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Calling Ocado's bluff
Feb. 1st, 2021 05:08 pmI should probably set up a 'First world problems' tag: it would be a perfect fit for this post, and no doubt for others, too. I know how lucky I am to be in a position to solve some of the problems of lockdown by paying an upmarket grocer to delivery. But seriously, Ocado...
I have just taken a delivery: the advance notice - written as if from the delivery driver - warned me that it included substitutions but If you’d rather not have these substitutions, let me know before you take the shopping in − I'll take them back and get them removed from your bill. I try to make the best of substitutions, because it's more convenient all round, but on this occasion I really did not want: a mixture of things I would not choose to buy, and things where multiple iterations of s single item had been substituted for a selection of different ones.
That note implies that the substitutions are all neatly together in one bag, and that when I say 'no', the driver picks up that bag and departs. This is not how it works. Once upon a time, purchases were neatly packed like with like, in bags labelled 'store cupboard' or 'fridge' but even this sysyem has fallen apart, and a bag may contain a pack of cereal, three pots of yoghourt and a bar of soap. Yes, I realise that supermarkets are struggling to keep up with the demand, but the time they save not sorting the bags is then lost on the doorstep, as I tell the driver that I don't want the substituted items, and he asks me what they were ...
In theory I cannot fish out and hand back the items I don't want, because the driver can't accept items once I have touched them; but how much do I want him to sort through my shopping and extract items? It's not ideal. In practice, we compromise: he removes a couple of clearly visible items, decides that he doesn't have time for this, tells me to keep the balance and he'll credit me anyway.
The moral of this story is, the offer to take back items substituted is a bluff.
ETA: A subsequent e-mail asks me to rate "my" driver, and exploring the details of what I should and shouldn't take into account in answering this I found this instruction about substitutions: Simply tell your driver you do not want to accept them, and you won’t be charged for them. (That's on this page of the FAQs, which includes a link to "this page" for a coronavirus update - unfortunately, clicking it takes me to a 404). I didn't know that, and neither did my drivers -
Oh, but wait: could it be that the reason we didn't know is that we were relying on this alternative page of advice, linked from the delivery notification e-mail, which repeats the text from the delivery note which I quoted above: You can still reject substitutions at the door. The only difference, for now, is that your driver will first ask if you’re happy with them and, if not, will take back the substitutions before you pick up the shopping.
Make your mind up, Ocado.
I have just taken a delivery: the advance notice - written as if from the delivery driver - warned me that it included substitutions but If you’d rather not have these substitutions, let me know before you take the shopping in − I'll take them back and get them removed from your bill. I try to make the best of substitutions, because it's more convenient all round, but on this occasion I really did not want: a mixture of things I would not choose to buy, and things where multiple iterations of s single item had been substituted for a selection of different ones.
That note implies that the substitutions are all neatly together in one bag, and that when I say 'no', the driver picks up that bag and departs. This is not how it works. Once upon a time, purchases were neatly packed like with like, in bags labelled 'store cupboard' or 'fridge' but even this sysyem has fallen apart, and a bag may contain a pack of cereal, three pots of yoghourt and a bar of soap. Yes, I realise that supermarkets are struggling to keep up with the demand, but the time they save not sorting the bags is then lost on the doorstep, as I tell the driver that I don't want the substituted items, and he asks me what they were ...
In theory I cannot fish out and hand back the items I don't want, because the driver can't accept items once I have touched them; but how much do I want him to sort through my shopping and extract items? It's not ideal. In practice, we compromise: he removes a couple of clearly visible items, decides that he doesn't have time for this, tells me to keep the balance and he'll credit me anyway.
The moral of this story is, the offer to take back items substituted is a bluff.
ETA: A subsequent e-mail asks me to rate "my" driver, and exploring the details of what I should and shouldn't take into account in answering this I found this instruction about substitutions: Simply tell your driver you do not want to accept them, and you won’t be charged for them. (That's on this page of the FAQs, which includes a link to "this page" for a coronavirus update - unfortunately, clicking it takes me to a 404). I didn't know that, and neither did my drivers -
Oh, but wait: could it be that the reason we didn't know is that we were relying on this alternative page of advice, linked from the delivery notification e-mail, which repeats the text from the delivery note which I quoted above: You can still reject substitutions at the door. The only difference, for now, is that your driver will first ask if you’re happy with them and, if not, will take back the substitutions before you pick up the shopping.
Make your mind up, Ocado.
