Is anyone else annoyed with Ocado ditching Waitrose?

[lockdowndreamer]

Ocado what are you up to?? Ditching Waitrose for M&S? Is this really happening? Not a fan of M&S at all in the food department, always feel like they are trying too hard. Their food looks and taste like plastic and wrapped in a lot more plastic.

I will be setting up my account with Waitrose online right away. Such a hassle though moving as I have it all sorted on the Ocado website for speed shopping, with all my favs, shopping lists etc. and the Ocado service is amazing!

Hey Ocado, if you are reading this, can you set up a cloud service for us migrating customers so we can do a backup of all our favourites before moving to Waitrose? You know, like when moving from Android to iPhone..

Is anyone else annoyed at the situation?

I was worried at first, but actually going through my list week on week, I dont buy much waitrose now, just a few essentials products, apparently there will be an M&S or Ocado equivalent- all the amazing branded product range is staying, which I buy lots of foodie bits from - its just things which are waitrose own brand that are going, so I dont think it will make much difference to me. I dont think i will buy that much M&S food either though so I am not sure how successful that partnership will be, but others might.

I thought I was the only one who was sat seething about this!
Totally agree OP and with you with the M&S produce...it is so overpriced too!Especially that 'best ever' range!
I'm so mad that my little quick click previous purchases will be gone too.
Thanks for this @lockdowndreamer I thought I was the only one!

I'm with you, I love the Waitrose range, the essentials are very good and I stock up on Charlie Bigham's when I'm pushed for time. I'm a bit overwhelmed in a M & S food hall.

Agree op I don’t understand this. We will be moving

I don't think that Waitrose stuff is value for money, whereas m&sis a proper great, so I'm happy!

I honestly can’t see why this bothers anyone so much, it’s easy enough to buy directly from Waitrose. I use Ocado for ease of general supply not because of Waitrose, if it was due to Waitrose I’d just buy from them direct.🤷‍♀️

Totally fine with them switching to m &s. Let’s face it, when the packaging is off it’s all much of a one ness.

I thought it was only the waitrose own-brand stuff that was swapping to M&S. Ocado sells loads of other brands as well (including its own brand). I'm going to wait until the swap happens and see what changes because I tried waitrose online and realised that loads of things I get from ocado actually aren't waitrose brands. Eg. Picard frozen stuff, natoora veg, reflets de France range. For all we know ocado will still carry Charlie Bingham (our local Budgens carries that, for example - it's not a waitrose exclusive). The waitrose online service also swapped loads of things compared to my usual Ocado shop.

I also got a white cabbage for 57p from ocado last week!

I wasn't overly bothered as I live very close to a Waitrose, but now I'm only online shopping I'm a bit more bothered, but actually I think there's only one actual Waitrose product that I regularly buy and hopefully M&S will pick up the other bits I usually get from there. I think I have a very dusty Waitrose account too. Most of my shopping comes from Tesco, who are brilliant. I'm not keen on the existing M&S range, I can't see what all the fuss is about their food?

I had to shelter because at risk for having gone through chemo. Ocado was the last shop to give me priority slots. No amount of emailing helped. Sainsbury’s and Tesco contacted me straight away and were very helpful.
Ocado also passed from a variety of delivery prices to £6 any time every time during the lockdown. The milk that my children drink (not cow’s) went from £1.50-2 per carton to 2.15. They used the virus to get richer, shame on them, they’ve lost me.
Waitrose online is great.

I love M&S, so I can’t wait.

I felt this way when the change was first announced. However, I think M&S have really improved their food over the past year: bigger range, lower prices, more ‘everyday’ ingredients rather than ready meals. We’ve chosen to use them as our top-up store (alongside Ocado) because it’s the only place with no queues, and have actually been impressed. I think we will give it a go for a year.

I use both so I am quite looking forward to having the choice of M&S. It's been very obvious Ocado have been increasing the number of own brand goods way before the Waitrose partnership ends officially. Mind you, nobody does butter like Waitrose so I can see why Ocado only wouldn't cut the mustard. I like the Waitrose drivers. The website is not as 'clever' as the Ocado one, e.g. there is no 'regulars' option but checkout is easier as you don't get so many prompt screens with strange suggestions to add to your trolley.

I’ve ditched Ocado. They don’t want to know when I am a very vulnerable but not shielded person, unable to get shopping unless I get a taxi to my nearest supermarket 9 miles away. I have moved to Tesco, brilliant service and I am saving money with the same quality.

Another one here who is not a fan of M&S's offering. This change was announced 2-3 years ago but it does seem to have come around quickly.
I signed up to Waitrose a couple of years ago, their site is not as easy to navigate but that's just getting used to something different, their drivers are lovely and you may well recognise them from your local store but I have found 2 major issues; The first is that some items which I know are in store (including my favourite wine) are simply not listed on their website and the second is that they just do not have enough slots, I don't know if this is a lockdown issue but I have only managed to get 2 deliveries from them since lockdown started whereas there has been no issue with Ocado. Currently all their slots are showing fully booked up until 26th June and their calendar does not go beyond that.

They need to get that sorted or it will simply not be possible to shop from there. Finally they also do not appear to offer reserved slots like Ocado does.

Having shopped with Ocado for over a decade, and buying mainly Waitrose brands, I was originally okay about the switch to M&S - I quite like some of their stuff.

However Ocado were worse than useless at the start of this pandemic and treated loyal customers appallingly.

I’ve fallen in the routine of a large weekly shop at Waitrose and found I quite enjoy it. I’ve discovered new foods by browsing, which you don’t get when shopping online, and quite like the peaceful child free time going early evening once a week.

I’ll stick to doing this for now.

I hope Ocado find they lose a lot of customers at the end of this pandemic. Awful company.

I’ve just cancelled my Ocado pass because they’ve been awful since Covid started - first I couldn’t get slots at all, then I could but only on days not included in my plan so they cost £6.99, now I can only see 2 weeks ahead when I can see 4 with Tesco, they hiked their prices and cancelled offers and the communication has been dire. I’m going to see if I actually miss anything before I decide what to do when they switch over!

When is the change to M&S happening does anyone know?

Ocado have been awful during this. I’m disabled & a couple of snotty emails in return does not win over customers. Tesco have been fantastic & put me on the priority list even though I wasn’t shielding as I explained my difficulties. My mum was priority & ships at waitrose online & has been pleased. Slots are able to be booked 3 weeks in advance & so many of them!

I’ll probably not go back to Ocado now & stick with Tesco.

@ConstanceL

When is the change to M&S happening does anyone know?

September this year.

Waitrose ditched Ocado - the agreement they had was coming to an end and Ocado couldn't fulfil terms of contract anymore.

I’m looking forward to the change I love M&S food and find their fresh fruit & veg better quality than Waitrose.

This doesn’t bother me. M & S food is far superior to Waitrose anyway.

I like Waitrose and M&S. The reason I stopped online shopping with Waitrose was because of a very high number of missing products or substitutions. However, I've only used M&S as a top-up/special occasion shop, so interested to see how a weekly shop goes. In the main I find M&S food delicious. I do wonder about their fresh produce, as admittedly not bought much of that from them, but I like M&S bread & cake offering, Chinese selection (duck spring rolls MUCH nicer than Waitrose), fresh cakes, jarred sauces, veg sides, salads and their pizzas. On occasion I've bought their pasta etc with no issues. I'm going to wait and see, before jumping ship!

Oh this is nice. I didn't know. We don't have a M&S food shop anywhere near us but can get Ocado deliveries. 😊 We have Waitrose nearby, so it will be nice to have a change sometimes.

Yep me