SurvivingInfidelity.com^®

I decided to try Insta-Cart for grocery shopping and delivery.

Never again.

35 Items ordered. Over $100. Order to arrive by 5pm. Didn't happen. Called Insta-cart and they said shopping wasn't finished and it would arrive by 7pm. Didn't happen. Finally was told order had been delivered to 'my driveway gate.' I don't have a driveway gate. Got picture and I recognize the house where food was delivered, about one mile away. Not my home. Called Insta-cart again. They said it seems groceries were delivered to wrong residence. Duh! They were doing 'new shopping' for me and would arrive before 9pm.

Order arrives and out of the 35 items, I was missing more than half and OTHER stuff was delivered. Also, I specified BRAND names (sorry, I do NOT order SOME thing unless it's the brand I want) and instructions were if my brand names could not be found, then delete from shopping list. No problem they said.

So I was left with several bags of frozen scallops that made me gag as they were thawed out. Off-brand milk and bread and NONE of my fresh fruit was included.

I guess the OTHER people got the groceries from my list..

Soooooo I don't know the people who got my groceries. I know the blame is totally on Insta-Cart but I have to wonder what the home owners thought when they saw several plastic grocery bags TIED to their driveway gate. The delivery driver, who appeared to have the IQ of a door knob - said she went back there and groceries were gone from gate.

I will never do this again. I'm demanding a full refund from Insta-Cart after they refused to come and get the MESS they delivered to me.

What would you have done?

PS - my barn cat loved the scallops mixed in with their dry foot last night.

[This message edited by Jeaniegirl at 4:31 PM, Saturday, October 30th]

OH Jeanie I'm so sorry to hear this.
I order from Aldi (who uses instacart in my area) and have nothing but wonderful experiences, and always get my delivery on time, usually early, and to my door.
I do not allow substitutions, and the shoppers will text if something isn't available, and will send a pic of what they feel is a reasonable substitution, and I can say yes or no.

It has truly been life changing for me. I HATE, LOATH, grocery shopping, the redundancy of it just is annoying, then you still have to cook it all. Anyway. I'm sorry you had a bad experience.

You may want to try again with a different grocer, and do a small amount.
My produce is always awesome and fresh. This week I made a booboo when ordering. I thought I was ordering 4 pink lady apples. What I ordered was 4 bags of them. So the price was obviously reasonable. LOL, I gave on bag to my sister, and one is going with my daughter when she heads back home this weekend.

What would you have done?

Raised bloody hell of course lol

But ill admit i cannot stand to have anyone shop for me. Even when wh and the kids would come along its like OMG guys i said THAT not this..

I drive a specific route,i go through the store a specific way, i am sooooooo anal about it that an experience like yours would have me reeling with rage.

Dragn, I feel the same way. I like doing things for myself. But with our Covid cases and deaths being so high, I thought I'd try grocery delivery. I won't do it again.

I'm still wondering what the people who received the groceries THOUGHT. You know? I think if groceries were delivered to me, I'd try to find out who they really belonged to.

And I loathe any type of fish or seafood - so to have three large bags of unthawed scallops delivered to me was the breaking point. By the time the order arrived, the bags smelled like a porta-potty at an outdoor Texas summer Willie Nelson concert.

The groceries were from a neighborhood store about one mile from me. So the people who received the groceries knew what store, from the name of store on the bags. I called the store and they claimed total ignorance about the entire incident.

Tush, I have a friend outside St. Louis who has used Aldi and Insta-cart even prior to the pandemic. She swears by it and loves it. She's the reason I decided to try it. I guess it's ....location location location. I know people are trying to earn a living but the delivery woman was clueless. In the days of GPS, hard to believe she delivered to wrong house. The address isn't even similar to my address. And she had been given my phone number prior to delivery. Add insult to injury, the milk is something I'd never buy and the experation date on it is this coming Monday. I've been having to look at experation dates on ALL food as stores are trying to pass off expired merchandise here.

I’m not a fan of delivery, but I have come to love pick up at our Kroger. The app is user friendly, they typically text me with substitutions, and when the sub is the more expensive item or name brand I get charged for the original item I asked for. We used to spend so much time on grocery shopping and now it’s cut by at least half.

That being said, my youngest used to work for Kroger in the online department. They have productivity standards and if they can not find your item within a certain amount of time, they will mark it as unavailable so they don’t get in trouble for being too slow.

If your store has curbside pick up, you may want to give that a try.

People in our area have mixed experiences with grocery delivery. For the most part, it seems that retailers who do there own shopping and delivery, do a lot better than agencies like instacart who basically manages individuals who shop and are independent contractors.
My local shopping center has had such success with this service that they expanded into a second store that accommodates just the online shopping.
I'm not a big fan, although I'll switch to it should covid flare again, heavens forbid.
I shop with a basic list but build my meals around produce that is appealing. And I shop by eye, judging how much produce I buy and not weighing it.

