Ocado tips, tricks subs, M&S shortbread giveaways and defectors..

[Garyunicorn]

Carrying on from the old Ocado thread. www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/a4045676-Ocado-tips-hacks-Toblerone-and-Christmas?msgid=102560793#102560793

I have been contributing, just changed my name to prevent being outed over something!

Even when shielding was paused, those shielding kept their delivery slots.

I suspect that was a rare bit of forward planning, knowing it was likely that shielding would be required again and not wanting to put the CEV through the stress of setting it up again. Especially as no food parcels thus time round, but the hub is open again (detail in letter). IIRC - it didn't open for lockdown 2, but did for tier 4 shield (when some resumed)

I got my reserved slot as normal today

New offers day today, but the offers in my basket that have now expired are still there - I must just have got confused when I thought they disappeared last time.

I remember when we were in the November lockdown, Ocado changed how far in advance we could book (e.g. I can normally book 3 weeks in advance and they cut it down to 2) - wonder if they'll do that again.

Don’t know why Ocado being so crap about releasing their slots. Went to book a slot for my Mum today for 2 weeks time as her last order came from Ocado on Monday.Tesco, Waitrose, iceland, Asda, Sainsbury etc etc all had slots. Despite having a smart pass at £9.99 for 10 years+ Ocado have nothing. Have been checking since Monday at different times of the day. Ocado are a complete shower of shite.

The trouble with Ocado is that they are absolutely tiny compared to the terrestrial supermarkets. It is very hard for them to scale up. Tesco's and Co can easily buy a few more vans and hire some drivers (their customers are just switching from visiting a shop in person), whereas Ocado has to start building new warehouses/fulfilment centres.

There must be thousands of us who have "sort of" defected to Waitrose, but get a delivery every 3-4 weeks alongside the M&S newbies.

Traffic noise round here really disappears after about 7:30/8, so we might attempt an evening supermarket shop (we've not touched the car for 3 weeks so we ought to turn it over).

I think R4 said M&S is/was releasing its Christmas sales figures today?

I’ve had the queue as well. First I had Aline green strip. The wait queue went down, and then it bounced up slightly, and I got a blue strip. Anyone know what priority I’m in?

No slots available since Saturday for the foreseeable (smart pass) then today some slots are showing for tomorrow evening...er, too late Ocado, I've already booked a Tesco order (plus 2 more over the next fortnight). I was already disgruntled after my Christmas order was missing essential Christmas items. My 9 - 10 pm order on 29 December didn't show & it was only when I rang them that I was told the van had broken down...poor communication. They then couldn't make the delivery until 2 January 'because of the weather conditions' - there were no weather problems locally or between us & the depot...

My recent Ocado order was minus my chicken, noodles, sir fry sauce and stir fry veg. Oh and one bottle of wine. 7pm Friday night delivery

The Times (sorry, am hopeless at their weird sharing business) says Ocado is reporting stock shortages as a result of customs controls and staff illness.

So, there we have it.

Hope everyone's well stocked up with

I just went to edit my order that’s due to be arriving tomorrow and yes, half the things I put into it on Friday are now out of stock. Just had to remove 16 items. I’m now rethinking meals as we have covid in the house so can’t go out and I’m missing key ingredients!

If you've already added it, doesn't "out of stock" just mean you can't add more?

Yes, too late for this time @287xx as you've already removed them, but with Ocado, out of stock just means you can't increase your order of that item - what you've already ordered is "in the bag" and should turn up as long as the picker robots smile on you.

@happilybemused

My recent Ocado order was minus my chicken, noodles, sir fry sauce and stir fry veg. Oh and one bottle of wine. 7pm Friday night delivery

How very odd? Mine was also missing 1 bottle of wine - but not according to the receipt. But then this weekend as I have continued to use the food from the delivery I find packaging not accurate again and rotten veg in packets. Ocado's standards have really fallen. I always felt it was a badly managed company (think Presidents Club dinner) but pandemic has really show up their failings.

Mine was ok, but they subbed my £1 pesto for a £3 pesto. Had a right job finding it to give it back as well.
So far looking ok for next weeks delivery, fingers crossed. Have tried to get a Waitrose order but not a hope.

Ahhhh thank you @Quarantino and @Ceara I’ve cheated myself out of so many items before as well then.. learn something new every day! I am most disappointed though as there were some things I was looking forward to and I’ve now deleted them. Doh!

On a separate note I did use Amazon fresh last week and their vegetables were much fresher, cheaper and better quality. Unfortunately the range is just not there to do a full weekly shop, or I would use them instead of Ocado.

@Fuss If the sub is more you can just ask for a refund as "inappropriate substitution" . I can't be faffed searching through the bags.

[quote tootyfruitypickle]@Fuss If the sub is more you can just ask for a refund as "inappropriate substitution" . I can't be faffed searching through the bags.[/quote]
Thanks, I didn't know that.
I did find it and give it back so sorted this time, but its something to consider in the future. First inappropriate sub I've had in about ten years really. Usually quite sensible and around similar costs but 3x the price for a small jar of pesto was not happening 😁

No ocado slots available to me at present. Thankfully Sainsburys are able to deliver and can deliver things like teaspoons - where have all my teaspoons gone?

I have one order for the middle of the month, one for the end.

And am lowering my expectations of what might arrive.

[quote tootyfruitypickle]@Fuss If the sub is more you can just ask for a refund as "inappropriate substitution" . I can't be faffed searching through the bags.[/quote]
In the past, I haven't had much joy when a cheaper item is subbed for a dearer one. I do now check the receipt an hour before the delivery is due and ask for them to take the substituted item out if I don't want it, before I take the bags in.

@287xx

I just went to edit my order that’s due to be arriving tomorrow and yes, half the things I put into it on Friday are now out of stock. Just had to remove 16 items. I’m now rethinking meals as we have covid in the house so can’t go out and I’m missing key ingredients!

Just to confirm what others have said, there were several “no more stock” in my order yesterday and all did turn up - in fact there were no subs and nothing missing, first for a while!

(Waitrose insist you remove OOS stuff from their orders, if you’re editing an existing order and check out at that point, but if you don’t and sit tight they often reappear )

Quite often I find the iOS items get delivered as well.

Also finding slots are being added quite Kate. So there may not be any listed for next week. But if I look on Thursday, then there some available.

Late, not Kate

I just went to edit my order that’s due to be arriving tomorrow and yes, half the things I put into it on Friday are now out of stock. Just had to remove 16 items
Nooooo, you don't remove them, they're already locked in to your order. If you have previously checked these items out they remain in your order. They are only out of stock for new orders. If you had left them in your order instead of removing them they would have arrived with your shop. That's one of the good things about Ocado. Waitrose on the other hand tells you to remove from your basket if things go out of stock before they have delivered your order which I find very annoying. At least I know with ocado that once I've checked out, that product is likely to arrive.

Ive been alternating between ocado and waitrose but last weeks waitrose order had 3 missing items, 4 subs, 2 items that were supposedly delivered but weren't there, 2 items completely smashed, 2 items with sell by date already expired and to top things off when I looked at my receipt they had triple charged me for a number of items. A total shitshow. They refunded immediately but not really the point, such a hassle. Think will stick with ocado from now on

@287xx - possibly too late now, but if you haven't checked out again since you deleted your out of stock items, if you cancel the changes everything should still be there. You'll have to make a note of anything you'd added since, and add them again, but worth a try.