Von's grocery ...any experience

[MisterBubbles]

If you order weeks ahead of time are you able to change your food order or delivery time if something changes with the airline schedule or you want to add something else to the order?

 

[blackjackdelta]

Have used Vons delivery many,many times, Never a single problem even with changes in flight times. Picked up a phone and called with the order number. Have to be there to pick up the order if there is booze in it, VERY RELIABLE

 

[MisterBubbles]

Have used Vons delivery many,many times, Never a single problem even with changes in flight times. Picked up a phone and called with the order number. Have to be there to pick up the order if there is booze in it, VERY RELIABLE

Thanks! Good to know. We have an order ready to be placed. Looks like you can't order more than three weeks ahead.

 

[tlcdoula]

We used Vons on our last trip and it was great, our flight was late and I was so worried we would miss our delivery time but we showed up a few mins before he did and everything was there.. Including my baileys for morning coffee

 

[MisterBubbles]

We used Vons on our last trip and it was great, our flight was late and I was so worried we would miss our delivery time but we showed up a few mins before he did and everything was there.. Including my baileys for morning coffee

Coffee needs proper creamer in the morning!

 

[CAbryan]

Last weekend we used Instacart, I have not used the Vons/Albertsons service but do plan on trying that in my hometown to compare.

If you are planning ahead I saw they had a WeGoShop which is what we use at WDW, they are independent shoppers, probably more personalized service and we have always had good experiences with them.

My thoughts on InstaCart

***See my post a few down apparently they charge a yearly membership after the trial period, its a good service but there are other options that dont charge that fee***

-It allows you to pick a participating store, we chose Ralph's.
-It gives you a status every step of the way "John is your shopper today / John is delivering now ETA".
-The app shows you a map of where the driver is and how close they are.
-You can chat with the person shopping for you (We did not use this but imagine it would be useful for special requests).
-If not in stock you will receive a message to approve an alternative.
-If you are staying at a Disney Hotel they will wait at the Bell Hop for you to come down and pick it up. The Bell Hop said they could hold the groceries if no alcohol is purchased.

 

[MisterBubbles]

Last weekend we used Instacart, I have not used the Vons/Albertsons service but do plan on trying that in my hometown to compare.

If you are planning ahead I saw they had a WeGoShop which is what we use at WDW, they are independent shoppers, probably more personalized service and we have always had good experiences with them.

My thoughts on InstaCart
-It allows you to pick a participating store, we chose Ralph's.
-It gives you a status every step of the way "John is your shopper today / John is delivering now ETA".
-The app shows you a map of where the driver is and how close they are.
-You can chat with the person shopping for you (We did not use this but imagine it would be useful for special requests).
-If not in stock you will receive a message to approve an alternative.
-If you are staying at a Disney Hotel they will wait at the Bell Hop for you to come down and pick it up. The Bell Hop said they could hold the groceries if no alcohol is purchased.

Thanks! All good to know.

 

[Davin_Felth]

I've had good luck with Von's so far. When we stayed at the HoJo in Nov 2015, the groceries were waiting in our room when we got there. The following April, we stayed at the PPH, and our groceries were being held at the luggage check because our room wasn't ready for us when we arrived.

This August, we're trying the Desert Inn and Suites. I'm hoping that they don't have a problem with the groceries being delivered there.

 

[AndreAggie]

How does it work if you have grocery items that require refrigeration? If your groceries are held for you, do they have some way to keep them cold??

 

[blackjackdelta]

Depends if the place has refrig. Many places do not, the resort hotels do.

 

[CAbryan]

So fast forward a few weeks and apparently I should read the fine print!

Instacart gives you a few weeks then auto enrolls in the "express" ( free delivery vs paid) which charges a 149/yr membership fee. Luckily we caught it right when it happened (today) so the app let us cancel and get a refund. It looks like we can still order and pay for delivery. Anyway had to jump on here to make sure if anyone uses it to be on the lookout for that.

 

[MisterBubbles]

So fast forward a few weeks and apparently I should read the fine print!

Instacart gives you a few weeks then auto enrolls in the "express" ( free delivery vs paid) which charges a 149/yr membership fee. Luckily we caught it right when it happened (today) so the app let us cancel and get a refund. It looks like we can still order and pay for delivery. Anyway had to jump on here to make sure if anyone uses it to be on the lookout for that.

