Oops, almost lost us Ocado!
I have blogged on here recently about our good experience of Ocado on their first delivery to us at home. Did I sing their praises too soon?
Our second delivery was due this Saturday between 7.30 and 8.30, we had also included our Saturday evening meal in the order – possibly a bit rash, but on the assumption that they had delivered early last week we thought it would be OK.
However as 8.30 approached the natives (14 and 17) were getting restless, I am told I also get grumpy when I am hungry, so I was probably being unpleasant as well! We checked the website and it said that their GPS system (a new and wonderful service they are just rolling out) confirmed our driver would get to us between 8.10 and 8.30 – but it was 8.40! A decision was taken to abandon for chips which I collected (without any complaints).
After eating said chips we were 50 minutes after the latest delivery time, so a call to Ocado was in order – this was going to be make or break for them as far as I was concerned. How a company responds to a complaint matters – the customer is always right!
We got off to a good start – they were sorry and would call the driver and call me straight back, that’s good, as I don’t want to be kept waiting. The call came a few minutes later with an apology, a £10 ‘hassle’ voucher, and news that the driver would be with us by 9.30. And he was!
The driver was polite and sorry, but pragmatic. He told us that if he called everyone on his route when he was running late it would slow him further – a fair point. It also appeared that his route had not been planned as well as it could have been (the delivery before ours was for a later slot). He also thought the head office should be tasked with updating us – after all they track their vans so it would be easy.
I had to agree with him – if Ocado track their vehicles (quite common now) they could easily tell us if there was a delay. They do appear to be trying to do this via the website, but it’s not working. Perhaps a text would prove better – it’s more direct and almost ‘personal’ even if its machine generated.
So a close call for Ocado, but we will stick with them at the moment.
Simon Dare's Blog 
November 21, 2011 at 4:05 pm
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November 22, 2011 at 8:52 am
Hi Simon,
Thanks for your feedback on our new ‘Where’s my order?’ functionality – we’re very pleased you like the idea behind it! You are part of a group of customers that have been chosen to sample this new information and you’re right that there are some teething problems that we are addressing and will have updated in the next few days.
Like you, we’re also very keen on having improved text functionality to update you on the status of your order and you will see improvements here pretty soon. Until we have this improved way of communicating with our customers, our drivers are responsible for giving our customers information when they’re running late. We’re sorry you didn’t get a call on this occasion and we’re very sorry we were late on Saturday.
It’s very encouraging to hear a customer like yourself thinking along these lines as it means this new functionality will improve our customer service further. Please let us know if you have any more feedback – it really helps to have your insight. Thanks for your second post too!
Thanks,
Carrie from Ocado
November 22, 2011 at 2:09 pm
Thank you for you reply – its nice to deal with a large company that appears to care!
I look forward to the improved tracking system!