It’s going to be a long pandemic. After having the wrong items delivered today in New York by Mercato (as I said above, I quickly got through on the phone to a Mercato rep who said she was issuing a credit, although I haven’t checked my credit card statement yet), I went on Amazon Prime Now to try to replace the misdelivered items. The first time I tried to check out on Prime Now this afternoon there were no delivery dates. I waited a bit and tried again and a slot opened up between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. this evening, so I grabbed it.
Amazon Prime Now has a box you check that says do not substitute. I checked that box. And of course they substituted with a similar product that would not work for my elderly relative. And the delivery receipt didn’t even show the substitution. Instead, it just showed – incorrectly – that what I ordered had been delivered. However, getting a refund from Amazon is easy. No need to speak to anyone. I went to the order and went to the drop down menu and clicked on “wrong item delivered” and the system instantly spit back a refund.
Everyone is talking about how bored they are sitting home. Bored, who has time to be bored, when you spend your days hunting down product, hunting down delivery dates and then figuring out how to get a refund when the wrong item is delivered? Even more excitement when you are shopping on two coasts – no need to commute on an airplane anymore to be bicoastal.
Today we got an Instacart delivery from Sprouts. There was zero communication from Instacart, until I randomly opened the front door a couple hours after our delivery was scheduled and saw our groceries sitting there in the afternoon heat. Luckily the milk was still cool and the greens had just started to wilt.
We got our second Instacart delivery from Ralph’s today. Delivery was 6 hours from order. On the last one the shopper sent us pics of any items for substitution approval. This time we were texted that an item was subbed but had to ask the shopper for info on what to. Overall we got about 90% of what we ordered so we’ll have to be careful to check the adjusted total that comes through our account.
As I understand their system they ‘refund’ items they can’t get but I’m not sure how they handle subs with different prices or reduced quantities. Also… the impression I got was that it may work more smoothly if you place the order through their app. Ours have been done through the Ralph’s site which is very straightforward. Even shows you the things you’ve bought there before if you’ve used your Ralph!s Rewards card.
They adjust your charge based on what you received. I’ve been using Instacart for a couple years for monthly work events and my charge is always adjusted for the things they can’t get or substitute. For example, when I order a 20lb bag of ice and they sub with 3 7lb bags because the 20lbs is not available, I’m charged for the 3 bags, not the 1 big bag (which I’m ok with).
Is there a way to see a detailed receipt of what was charged? It’s not a huge deal but, if all I see is a new total coming through my checking account, it’d be very difficult to know if it’s correct.
Thanks Robert. That’s good to know. The shopper didn’t give us a receipt either time and we never got one later for the first delivery. None of this is too surprising I suppose, given how much Instscart’s system must be over-taxes now.
After a delivery you should be able to go to your order history in Instacart and see a receipt for exactly what was charged and delivered. You go to upper right hand corner where it says “Account” and then click on “Your Orders” in the drop down menu and then click to the right where it says “View Order Detail.” That will break down your order to the penny and show exactly what was delivered and what if anything was substituted.
Have started to have good success w/ instacart (sprouts and sams club). I am staggering the orders since they have had spots 4-5 days out or with the first available option so that it comes some time w/in the next few days. Last 3 times I have had communication w/ the shopper while they shopped as Instacart is not letting me add items after the order is placed. I have been getting 90% of what I ask for or a reasonable facsimile thereof.
Also did a walmart grocery pickup since I needed to buy a modem/router and they did a great job. Parked, checked in and had barely gotten back in the car after opening the trunk when she came out w/ the items. They had eggs, milk and the brand of breakfast cereal my 4 year old loves so it was a huge score.
I have an order scheduled for next Tuesday and I still cant add. Their chat said it was a known problem with the site and claims it is being worked on but I suspect they purposely disabled to limit site traffic to the site.
The Ralph’s orders were placed on the Ralph’s site and fulfilled by Instacart. I haven’t downloaded the Instacart app but will do it especially because the last shopper told me everything seems to work better if it’s used. She also said there are lots of glitches on Her end though. The Instacart SITE is showing an order I did with Costco but not the Ralph’s orders.
Instacart’s multi-order approach might be related to the “Fast & Flexible” delivery option. Instead of getting a two-hour delivery window on a specific date they promise to deliver as soon as a shopper is available over the next two or three days.
Weird snafu with Mercato yesterday. I got a call from DoorDash, the guy was at the shop to pick up my order but someone had already picked it up. Took a couple of hours and a few phone calls, eventually the shop redid the order and somebody else delivered it. Never figured out what happened to the original order.
Not sure how Instacart is doing on the West Coast, but they are doing a bang up job in New York.
Someone clued me in yesterday afternoon that it was pretty easy to get an Instacart/Costco delivery slot in New York and sure enough I went online and found one for today. And Instacart just delivered in NYC 30 rolls of toilet paper and one bottle of Tylenol (which has been as hard to get as toilet paper). I ordered two bottles of Tylenol, but was grateful to get one. I literally feel like I have won the lottery – it’s come to this. Forget reservations to hard to get into restaurants - now it’s all about the Tylenol (and toilet paper) baby.
Something I’ve noticed about Amazon lately, when I place an order it will say that delivery will be in over a week, but then it shows up in a day or two.
Instacart came through today with toilet paper in L.A.! And the day after I ordered it. I myself am doing fine on toilet paper but I have become the neighborhood toilet paper monitor and a neighbor complained she had none, which I took as an Instacart challenge.
Went onto Instacart last night and found Superior Grocers – I have no idea who or what they are – but they had toilet paper. I was able to have two multi-packs delivered late this afternoon – one Charmin and one off brand (which was substituted for Scott).
One weird glitch - I got notification that my shopper had shopped the order and was on her way and then that got withdrawn and shortly thereafter another notification that a different shopper was shopping the order. I was worried that by that time there would no toilet paper, but the order, including toilet paper, showed up 2 hours later than the scheduled delivery.
Got a weird unasked for substitution – a small can of mango pulp substituted for pomegranate juice. Also got fresh kale rather than frozen (and since I don’t know when I will use it I wanted frozen). But you can’t complain when you are able to supply the neighborhood with toilet paper.
I had a pretty weird substitution from Instacart. I ordered a five-pound bag of Giusto’s bread flour and specified a five-pound bag of Bob’s Red Mill bread flour as an alternative. I got a 2.5-pound bag of bulk organic all-purpose flour.