Ocado tips, hacks, Toblerone and Christmas

[GaryUnicorn]

Carrying on from the old thread....

Still no email about the Christmas slots.

Tony’s is lovely, nothing like wax! And so much better than Cadbury’s now. No palm oil!

Excellent article in the Sunday Times about the price differences between M&S products in store and via Ocado. It hadn't really occurred to me (because I wasn't paying much attention) that it was as simple as Ocado being able to set its own prices.

Also India Knight, in the same paper, on Christmas slots and defiant optimism ...

I don't care for Toblerone - but was never offered any.

I'm entirely ignorant of Percy Pigs - so declined the free offering.

I didn't enjoy the only bar of Tony's chocolate I've eaten - but I've given up hope of Ocado ever offering me free stuff I actually like. So I just ticked the box. There's no way it will stay at an optimum temperature till Christmas stocking time (house too warm, fridge too cold). I'm going to have to eat it myself ...

That journalist probably follows Ocado on Twitter. About a fortnight ago somebody was complaining about that M&S stores sell some products for less on Ocado's feed.

They had spotted the 5-10p price difference on own brand tins and the cheaper bread and lettuce. I don't remember this with Waitrose?

My monthly Ocado spend has plummeted.

There did used to be a price difference between Waitrose and Ocado. I remember their own brand lemonade was twice the price in Waitrose.

Very interesting article, thank you. I had suspected as much.

Screenshot attached of part of it for those who don’t have access to The Times.

I’d noticed that my weekly food shop was costing about £20 per week more. I’ve now stopped buying all the M&S stuff and top up with a trip to Waitrose, which is a bit frustrating and defeats the object of online shopping. Unfortunately we only have a handful of small Waitrose stores nearby so I can’t do a full online or in store shop from them.

I wish my Ocado bill had gone down ... It ought to have done, since it no longer includes anything Riverford can deliver, but now all the things I used to pick up or access while zipping about town are finding their way into the trolley. It does add to the dullness of life.

@Madcats

That journalist probably follows Ocado on Twitter. About a fortnight ago somebody was complaining about that M&S stores sell some products for less on Ocado's feed.

They had spotted the 5-10p price difference on own brand tins and the cheaper bread and lettuce. I don't remember this with Waitrose?

My monthly Ocado spend has plummeted.

So has mine

I put ingredients for a Christmas cake in the basket- same recipe as last year. Its as £20 more expensive than last year. I didn't order them.

I miss:
Grated cheese (M&S is awful)
True foods gravy
Frozen onions
French wine

Ocado really pissing me off now!

This mornings email suggest I book my slots ahead, as they are going fast. Then tells me not to miss out, and book my half term slot ASAP.

I already have a half term slot booked! And because it’s not until the 28th, I’ve been unable to see any other slots for weeks! It seems Ocado have gone back to only allowing me to book once a week without telling me.

But the calendar is only showing me 3 days ahead, and they are all fully booked, so why bother sending me an email to book ahead!

Argh!!! They are driving me crazy! think its tome to give up and switch over to Sainsbury’s permanently.

I work in Victoria where there is a little food M&s at the station and a store in Cardinal Place that sell clothes but also has a food hall. The bakery items at the station are 10p to 20p more expensive at the station

I’ve noticed that some M&S products (such as butter) which were priced to cost the same as the Waitrose products they were replacing have already gone up in price. That’s assuming you can get the M&S product, as they still seem to be being substituted all the time.

To top it off, the delivery van broke down yesterday and, in transferring to a new van, all our frozen and pet food was left on the old van. So approx £40 worth of stuff missing.

The M&S butter is £1.60 same as Waitrose and still is that price. I had problems with subs when the switch over first happened but it's been fine now for a few weeks. There's a few Waitrose items I miss so will just get a Waitrose order every few weeks or so to get those. I have no problems booking deliveries 4 weeks in advance with Ocado however have just looked at Waitrose and not 1 single slot available in the next 6 weeks so no idea what's happening there!

@CovidClara, Ocado have M&S frozen chopped onions at 500g for £1, or Picard pearl onions, good for coq au vin etc.

I think that because the search facility is completely rubbish at the moment, finding just what you need is so frustrating.

[quote AdaColeman]@CovidClara, Ocado have M&S frozen chopped onions at 500g for £1, or Picard pearl onions, good for coq au vin etc.

I think that because the search facility is completely rubbish at the moment, finding just what you need is so frustrating.[/quote]
Tried both of the onions. they are watery by comparison. I used to like the cooks ingredient shallots and the diced onions.

I need to be a less lazy cook!

I don’t know about them being watery, as I just chop my own, sorry I didn’t help!

The M&S butter is £1.60 same as Waitrose and still is that price.

The Brittany butter was initially £2.00, same as Waitrose equivalent and now has gone up to £2.20.

Had a Waitrose delivery this morning. No subs, nothing missing. Favourite products, I have missed you! Thank you Waitrose. Still holding my slot for my elderly neighbour Next week but unable to book any more, even in November. It dreadful that some customers can book a weekly delivery for the next few weeks, and others can just have random one-offs. Surely their media team are aware of forums like these, and of how many customers are shopping elsewhere?

Has anyone noticed that things they add from the flash sale on one visit actually are in your basket at full price the next time you look? I doubted myself the first couple of times it happened but I just went to edit an order, yesterday I added some M&S party dimsums on Flash, today they were in at full price. No way I went and chose those items, I'd never even think of party food for everyday. I'm cross now, I really fancy dimsums, Ocado you bastards.

@Noflora

Has anyone noticed that things they add from the flash sale on one visit actually are in your basket at full price the next time you look? I doubted myself the first couple of times it happened but I just went to edit an order, yesterday I added some M&S party dimsums on Flash, today they were in at full price. No way I went and chose those items, I'd never even think of party food for everyday. I'm cross now, I really fancy dimsums, Ocado you bastards.

Are you saying that you didn't put the item in your basket when you saw it on the flash sale, but you then found it in your basket?

I've been shopping with Ocado for many years and that has never happened to me.

Thinking I had added something when I hadn't? That's happened loads of times. I know that I have sometimes clicked on the item and thought I had clicked on "add" when I hadn't. My fault every time.

Oh you mean you added things from the flash sale and they reverted to full price? I don't think I've had that. Is there a big gap between the date you add it and the date of the delivery? That might explain it.

Yes to your second post. No not a big gap. They offer the flash price knowing what they'll have excess stock of for that date. I think this has happened 3 times since the M&S hookup, always involving M&S stock. I just thought I'd alert others, it would be easy not to notice. I'm looking for it now. Also sometimes the multibuy offers don't always show up when you view your order after checkout but they do on the final bill luckily.

Watch out with your free Tony’s chocolate. I ordered the dark one for free, they’ve subbed it with a sea salt one and charged me for it.
Why aren’t they like ASDA and if they sub something you only pay the price for the original item?

I’m pretty much set on going somewhere else, purely down to price. My shop seems to have shot up since the switch, I also don’t find there is as much choice. A few of my regular non Waitrose items have also gone, I suspect because M&S have their own “similar” version but not similar enough for me to buy. My next option was Tesco, I’m not overly convinced by the price match - has anyone done a comparison? I did and there wasn’t much in it before.

It's always worth checking your receipt in detail. Even in normal times I've had discounts not applied and had to complain. Another thing to add to the mental load...

The Waitrose site is awful though. Why cant you add single items on to your order without having to amend your trolley every time. Then every time you go in to amend it shows more and more items as no longer available and tells you to remove them aaaarrrhggghh