Ocado suddenly gone right downhill?

[FattyArbuckel]

My last few orders with Ocado have been full of damaged stuff and items that have gone off well before date.

Before the last few weeks I have been really happy with my deliveries - has anyone else had lots of problems recently?

I am fed up because I have just paid for a year's delivery up front so i feel a bit tied in now.

ahhh yes just remembered yesterdays bread rolls ( waitrose mini roll thing) arrived but NO use by date - just suspiciously blank

toughas - ooh NO - i like my sleep and i would have been HOPPING if that had happened to me. You sound very reserved considering! shocking!

I agree on the packing being rubbish recently. Washing powder & fruit in the same bag. I've had to claim for far too many squashed & broken items recently too - and yes they do refund but I'm still left with the mess to clean up

This is only recent & I do wonder what has changed? Everything else is good though - website, turning up when they say they will & minimal substitutions.

my last ocado order had quite a bit damaged actually.

never had any issues before

i had raw prawn juice all over my apples and pears... NOT good being pregnant. My bananas were really bruised, and im sure there was something else as well.

Clearly prawns were in same bag as fresh fruit, which is a bit unlike ocado!

my order was about £60 but I called them and explained that raw prawn juice is a huge issue while pregnant and got about £15 refunded... basicaly the prawns and every single thing that had prawns on it and bananas.

I then washed the fruit carefully, and ate the nice bits of the bananas

Ooh this is interesting.

We've had more substitutions that usual recently. We also had one order where the milk had leaked. Dh phoned them cos the driver had done the refund for the milk only but when we got unpacked it was over everything in the bag and into all the bagged things in there.

Also think the Ocado branded veg/fruit is crap. Apples particularly are bruised - I've just changed to a different type of apple and Waitrose branded which were far better.

Packing has always been fairly bad - we've often had a bag with one item in, a bag packed to bursting with heavy stuff and squashable stuff. It's never caused much of an issue but it seems that could be changing.

Waitrose won't deliver here or I'd have given them a try.

Yes, they have gone downhill a bit recently - we're thinking of swapping to Waitrose Deliver - just need to get it set up. Still a million miles better than Sainsburys or Tesco however .

Ocado have always had a problem with stuff splitting in transit (we order a lot of flour for the bread machine, and more often that not, one bag is ripped), but recently I have noticed:

• increasing delivery charges, and free slots practically vanishing
• supply issues, particularly with organic stuff
• more substitutions, and often substituting an Ocado own brand product for a Waitrose one

I also HATE the new website and the fact that you have to click so many times before you check out. I don't want to be asked whether I want to swap my tasty organic cheese for some cheap crap - I am busy, I have my shopping, I just want to check out now !

Demanding?! Moi?!?

Bramwshit i complelty agree with all the clicks

did i realise i could save 2p per kg if i swap green beans for runner beans?, when the runner beans cost MORE and i want green beans!
Have i forgotten "waitrose white loo roll" when i have "andrex" in my trolley?

etc etc.... so many clicks before its actually ordered

No waitrose deliver here... its an hours drive to each of my 3 nearest waitrose's!

Sounds like there's something systematic wrong, as I seem to recall the Ocado packing is done by machines in the warehouse, unlike other supermarkets where it's done by people from the shelves.

I think if people don't mind I will send a link to this thread to Ocado. Or indeed someone else can if they wish!

I have no objections to anyone sending this to Ocado, but good luck with any response.

I think their email replies are operated in very much the same manner

i think the machines bring the stuff to the packers who pack the bags.

so they dont have to move, but it is a human being packing stupidly

you can watch what happens on the front page of their website here click on the ocado way

I have been using Ocado since it started because of its reliability - love the texts, hour time slots, lack of substitutions.

But, I have been having a few deliveries that have completely missed the time slot recently - by sometimes an hour or two. One delivery guy rang me up and said I am delivering in 'Postcode 1' then I have to go to 'Your postcode' then to 'Postcode 1' and then back to do your delivery and another in your postcode. I asked him why he didn't just do all the deliveries in one postcode (the post codes being about 10 - 30 mins apart depending on traffic in London), assuming people were in, and he said 'I have to do them in order'.

AM assuming they are packing more deliveries into timeslots.

Was especially put out that I pay £9.99 a month for delivery and a friend just had an offer for £3.99 a month. GRRR.

I was going to try them as just started in my area, dont think i will bother now. Tesco deliveries in my area are by far the best. Asda are appauling. No subs just nothing, mixed up shopping and wrong amounts debited from account. Refunds not put back in either. I think it depends what area you live in as to who gives the best service. I was telling the Tesco man about my Asda stuff being defroseted and he said its because a lot of the vans only have refrigeration so the freezer stuff goes in there. Hes said they were upgrading them though. Tesco vans have a freezer.

