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.

I am not impressed by the M&S offerings so far. I thought it was their ready stuff that was meant to be good but the pizzas, quiche, fishcakes and pot salads are certainly not better than Waitrose.

The search is odd, on that food item thread M and S steak in a tin is highly recommended. I thought I'd have a look at it as I can't imagine such a thing being good but maybe for camping. If you go to tins and then select meat you get all ham, corned beef and hotdogs, I would've thought it should be there. It is there via other search terms though.

Last week, your shopping would have been cheaper at Tesco, so we are including a voucher for you. I wish I could just donate it to charity, it would be amazing if we could elect to have anything under £1 to be donated.

Forgot to attach this!

I keep getting 1p vouchers too @FredAstaireAteMyHamSandwich. I am not feeling well disposed towards Ocado though so I keep thinking I should use them out of spite because all those pennies over millions of orders for broken "price promises" add up to a lot of profit. I am petty though

My DGM always said that back in the days when grocers sold most goods loose and by weight, one of the major supermarket chains had a reputation for instructing staff to always weigh heavy and that is how they became so successful e.g. if a customer asked for 6 oz, they should weigh out 6.5 oz, as very few customers would insist that they cut off a sliver of cheese or cut a smaller piece of steak. Without fridges, the food had to be eaten quickly so it wasn't a case of the extra measure lasting longer.

Not that I am suggesting Ocado are up to anything machiavellian like that! Apparently they don't make most of their profit from selling groceries, they make it from selling their technology.

Just out of interest what are ppl paying for ocado
6 month smart anytime pass??

£10 a month, although I have friends who pay £3.99/£6.99

[quote FredAstaireAteMyHamSandwich]£10 a month, although I have friends who pay £3.99/£6.99[/quote]
Is it area dependent?

Makes me a bit cross and tempted to complain.

I was paying £6.99 (Nottinghamshire) now gone up to £9.99 , I will have battle with them but not at moment due to lockdown etc
I had no problems with them during lockdown

We are being quoted £9.99/month, £55/6months or £99/year (Somerset).

I'm hesitating to sign up until I have a few deliveries where at least part of the order has fresh food with a shelf life greater than 3 days.

The delivery i had on monday night has longer shelf lifes, minimum 4 days

So today's substitute is M&S milk for cravendale. I either buy cravendale or ocado milk so why not sub with ocado products you know I buy

Had one sub today which was ok and I accepted it.

Unfortunately something had leaked in the boxes and my bags of flour had to be returned. The delivery driver was lovely but was pretty peeved off at the terrible bag packing that is happening since the depot changed from robot to human packing.

Anyone else had their (negative) reviews on M&S products censored by Ocado?
I've recently reviewed some things in their "organic" range which, unlike the previous version, now have sulphites.
Concerned that the food quality is going down and ocado's strategy is to pretend that everything is ok.

The M and S steak which is currently in the meal deal is really nice.

£3.99 for pass. London.

I tried to review an Ocado product recently and it just didn't load. I've never had this problem before but then I've never given a 1 star review before and said 'No' when asked would I recommend the product to someone else. Rather disappointing. I like the fact that they allow negative reviews on the site. Many a time and oft I've thought of buying something in a flash sale, checked the reviews and changed my mind.

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g, exactly. I always read the reviews before I buy anything new. Pretty useless now.
I wasn't bothered about the swap to M&S but it's not a good sign that they can't stand customer scrutiny.

Many a time and oft I've thought of buying something ... , checked the reviews and changed my mind.

Me too. Will be a dreadful shame if they're now weeding out negative reviews. Is that something M&S might have negotiated?

If I didn't answer before regarding varied subscription fees - mine stayed the same at £5.99. Friend living twenty minutes away has had hers put up to £9.99. She really didn't have any choice but to accept the increase as there were never any delivery slots for less than £6.00 in her area.

How far in advance of your smart pass renewal date do they contact you about the price?

I've only had a few Ocado orders in the past, pre lockdown, always had substitutions.

During lockdown could not get a slot or it was something like 2 or 3 months away

Now I can get slots but the cost is around £6.99 per delivery

Signing up for 1 year is around 100 quid, not sure if it's worth it especially if things kick off again then there will be hardly any slots again!

Although, do you get any priority for delivery slots if you've paid up for the yearly pass?

Noticed more substitutions in September and also the substituted items are less appropriate than before. Ready to roast chicken subbed for an M&S marinaded breast, not nearly the same.

Although, do you get any priority for delivery slots if you've paid up for the yearly pass?

I didn’t!

Priority for deliveries- depends if your regarded as a most/very loyal customer or just a customer. Didn’t seem to make much difference if you were a smart pass holder or not during the lockdown.
Some got deliveries as normal, some couldn’t get any at all despite paying for a smart pass.

I asked Ocado why someone 200 metres along the road paid half the price for an anytime pass and got a very snotty reply, saying they would not divulge the reasons for the difference .

To be honest paying £10 a month gives me peace of mind that I can get food delivered to my mum during a possible 2nd lockdown. I no longer do my own shopping from Ocado. I just use a mixture of Amazon fresh, local butcher, and Iceland for frozen veg, dairy, and salad stuff.