So, my first experience with online shopping resulted in me receiving 8 grapes in a plastic bag, apparently I asked for 1/4 lb or something.

I to use instacart for aldi and shoprite. I have had great service except for a can of pineapple smashed.

Just because it's still bothering me and because I'm asking for a full refund, I am thinking of going to the house in the delivery photo and asking what happened to the groceries. Why? Because I just read that some deliver drivers are delivering to their friends instead of the customer. Then Insta-cart is having to take the loss of the price of groceries. I guess I really want to know IF the driver left them there or gave to someone else after taking the delivery photo. That gate in the photo is a long way from their front door. In the photo, two cars are in the driveway.

Its theft isnt it to have kept the groceries?

Im shocked at what the drivers have done. How dishonest. I know people are desperate though. The last couple of years have been so hard.

Is it possible the groceries were left at the house with the gate and the homeowners called the grocery store but received no help with what to do with them?

I hadn't thought of the delivery person giving the groceries to a friend. I doubt they would be able to get away with that too many times.

I hope you get it figured out.

I called the grocery store and they claimed no knowledge about anything. He said they have ONE employee who shops and also delivers and the delivery woman I had was not her --- so he said it was an 'outside of store' Insta-cart order and delivery.

The home where it was delivered to is a nice, country brick home. I'm wanting to know IF the delivery driver just tied the bags to the gate -- took a photo and then removed them. That is the scam going on - then they give or sell the grocery order to friends for half price. They have covered themselves by taking the 'delivery photo.' I agree they couldn't get away with that too many times though.

So I REALLY want to know IF they got the groceries. I hit things head on so I will simply ....go and ask them.

I like your head on approach.

Im sorry i didnt realize your covid numbers were so bad. I havent even heard what ours are.

Then again having someone else touch my groceries would also drive me nuts.

[This message edited by DragnHeart at 2:26 PM, Saturday, October 30th]

Exactly. I wouldn't want grocery bags that someone else has pawed through. Today I'm sort of leaning towards the idea that the delivery woman MIGHT have went back and retrieved the groceries and brought them to me instead of 'new shopping' like she said. That would explain the three bags of nasty, frozen scallops that were thawed. Supposedly the groceries were 'delivered' around 5:30 but the supposed 'new groceries' didn't arrive at my home until almost 9:30. So I feel I'm justified in asking the people IF they received the groceries.

I'm in Kroger's home town so we've had the clicklist for the longest. One of the stores nearby was turned to clicklist only a year ago. You have to pickup there but they seem to have the system down. I still like to pick out my own produce though.

Todays grocery run proves 200% to me that theres NO way i could allow someone else to shop for me

I have had issues at this store with the cashiers rushing people to bag up their groceries. People in line behind you tapping their foot is bad enough but a cashier rushing me has tested my patience big time.

There is No reason to be such dicks.

Today the cashier asked if she could have one of my bags to put my bread in. Usually the guy i have just uses plastic bags and does it without asking. So i paused then gave her a bag. I have teo issues, one i dont want them touching my bags and second i pack my groceries very specifically.

There was one time the guy packed heavy stuff on my bread and i didnt catch it and it squished the bread so much the kids refused to eat it.

I am not sure I understood correctly, but you mentioned something about calling the grocery store to speak to them about your Instacart issues?

Where I live, in the southeast, I use Instacart at least twice a week. They have been FABULOUS! As it is described to me, the grocery store, or whatever store you are ordering from, they have nothing to do with the situation. An Instacart employee gets the list electronically, goes shopping for you as if it were you. They check out, using a code that "Instacart" assigned to your credit card for that particular visit… Or something.

Then they bring it to your home.

I get so many texts from them during the grocery shopping process. "They didn’t have the 24 pack of Hawaiian rolls, would 2 12 packs be acceptable?"

I have actually never received something I didn’t order, or failed to receive something I did order.

But if you are indeed through with Instacart, be sure that you get a refund on your "$99 for the year" fee. Or whatever it is in your area.

So sorry you had this negative experience.

Sorry...dip post

[This message edited by WhatsRight at 9:33 PM, Saturday, October 30th]

Sorry you had such a bad experience all around.

And I know your frustration with people who haven’t half a clue. I once had a real estate appraiser appointment for a new home I purchased. Insurance company required it.

No show. Come to learn she couldn’t find the house. So she went home!!!! She had my contact info but never called me. She just went home.

Company then wants to cancel my policy b/c of lack of inspection by THEIR appraiser. My agent and I fought with them. Round and round.

Next appointment - they rescheduled.

Again company wants to cancel the insurance.

Finally resolved it but I will never get a BerkshireHathaway insurance policy ever again.