Ive had no problems with Tesco as they give you the option to add a note on each item. I always put 'Good Date Please' on the fresh stuff and get fab dates. Ive got £40's worth of clubcard points from Decemeber as well.

Hmmm just remembered that last week they rang me and said my order would not be delivered until the next day!!!! I was fuming 6 kids - milk- I threw a dicky fit and two hours later it arrived. Give the msn his due BUT no where near good enough.

yep having trouble here too just after taking out a yearly pass

recently have had a dozen eggs broken leaking into everything else in the bag (and over hallway carpet), a bag of sugar torn and last week pretty much ALL the fruit and veg we ordered was rotten and not even near the 'use by' date on the packets.

went to waitrose this week instead....

can you cancel pass subs then? as wishing now we had stuck with waitrose deliver?

AND it seems to take forever to place an order now their website has improved. maybe its just me...

No waitrose delivery here

Web site is very annoying, I don't want all the pages of 'have you forgotten/do you want to swap' etc. I just want to pay and log off.

I've been using Abel and cole for the past couple of weeks and spend alot less as there's little choice. I pop to Waitrose in the next city for the nice things.

shelley - I would ring up and cancel if you've had that many problems since signing up.

What is annoying me too, is that now I get 3-4 e-mails a week from Ocado with special offers, discounts, money off, free items etc. I got NONE of that when I was shopping with them once a week or more for almost 2 years.

No problems here.

But, I don't like the Ocado own brand products at all. Tried half a dozen, never again.

yep am just in the middle of doing next weeks order, will see how that goes and then poss cancel.

just thought it would be convenient (esp when i am back at work) as they have hour timeslots, are usually on time and no substitutions (tho i notice lots of things out of stock lately anyway).

fingers crossed for monday!

this is interesting - thought it was just me.

Have stopped buying bread from them altogether as it was SO stale.

Last delivery had a whole load of cakes and biscuits (for my childrens' party) squashed and broken by the heavy tins in the same bag. Delivery before that had a bottle of bleach which had leaked over everything else.

I also have the £9.99 delivery pass, but may switch to Waitrose Deliver instead now it is up and running around here.

Have been dabbling with pretty much all the supermarkets since Christmas and I've got to say none compares to Ocado.

We've had the very occasional packing issue but nothing major and they've always sorted really quickly. Tghe new own label stuff is surprisingly good on price, and the drivers are amazing too - (on more than one occasion the drivers have noticed I order nappies, have seen our curtains closed upstairs and so tapped on the window rather than ring the doorbell and wake my two daughters - that's customer service!!!!!)

Tesco and Sainsbury on the other hand have always turned up late and the packing really is atrocious compared to anything with Ocado.

Wouldn't be so quick to use Waitrose's new site by the way; tried this morning. it's feels like copy of Ocado with less on it. Couldn't find any delivery times this morning for rest of this week, and even then they only seem to delivery between 9am and 8 in evening; that's not great, nor two-hour slots too.

We have used them before but they always have lots of things out of stock because our local store is tiddly (think they pick our stuff there?) Think alot of them are; same for my mum...

Nope, Ocado best of bunch here...

I agree Ocado have gone downhill. I have been with them since they started up (about 9 years now!).Occasionally I have done an order with Asda, Tesco or Siansbury's but always gone back. However, Lately I too have had a lot of use by on the day fresh food, leaking cartons and subs or no product without the usual text warning. Near my DH's birthday a couple of weeks ago I had ordered Duck, cucumber ,pancakes etc and Red Sea prawns,Sea Bass and trimmings (in case there was a problem.) All were meant to be in stock - but none were delivered!!nor was I warned.

The delivery price has gone up. Recently I needed to cancel a delivery (which I have never had to do before) with 4 days notice and was told I had to rebook or pay £25! Customer service used to be great but lately when I had some wrong fresh items delivered they were shirty about the refund and told me to keep the items and return them to the driver next time - I tried to - but he was completely bewildered. I also raised a health issue with them and the emails have been very curt and unhelpful.

I think freebies depend on where you live. When I lived in London I got lots of free samples, wine and discounts but not where I moved too a few years back. I think competition is more severe in London.

I am going to try Waitrose Deliver and maybe mix it with my local Asda delivery - as although packing is worse the prices are cheaper.

Big family and often guests to cook for so I spend about £150-300 a week with Ocado so would have thought my custom was valuable. Thought I was becoming jaded but seems to be a problem for a lot of people. What a shame.

Such a shame. I am going to try Waitrose Direct. I wonder what it is that Ocado have changed?