Do you use Instacart???

[CindysFriend]

So I am now physically disabled.

I’ve been using Instacart fairly regularly since Covid quarantine began.

If you use Instacart, do you have to “babysit” your Shopper while they’re shopping? It’s been getting worse and worse.

I just had an order delivered. The Shopper contacted me via the app several times while she shopped. Before I even sent in my order this morning I made sure to choose alternate replacement items and/or Please Refund certain items.

This shopper was asking ME where certain items in the store are located. Aren’t there people or aisle signs to help? I ordered crockpot liners; she took a picture of kitchen/cooking tools and said that they didn’t have the liners, but do I want anything instead, from this picture? I told her that the liners are usually where the aluminum foil is. She eventually found them. Then she asked me where the chicken pot pies were located. I told her “in some freezer, I’d guess. Sorry I don’t know the aisle”.

So then…… my order gets here and 8 items were incorrect. We only get Powerade ZERO. She got some of the Powerades correct, but the others are the regular formula. No one in my house can drink these, for different reasons. So I had to get on the app, find the incorrect items, snap a picture of them.

Ok, so they’ve credited my Instacart account for the amount of the incorrect items, yet that doesn’t help me as far as having the correct items go! If I want them, I’d have to reorder them and pay additional fees and a tip!

Last week my husband wanted corned beef and cabbage. So I ordered all of the necessary items. My husband sees the total of the order and it’s about $50 higher than it should’ve been. We went through the receipt and saw that the Shopper put the wrong amount for the corned beef. Instead of $20, it was counted as about $70!

I got on the phone for this one. It took me a minute to explain the problem to the customer service person, but then he saw the mistake. We got a $50 Instacart credit. (I know that we could have the money credited back to our account, but we order so often that I don’t mind keeping the money on the account).

So, tell me…. Am I the only one with these problems? And the above issues are only the most recent ones.

I give very good tips, so the Shoppers can’t claim that I’m not tipping high enough.

If you’re still reading, thanks for letting me vent!

 

[mjkacmom]

I’ve done it I’d guess 25 times or so, I like to stay in touch so I can see what they’ve purchased and to answer questions. Instacart shoppers have so many different stores, I do weekly online with Shoprite and even though you can’t watch the live shop, they’re much better about knowing the store.

 

[ronandannette]

Nope. I tried it once during Covid and it was a gong-show. I couldn't think of a reason to put myself through it again. The situations you've described would be more than enough for me to abandon using any service that's so hit-and-miss.

 

[firefly_ris]

A couple of times but it's been a long time. They weren't too bad most of the time. It was usually for Aldi which does change their specialty item stock often so I didn't have high expectations.

One time we did it for Sam's Club, and she replaced kids fruit snacks with adult multivitamin gummies. We still talk about that one, ha.

 

[AuntieMe3]

I do it very rarely but our last two orders we've had items missing plus a can of bean dip we didn't order or charged for so. We were credited our missing items but it was annoying because it was stuff I needed so I ended up going to the store anyway.

 

[nw6675]

I have had similar experiences. One lady I asked her why she wasn't using my preselected substitutes. She was new and didn't realize. Another lady delivered to my neighbor's house. I've received other people's bags. The list goes on.

I cancelled my membership.

Funny: young guy shoppers were the BEST! Didn't send cutesy texts or they didn't bother me at all. Picked great dates and bagged well. Unlike the older woman who could NOT grasp that skim milk and fat free were the same. She was old enough to understand skim.

Rant over.

 

[JLTraveling]

Try Shipt. We started with Instacart at the beginning of Covid, and they drove me nuts. Switched to Shipt, and we love them so much that we still get deliveries from them in between our big Walmart stockups. You can't watch the shop, but their rating system is awesome. Anyone you rate 3 stars or below, you'll never get again. Anyone you rate 5 stars, you have the option to put them on your Preferred Shopper list. We now have about 4 regular shoppers who know our preferences and will even go out of their way to mention "hey, Store X is out of your favorite eggnog, but I saw some at Store Y when I was there yesterday." Or "you good on OJ? You didn't have it on the list." And if you do have any issues, customer service is terrific. I think we only had one bad shopper in the past 3 years, and they just refunded the whole order for the inconvenience. Our shoppers will get the listed substitute item if there is one, or if they're out of it or we didn't list one, they'll send a pic with all available options. Really happy with them.

 

[starry_solo]

Nope, never.
For groceries, we've always gone out and grocery shopped. The kids (that's us) would grocery shop for the entire family once a week. We like to handle our own produce and make sure we pick the correct items with long-away expiration dates.
I do curbside pick-up for stores that offer it.

 

[emily nicole]

I have never ordered it but I did try being a shopper for a side hustle. It was way more trouble than it was worth. My last trip I had to contact the customer probably 10 times because the store was out of the items she wanted (obviously the fault of the store, I'm not blaming the customer!). Instacart makes you contact the customer for each replacement item, so I had no choice but to contact her each time.

I now do DoorDash instead which is 100x easier and pays better too.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

A couple of times with Instacart; too expensive, though, for regular use. We have Walmart+ (tip only, free delivery; I got it for half price), and Sam's Club (which is free shipping, and I think free delivery w/tip, but I'm not 100% on that, as we haven't used it for that). I do curbside pickup with Target, and have with Walmart in the past, but Wmart is 20 minutes from my house, and Target is less than 10, so.....

For W+, I'm not sure who is shopping...it could be the employees...and sometimes I've had my stuff delivered by a Walmart employee, in a W van.

I usually use it when I need things midweek, as we only have one car, and DH is gone from 6:30am until 6:30pm Mon-Thurs (at least 35 minutes drive time each, depending on traffic), and on Fridays from 6:30am until 1pm usually.

I try not to order produce, as I'm super picky about it. I'll order stuff to be shipped from Sams Club, Walmart and Target, with free shipping; that's usually how I get our coffee, because our local stores don't carry a particular brand of coffee, but ones on the other side of town do...but I don't want to drive 2 hours to get it.

We've had a few times where I haven't received an item. This past week, it was the half and half; I'm assuming someone forgot a bag in the trunk of their car. Hope they found it quickly, lol... It's been as easy as contacting them online and getting a refund for the missing item. W+ does contact you about having to change items.; and you can edit your tip for, I think, 24 hours?

 

[sk!mom]

It’s been several years since I used Instacart. My preferred store (HEB) has their own service. There are occasional mistakes but the shoppers work for H‑E‑B so they know the store and don’t need my help. I do curbside pick up but they will deliver.

Could you use a store service instead?

 

[AndreaDM]

It’s been several years since I used Instacart. My preferred store (HEB) has their own service. There are occasional mistakes but the shoppers work for H‑E‑B so they know the store and don’t need my help. I do curbside pick up but they will deliver.

Could you use a store service instead?

Our local chain, Giant Eagle has their own service too which I've used for pickup. The issue with that is, their time slots are usually only available for the following day and beyond which is ok if you're not in a rush. Instacart has had orders to me in about an hour! Not always correct lol, but it was great when I was doing holiday or party prep and needed items asap.

 

[dez1978]

Only on vacation because it is not available where I live. We don't have any of that in the boonies. Heck, until a few months ago, the small walmart in our town (not even open 24 hrs small) didn't even have pickup service.