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

If Ocado comms weren't shit I'd have expected them to delete the message above the calendar
You're enjoying unlimited deliveries with our Ocado Smart Pass

New message

What a pickle! You're so lucky to have to be allowed to stress over booking a slot every 7 days. We are working so hard. Did we mention that?

@mangocoveredlamb it's bad enough they have tiers. They should let everyone book multi book slots though no matter the time frame

@Milky77 when did you get that one? I’ve just had the wall of silence and doom...

Now I have booked I can't see any and presume I won't see any until after that delivery has arrived, which is fine as long as that is actually why happens and they don't change the goalposts again in the meantime.

This is my fear. I have a delivery booked for next weekend and have been checking very regularly to try and book my next slot after that, but everything has remained greyed out. I''ve got my fingers tightly crossed that stuff will be become bookable once the delivery comes, but am very nervous not knowing when my next one will be, when normally I know a few weeks in advance. And as you say, who knows how the policy will change in the mean time!

@wordofwarning I just made up the new message. Sorry 😂

Not surprisingly there's inconsistency when people can book their next slots. Yesterday I could book for the weekend after next. It didn't coincide with a delivery. My next order is on Saturday. Am hoping they will let book after that...

I definitely feel better having looked at other resources like Prime Now and Morrisons.

My friend has terminal cancer. He has a midweek pass with Ocado. After registering with the government scheme, both ASDA and Ocado emailed him. Asda said they could offer him a slot any time the last weekend, free delivery and had a really friendly tone to the email. Ocado email was fairly cold and matter of fact and offered him any slot for just yesterday but wanted to charge £6.99 for the delivery...

Showing their tried colours aren't they? Glad Asda could help their friend.

Ocado seem to have made a conscious decision not to give all smart pass customers a priority log-in. I am amazed. This is just another example Ocado have replied to on twitter
twitter.com/iPaulClark/status/1249687528933855232

@Snog - I pay 9.16 a month. Not given priority access though as paid for slots (usually cheap or free if over a certain amt. spend between 130/140 weekly. SE London). Got smart pass this year as started monthly deliveries to daughter at uni and these were about 6 quid for delivery so was better value to sign up to smart pass. I have been a customer for years. comms shocking - these threads have been how I kept updated. Finally got a mail on the 10th to tell me I could access site after 6pm. Although I did manage to access site and get a random delivery slot last Tuesday (grave yard delivery slot and v expensive shop). Christ at this rate not sure I can afford to keep shopping with them anyway.

I don't see why Ocado should be obliged to deliver to the vulnerable for free?

That twitter link doesn't say that Ocado will not be giving priority to all smartpass customers at all. Paul Clark sounds like he's sitting waiting for Ocado to send him a link- which I don't think any Smartpass customers have had- and they have told him to log on to see availability- like the rest of us smartpass customers have done!

Have to be honest, I have the yuck now. I will keep the pass and see if I have any luck with getting the short notice delivery slots but I have ordered fruit veg milk from some wholesale suppliers for this week. Still shocked with Ocado - the tech issues, the app being closed down, the complete lack of comms, the grading/tiering of their customers and watching some of the spam responses to some of their more vulnerable customers on twitter. Just Yuck.

@FreakStar it appears there isn’t a link on the email (requested one of my SIL who is buying for her dp and IL to send me hers to see if i could bounce off it for dm) just a link to your own email on their system.

I know, I know, I tried to buck and cheat the system for dm (after she called me in tears today).

The most frustrating thing now is that because we get the “log in if your a priority” page i can’t actually see the Ocado site for longer than a tantalising 30 seconds, enough to know there are available delivery slots in the area but no way of accessing them. Sorry got distracted, the most frustrating thing is that when things were good (I had access pre lockdown!) I put the shopping list into my basket and shopping lists. I now can’t see what was on there.
I am well aware i’m going to get nowhere with Ocado now, i’ve got an account with Morrison’s now, still no slot but hey ho can come to me and i’ll drive it dm when it does, but dm is now too distressed to remember what she needed. It’s on the fucking site that i can’t get sight of 😔

Incidentally, I agree about vulnerable deliveries not needing to be free - although the irony that they have my smart pass anytime money and won’t even let me on but will charge someone else who does have access is not lost on me. They’re getting the money anyway from other customers they aren’t servicing. (I say this as someone who can’t confidently believe that i will get my smart pass money back until May at the earliest as they will only refund if I don’t receive anything in April - bet they give me access on 30th🤣) That being said, other deliveries appear to be asking for a contribution from non smart pass paying members so there isn’t a reason Ocado shouldn’t.

(although perhaps it would have been better to put all smart pass payments from everyone on hold and charge everyone, they still could have used their bizarre system of priority but at least customers wouldn’t be so pissed off 🙂)

Thanks to this thread I logged in last night and was able to book an order for after the order I had booked.

The system is still messed up. I’m supposed (according to the last email I had) to be able to book a slot every 10 days. I was able to book a delivery for 9 days after my last delivery, and now one for 7 days after that (tbf, on the queue page yesterday, the blurb did say I could book an order every 7 days, but this isn’t what my email said).

I just wish there was some consistency to it all

That twitter exchange looks like that guy has just sat there waiting to be told when there is a slot. I’ve been logging in every day to book one.
Yes they did say that they would let you know when they became available but I would just be a bit more proactive than that.

@FlamingoAndJohn to be fair, I got the email end of March saying to wait until i received a further email/text (17days ago and never received) . I’ve tried getting on the site at least three times a day since then and don’t get past the unless your are a priority you’ll be sent back here page. They sent emails to some saying they were a priority and didn’t follow up with any comms at all. And still haven’t had any. The attempts don’t include sitting in a queue at 6pm to try and get one of the unicorn slots.

I think the whole point that’s frustrating is just not being able to log in!

Ah. I’ve been able to get on without a problem but then I’ve always got a delivery booked.

Yep John has been trying for weeks to log in. Like others on here after receiving that March 23 email he's just been bumped off any priority access login without any notification. It's just a poor show.

Paul not John. Wtf

Tier1 Customer then @flamingoAndJohn.

@Milky77 poor Paul isn't on Mumsnet otherwise he would have been more informed.

@chefcarl Couldn't agree more. We are a SE London customer too, they've been our main supermarket for 10 years. Yuck is exactly the right feeling - the communication has been so badly handled and the 'loyal' phrasing is a real slap in the face to people who have been 'loyal' to them but clearly not spending enough to make the top bracket. To me a better system would be that you get slots to match the average of what you've had in the past 6 months or year. I would be happy to know I have half the slots coming that I usually do.

We've switched over to Abel and Cole who have superb communication - clear emails about the changes they've made and why, responsive to emails and social media. I haven't been able to get everything I want but I think we are also lucky in SE London to have lots of great local options.

Yep Ocado have very loyal, loyal and the rest of us. Nice huh?

Anyone else tried Waitrose? I ordered from them on adhoc and got a slot just when we went into lockdown but haven't seen a single slot since.

Waitrose are prioritising regular customers, after allocating 25% to the extremely vulnerable