out - I do not feel this way as seem to be spending more on groceries. Good luck to all trying to get a slot - especially those who are vulnerable.

I’m sure it’s 8pm somewhere - just not in the UK and this has been on for an hour

Hahaha another PR fail. Probably the same person in charge of the what a pickle post

Sorry - not quite an hour but I checked in at 6.05 and it was up - but hey what are a few “creative” minutes difference going to make?

They definitely need a decent pr co - just to sort this pickle out and tell customers the truth 🙂 its a full time job trying to get on the site (or any other!)

I’m in an odd situation. I’ve been a smart pass holder for a long time - I’ve been shopping with them about 10 years. We spend approx £250 a month with them.

DH also has an account we hardy use, it’s an old account that has only ever had infrequent use.

In January as his account had been inactive for a while they sent him a free smart pass offer, plus £45 of money off vouchers. I cancelled my smart pass and we started using his account. We have a weekly reserved slot. We’ve had three deliveries since lock down started (two were booked before it started as I plan quite far in advance) and have been adding shopping for our elderly neighbours and PIL who are in their 80s and not in the best health.

Suddenly we’ve lost our reserve slot, lost our ability to get into the site and can’t book a delivery. We can’t log in either on the one with a current smart pass or the one that has spent maybe £20,000 + in its lifetime - presumably as it doesn’t have a smart pass active now.

Ideally I’d love to get a delivery every 10 days, and that one delivery is supporting two vulnerable households plus us (and I’m diabetic and my DS has respiratory issues he has been twice hospitalised for, so it wouldn’t be pushing it to say three vulnerable households).

I’m disappointed but do understand. I probably will switch to Waitrose. I do think it’s a shame loyalty is based only on current smart pass and not average spend history.

Just as another aside - everyone is looking more locally which is great and finding out services they didn’t know were there. Another option (especially if quite rural) is to see if your local pubs are doing a veg/meal box takeaway. My SIL is getting regular fresh deliveries in south east and says they are good value, she also wants her “local” to be there when we get out of this (likes a wine or two she does ) I’ve tried ours but they aren’t doing it

We have had Ocardo deliveries for many years and, very importantly, deliveries for the last two years since being mostly housebound. Should the systems be permanently changed to support the vulnerable in our society?

I have always valued the Ocardo service. It has been great for our family and still is.

I never got the loyalty email but I now seem to have lots of slot availability where I am 🤷🏻‍♀️ I've also never paid for a smart pass!

Red The systems were there previously to support anyone who wanted them. Presumably a lot chose not to. I've been doing online supermarket shops for years and years, and have been thoroughly made fun of for doing so. Suddenly everyone wants a slice of the pie.

The long term customers should not be being treated like this.

For context I have always shopped for our family and for a neighbour as we have been in the housebound bracket for some time. It is a c£250 a week shop. The weekly bill has gone up since CV as I am shopping for more households. This week it was an eye watering £800

@TheGreatWave I think they need to be profitable otherwise there are no deliveries full stop. Generally in society we should have had support systems in place for those most in need long before CV. If it’s about profitability and that’s what society values then here we are.

Me too @wordofwarning I've found a great meat supplier that only sources from small to medium sized farms. Of course it costs more than supermarkets but I'm happy to do so in order to support farmers.