Ocado - Hacks, Tips, and Smart Pass Rip-offs Thread 9

[GaryUnicorn]

Carrying on from the old thread:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/4104964-Ocado-tips-tricks-subs-M-S-shortbread-giveaways-and-defectors

Give a vague area of where you live, or first part of postcode, and how much you pay for your smart pass. They seem to charge how much they think we will pay.

London, SE23 : £9.99 for an anytime pass. Customer for 10+ years.

You’ve seen the headlines about a looming sausage war...?

Yes, lots of fresh salad ingredients substituted last weekend, and some stuff missing. Haven't had that since early in the first lockdown.

@SlobSister

Can anyone explain to me what's going on with bag charges/refunds ? They're only refunding me 5p per bag, but are charging me 10p.

Just want to check I'm not missing something before I send a sniffy email!

Errr.... WTF? Thanks, I've just spotted this on my receipt too! Cheeky bastards!

Oh right, just seen the webpage. Will be checking the situation closely!

"We’re complying with the government’s regulations by increasing our carrier bag charge from 5p to 10p per bag from 21st May. We’ll be buying back all your 5p bags first. Once that’s done, we’ll buy back your 10p bags for 10p. You should know that we don’t make any profit on our bag sales – it all goes straight back to the environment through great causes like WRAP and Trees for Cities."

@Sunny360

I just had the dreaded email telling me my smart pass price is increasing from next month. Have been paying £5.99 a month for anytime for yyeeaaarrss and now it’s going up to £8.99 ☹️

I've been on £6.99 for yonks, but have just had a call saying it's going to the now standard £8.99 wef July.

I hadn't noticed about the bag charge!

I've noticed quite a lot of things being out of stock - possibly just my peculiar buying habits, or is it supply chain issues?

@Quarantino

Oh right, just seen the webpage. Will be checking the situation closely!

"We’re complying with the government’s regulations by increasing our carrier bag charge from 5p to 10p per bag from 21st May. We’ll be buying back all your 5p bags first. Once that’s done, we’ll buy back your 10p bags for 10p. You should know that we don’t make any profit on our bag sales – it all goes straight back to the environment through great causes like WRAP and Trees for Cities."

I had already seen that and understand that the first lot of bags they took back after the increase would be refunded what I paid for them, ie 5p, of course. But after that any bags I returned had been charged 10p to me, but they only refunded 5p. My most recent delivery it appears they've corrected it as they did refund 10p per bag, but they overcharged me on several deliveries. CFs!

I took it to mean they have some kind of tally of how many bags they've charged you 5p for, and you'll get 5p back for any up until that tally at which point they'll refund you 10p. I guess this assumes you recycle all your bags and don't use/ chuck any. But remember, (I think ?) they don't need to be Ocado bags - they used to take any plastic bags?

@Quarantino

I took it to mean they have some kind of tally of how many bags they've charged you 5p for, and you'll get 5p back for any up until that tally at which point they'll refund you 10p. I guess this assumes you recycle all your bags and don't use/ chuck any. But remember, (I think ?) they don't need to be Ocado bags - they used to take any plastic bags?

I see what you're saying. I'll have a look at my receipts and will email them for clarification. Will update here.

10 items missing from today’s order which I was editing yesterday evening - no attempts to sub either. Very ordinary items like tomatoes and breadsticks. Order before last suddenly cancelled without warning. Very frustrating.

I had a strange email yesterday telling that there was a problem with my Ocado Reserved order for this Saturday so have a £5 voucher for the inconvenience.

When I look at the app, the 'problem' is that they have actually cancelled my entire (not insignificant) order. When I look at the system there are no slots available at the specific time my order is set for, but I can still book an order for this Saturday half an hour either side of my original slot.

Why on Earth would they bin off my whole order and not suggest they move it by 30 mins if they have to??

Oh dear! I remarked only the other day how this thread had disappeared from my TIOs - and that that must be a good sign. How annoying to cancel your whole order, ChequerBoard.

I've had no appreciable problems lately. And in fact my SmartPass has been reduced from £9.99 to what now appears to be the standard £8.99. Though of course that's cancelled out by the increase in the plastic bag charge.

Can't really comment on the fruit and veg situation as I get everything but carrots via a separate veg box. Ocado is mostly pantry and household goods for me now. I haven't had a missing item for months - thank goodness.

Thanks for the bump - reminds me I need to either cancel my smartpass for a reserved slot, or move to the midweek one. I can't justify £9 a month.
Can anyone tell me if you know/how you see what delivery prices are for non-Smart Pass holders? Am I likely to regret giving up my SP for any other reason (actually accessing the site like during first lockdown, etc?)

M&S quality is starting to piss me off. My bag of carrots always has slightly soggy carrots.

Yes I need to bite the bullet and cancel too. ‘Technical issues at the warehouse’ for two weeks and a cancelled delivery means 3 weeks of messed up deliveries… just not reliable anymore.

I had a delivery between 10-11 today. App says it's running 1h20 behind. I NEED MY BED, I'VE BEEN VACCINATING ALL DAY.

Now (11.45pm) the app says it's been delivered. It hasn't. What do I do? Go to bed?

What was the outcome?

Why on Earth would they bin off my whole order and not suggest they move it by 30 mins if they have to??

My guess (stress it's a guess) is that there's an issue at the warehouse, and you live somewhere which can be covered by another hub, and they've made its slots available to you. So new order needed as it's being done elsewhere.

We've had tech issues here that meant I was told one order would be an hour late (was only 30mins late) and lots of missing items. Including some expensive wine meant as a present - and since then they've been adding it to my 'have you forgotten?' list. No I haven't forgotten that I had to cone up with an alternative present because you couldn't deliver something two weeks running!!

Best one recently was thus weeks order - I'd been offered a free gift (6 pack of cans of soft drink of a type I don't buy). The flavour was out of stock, so they subbed a different flavour from same range, SI far so good. On the receipt 'matching discount applied' and a new price of £3.19! Since when do you bill customers for a free gift !?!?!?!

Arrived at 12.15 just as we were giving up. Apparently the original driver handed it on to a new one to try & move things along but had to mark it as delivered to do so. He advised us to complain (he was extremely apologetic & tried to be very quiet).

Goodness. I must say, most of the drivers do try their best. And are more reliably cheerful and willing than others I've experienced.

Does anyone know if the butcher's and fishmonger's counters are going to come back?

Anyone else having problems logging in? Been trying for a couple of days. The purple login box goes black but nothing else happens. Guess I’ll be getting this weeks shopping from Waitrose…

Well they’ve fixed it after a prod and waiting a few hours. In the meantime my Waitrose order is coming tomorrow…!

I am so underwhelmed by Ocado service during the last 9 months or so, been with them at least 15 years.

Issues

1. Ridiculous substitutions.

2. Loads of out of stock items when ordering.

3. Items missing every single delivery.

4. Damages in every delivery.

I've been complaining about these same issues for months and am now fed up of the excuses...Lockdown, Brexit, switch to M&S.

Me too. I found an old email recommending them to a friend years ago, saying I'd only ever had two substitutions! Now I'd say in the past year I've only had everything I've asked for once or twice. And some stuff is constantly out of stock.