Ocado priority, tips and hacks and Toblerone

[FredAstaireAteMyHamSandwich]

Carrying on from the last Ocado thread that is about to fill up. Still haven’t been given a toblerone yet.

They've extended my time to edit my order by 12 hours so that's an improvement. I want the app back

I ordered bagels last week that were mouldy on arrival with still three days date left on them

I was unnecessarily excited to see that there were some cheap Ocado slots available for tomorrow, so I plunged back in.

The first time I went to check out £38 of my £89 order was apparently out of stock (admittedly there was Waitrose washing powder on the order, but the rest was a wide mix of brands and variety of food). So I duly cancelled some, found some subs for the rest...went to check out again...£25 not available this time.

Looking at Twitter, several others were having the same problem. I can only assume they are clearing the warehouse to make room for M&S stock.

I'll be the grumpy one muttering under my mask in Waitrose later!

@goingoverground I've been a customer for 6/7 years. Always been able to negotiate the SP annual increase and was on a 3months free then £6.99 p/m for a number of years.

...I had my renewal email in July informing me the price was going up to £9.99. I complained. I had the matter escalated to management. I threatened to leave. I actually cancelled my membership and was told "under no circumstances are we able to negotiate / offer a deal"...

For fear of another lockdown I have now renewed.

On the insipid email they send about smart pass they promise an ‘anniversary gift’ . I haven’t had mine this year, and a colleague emailed them and asked why they hadn’t received one, and were told they had been suspended during lockdown. Fair enough, there were other priorities, but lockdown is over. Why are they advertising it as a bonus of having a smart pass if they have no intention of giving it? False advertising. I won’t hold my breath waiting for mine.

[quote LloydBC]@goingoverground I've been a customer for 6/7 years. Always been able to negotiate the SP annual increase and was on a 3months free then £6.99 p/m for a number of years.

...I had my renewal email in July informing me the price was going up to £9.99. I complained. I had the matter escalated to management. I threatened to leave. I actually cancelled my membership and was told "under no circumstances are we able to negotiate / offer a deal"...

For fear of another lockdown I have now renewed.[/quote]
I think they left off the end of that sentence, @LloydBC

Under no circumstances are we able to negotiate / offer a deal... unless you are a new customer.

@Yellowbutterfly1 I’ve been wondering the same thing. I’ve also had an order generated for 2nd Sept.

I normally have Waitrose Essentials milk with every order, it’s around £1.15 for a 4 Pinter, they’ve put Cravendale on my order instead - at £1.85 for 4 pints 😮 I’m hoping there will be cheaper M&S alternatives available, otherwise I’ll be cancelling my pass, at least half of my favourites at the moment are Waitrose Essentials.

I’m seeing m&s items when I search but all currently showing as out if stock so can’t add to basket. If you search ‘m&s’ it comes up with lots of things. Shopping due here in 2 hours time. I’m expecting it to be late due to road closures requiring a massive 20 min detour and very few signs telling you how to get around it. Hopefully it will still turn up...

I've had an email from Ocado this afternoon linking to a page of Q&A about M&S replacing Waitrose. They say Waitrose lines are less than 10% of what they sell currently. I'd be interested to know if this is now or a year or two ago before they announced the end of the tie-up. It's my impression they've been steadily reducing Waitrose lines ever since then. They include Qs about M&S using excessive packaging, selling mostly ready meals and not a full range of basics, and being more expensive than Waitrose, but they don't really answer any of those questions. The gist is 'It's all going to be great! Problems, what problems?'

They also say they are steadily working through replacing Waitrose branded items in favourites with M&S equivalents, so that will be worth checking, especially for people who use their automatic order generating features. They point out that nobody should take for granted that ingredients will be the same so people with dietary requirements to avoid particular ingredients will have to check very carefully.

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g I agree they have been reducing Waitrose things.
I just want Waitrose to introduce a smart pass then I’ll jump ship.

