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.

FA - they floated on the stockmarket, so they need returns for investors. Also the Waitrose tie up will end in a few years, so they need an alternative product range.
It was the constant pushing of their own brand that really pissed me off in the end. If it was comparable quality to Waitrose then that would be one thing, but I felt they were benchmarking the quality with Tesco, which is somewhere I refuse to shop because the quality is so poor.

Sondos - the Ocado food is a low price because it is poor quality, IME.

Didn't there used to be someone on MN who was Ocado staff and said it was her job to 'manage' the relationship with Mn'ers? Off to see if I can find her now.

Look, look here she is

OcadoAnnie. Wonder if she is still about?

[ridiculously impressed with my searching skills emoticon].

it's interesting that this is happening at about the same time they're due to float on the stock market. cynical? moy?

Haven't had any major problems but I did have some seriously off potatoes a few weeks ago and a delivery that was five hours late (although to be fair the driver did call beforehand to warn me).

I think Ocado has gone downhill - they are late far too often

- does anyone know how long after your slot is late enough to ask for a refund of notional/actual cost of delivery or vouchers??

Also, the "swop for cheaper" can be bizarre, and must have been set up by a man. After all, if you've ordered superplus tampons, are you rally likely tom want to swop to regular at a few pence cheaper?

Didn't mean to cross that out - does anyone know? I don't want to look grasping, but I've had quite a run of 15-20 minutes late and I'm a bit sick of it.

Can I say I have loads of trouble with Waitrose delivery .. I never ever get everything I order. I am frequently missing things (and have been charged for them) and twice I have had someone else's stuff!

I have gone back to do it myself (or send dh)

i have noticed the "value" "low price" message is a real focus now when it never used to be.
don't they realise that if that was the most important thing we'd be on asda.com

i mean look at their "big clean up" promo emails, on their website too, all about cheap prices. and St Patrick's Day, £5 for all the ingredients to make the stew. target market ocado, target market.

Recommend Waitrose deliver. Used them
for ages. No Ocado here, probably for the best!

I complained about the packing issue on my last few orders. Pasta packets ripped open, eggs broken, shampoo packed with food and had leaked, squashed bakery items and really badly bashed cans which in a supermarket would have been in the bargain bin. Three orders in a row like that, so I haven't ordered from them since.

Hi, I?m still here!!!

Please rest assured we always listen to your concerns and problems, so make sure you let us know at Customer Services if something goes wrong.

We take feedback really seriously and have plenty of exciting things planned this year to make your lives even easier. We?re looking at ways we can make your deliveries even more efficient, and have started trialling new systems which should eventually iron out any of the issues you have previously experienced with packing.

In terms of selling Waitrose goods, we have a deal with them that takes us right up to 2020 so you have nothing to worry about there! :) As for our Ocado range, it was launched following feedback from thousands of our customers, who wanted something to complement (not replace) what we already had with Waitrose. We?ve always said, I think, that Ocado products DO line up alongside Tesco and Sainsbury?s own-labels; the range isn?t really comparable to Waitrose but offers (we think!) a great balance between good prices and good quality. Yes, we do talk a lot about value but that?s only because we want to save you money (as well as all the people that are trying us for the first time). We know things are a bit tougher right now.

Today, we stock well over 21,000 products, and will keep expanding this over the coming months. The team really is working hard to offer different ranges at different prices, so that there is something to appeal to everyone ? and we really are attracting lots of new and different customers!

Not sure if you saw the online delivery survey in the Mail last weekend? We came top. We also topped a secret shop feature in Which? Magazine and are currently high up Mary Portas? Customer Service table?. I know this is only a few pages of newsprint, and we know we can't be complacent but we really feel we have something great to offer here; we?re proud of what we do. If you have problems over the coming weeks could you e-mail us on [email protected] and reference Mumsnet and my name so we can take a look? We want to help! :)

Phew, long post! Thanks for reading,

Annie

I had problems with ocado before christmas and had a very lack lustre level of interest in my complaint. Managed to get an email reply to a completely different customer. I had to have items refunded on three deliveries due to bad packing. Bread rolls squashed to death under heavy packs of cat food, flour split under cat food (again) and split yogurts coating a bag of shopping. I switched to Waitrose and happiness returned.

Annie, you haven't really explained why so many of us are experiencing the same packing problems. This has only started happening to me recently. It's common sense to know that if you put a loaf in a bag then add half a dozen cans the loaf will be squashed.
Yes, the items are refunded but it's hassle. I shop on line because it's easier - or should be.

No mine is fine! Came today, was great.

And Annie: could you answer my question above about late delivery and refund/vouchers? Thanks.

it does seem wierd that so many people who have never had issues before are all experiancing the same problems at the same time

i'm wondering if maybe those of us are receiving deliveries from the same depot?

i know mine comes from Tamworth...............

anyone else? (without giving too much away on your own whereabouts)

those of us with issues, of course

Well OcadoAnnie, please tell us why Ocado was almost perfect for so very long, yet is now suddenly failing to deliver items with no attempt at substitutions (eg sausages), packing stuff poorly and delivering items that go mouldy way before the use by date?

Customer services issue refunds but no explanations and no personal replies.

I have paid for a year's deliveries upfront but I no longer want to shop with Ocado - can I get a refund for the deliveries? Do you even care about customer satisfaction?

Yes, I had a punctured milk carton this week (never happened before) - I accepted the milk, poured it into a jug because it seemed a bit ungreen to waste it.

I agree with those who say it is the best of the options on offer. With Sainsburys and Tescos you always get a lot of substitutions.

I hate the new website, it is barely usable for me (too many pictures and too big) and my last delivery was 2 hours late.

I can't use Waitrose deliver as they will only deliver entertaining or home products stuff to my address.

Why?

I'm disabled, I have to have my food delivered. I'm so pissed off as I'd really like to stop using Ocado.

I agree with the others that it's the best of a bad bunch but I've had quite a few frustrating encounters with them. One stand-out example was when one of the bags contained nothing but 18 broken eggs.... Customer service refunded the eggs but that's not the point - I needed them specifically for a cake and ended up having to go to the supermarket to buy more eggs, defeating the object of delivery.

Mine has been of the usual high standard and I get at least 2 deliveries a week.

glynis mine comes from leeds