I'm torn. If we have another lockdown I need a reliable delivery option, and for all their faults Ocado eventually got it together for us this time.

[quote EveLe]@Yellowbutterfly1 I’ve been wondering the same thing. I’ve also had an order generated for 2nd Sept.

I normally have Waitrose Essentials milk with every order, it’s around £1.15 for a 4 Pinter, they’ve put Cravendale on my order instead - at £1.85 for 4 pints 😮 I’m hoping there will be cheaper M&S alternatives available, otherwise I’ll be cancelling my pass, at least half of my favourites at the moment are Waitrose Essentials.[/quote]
There is Ocado Brand milk.

Lots of M&S stuff showing up now.

I can add m&s things. I hadn’t realised how much I rely on reviews, feel a bit lost. Added salt and vinegar twirls and cheesy crisps though , oh and pork pies 😜

I was doing it at 7am and some of the m&d stuff was cheaper. No offers yet though.

I've had a resaved order placed for September 3rd so I can now see M&S things.
Looks ok to be fair despite my initial reservations.

Oho! Having an embarrassing amount of fun looking at the M&S stuff. What novelty! They look oddly inexpensive too? e.g. herbs 75p. Bran flakes 80p.
I agree, they've been phasing out Waitrose stuff for at least 6 months. Used to get e.g. packet rice all the time, couldn't get it for ages and ages.
I wish M&S would carry on making their ginger syrup sponge puddings, they were amazing but couldn't find them in stores for a while even before lockdown :(
I do like the M&S stringless runner beans too.

They have M&S pants! And tights! And some baby clothes!
Not necessarily what I want (I want bras) but seems good. Also bed sheets, beauty stuff...

Oho! Having an embarrassing amount of fun looking at the M&S stuff
Oh god, me too. Looks like there is a same price or cheaper M&S equivalent for everything I've looked up so far. Already filled my basket with cheese tasters

I wonder if they'll see a decrease in people ordering from the M&S website if they can get it in their ocado order?

@Quarantino

I wonder if they'll see a decrease in people ordering from the M&S website if they can get it in their ocado order?

There is a limited amount of stuff like knickers that you can get through Ocado, I doubt it’ll make a difference.

Goslowlysideways I am wonderig why you want Waitrose to introduce a Smartpass. I've been using them for years what am I missing? Not being snarky, genuinely asking

@Noflora Good question. I think it’s just if we have another lockdown I can get a guaranteed delivery. Just that really.
I was spending about £350 + each order during the lockdown because I was buying for so many relatives and neighbours It would be nice to have a bit of security with them in case it happens again.
Going to an actual supermarket and buying that much shopping is physically almost impossible if you’re trying to socially distance and be quick.

I definitely want to stick to Waitrose because I like so many of the products they sell. Ocado and M&S doesn’t appeal. I find M&S has really short sell by dates as well as being expensive.

I've finally managed to book a reserved slot. Only taken three weeks of trying

Goslowlysideways Before lockdown it was normal for Waitrose to have bookings open for the next 3 months. In March I reserved my slots fortnightly to end June. I always do my Christmas shop in Sept (obvs alter it later). If they go back to that you can have some reassurance. They honoured all my slots unlike my reserved with Ocado

We only have a small food hall in our M&S so I was pleasantly surprised at the range of stock they will offer via Ocado. It seems similarly priced to Waitrose, sometimes cheaper (though I just looked at raw ingredients rather than ready meals).

Somebody has obviously sat them down to explain that it is better to sell 100 items with a 10p/each margin than 20 items with a 20p one. A typical M&S shop for me would be about £20, whereas an Ocado one is normally £75-£125.

My local store is renowned for selling perishable stuff close to use-by date, so I will be interested to see whether Ocado can sort this out for them.

Did I dream that Waitrose were investigating a partnership with Amazon? If they aren't, they might be feeling a bit worried.

My Colombian coffee sticks have been substituted