Whoa! Thanks for the warning.

 

[MisterBubbles]

Thank you all for your help. We used Von's on our trip last week and it went well. We placed our order ahead of time. It was delivered to the GCH in the one hour time window selected and the bell desk was happy to bring it right to the room shortly after we checked-in. Couldn't have been better. This is the way to go!

 

[Sherry E]

I just happened to see this thread, and wanted to speak up about a few things. First of all, I have zero experience with ordering from Vons for a Disneyland trip. However, I have been ordering from Vons (home delivery) for at least 13 years. In fact, the other day I just placed my 160th order with them (yes, 160!). So I think I can safely advise you of some pros and cons of using their service, as a lot of things are handled the same way, whether the delivery is to a hotel or to a home, in Anaheim, or in L.A. (where I am). Maybe the info will come in handy for people who want to know more about how this service works in the future!


CONS

As to Vons being unreliable in terms of items being out of stock... yes, they can be. It took me years to get my specific Vons 'trained' to get my orders right, and to pick the right substitutions if something I selected was out of stock. They still make mistakes here and there, but they have improved a lot.

Some of the shoppers -- from what I have been told -- are teenagers or young college kids trying to make some extra money. A lot of them have probably never really done a lot of grocery shopping for their families or themselves, especially not orders that are very specific and catered to individual tastes. Some of the people packing your order might be a bit careless too. So, if you order bananas and a couple of heavy cans or bottles of something, don't be surprised if you receive a bag with your fragile bananas or soft loaves of bread buried underneath the heaviest items in your order!

Some of the shoppers will ignore your carefully worded substitution notes, and if they think that something is out of stock they may select some random, weird substitution that you did not want -- or they will tell you that something is out of stock when you just instinctively know it probably was not out of stock at all.

The shoppers do not have access to any back room storage. They can only choose what is on the shelves. So it's not like if you were shopping in a store yourself, you could ask an employee to check the storage room in the back for an item you wanted. The shoppers for the home/hotel delivery cannot do that -- they are not typical Vons employees in that regard. So they pick whatever is out on the shelves.

If an item is left out of your order and you were charged for it, they will usually not make a special trip to deliver it to you unless it amounts to $25 or more (some stores may have a higher required dollar amount than $25, though, so keep that in mind). So if you ordered a case of water that was under $25, they would not make a trip back to you to deliver it. They would just credit you back the amount you were charged. If several items were accidentally left out of your order (and you were charged), and they total $25 or more, you should be able to get a driver to come back the next day and deliver them to you.

If something was left out of your order and you were not charged for it, you'd have to create a whole new order to get that item and whatever else you order to add up to $50.

If your items are out of stock or substituted, they will not call you. You can call them on the morning of your order and ask the Customer Service person to look at your receipt and tell you if there were any out of stocks or substitutions, but they do not call you to notify you about that.

If you do not cancel before 3 a.m., you cannot cancel an order for that day. So if you have a noon delivery scheduled and you want to cancel it, you'd have to do so before 3 a.m that morning.

Generally, the only reason they call you is if your method of payment did not work, OR if there is an issue like a late delivery or a cancelled delivery. But a lot of times they will not even call if the driver is going to be late.

It makes no difference if you order 3 weeks, 2 weeks or 1 week in advance - that does not increase your chances of an item being in stock.

The way it works -- and specific times may differ from store to store -- is that all deliveries scheduled before a certain time of day are shopped in the wee hours of the morning. At my store, the shoppers are shopping at 3 a.m. for orders in the first several hours of the day. So, what they have to choose from is what was left over from the night before. In other words, the shelves are not freshly stocked for the delivery shoppers. Whatever is on the shelves was there the night before.

At some point late in the morning, the shelves are restocked (again, times may differ for each store) and then the next wave of shoppers come in to round up your items. In the case of my Vons, if I were to order a delivery scheduled for sometime after 3 p.m. or 4 p.m., I would get items from the freshly restocked shelves. THAT is when there would be the best chance of all my items being in stock. But when I order a delivery for, say, 11 a.m., some items might be out of stock because the shelves have not yet been restocked since the previous night.

The stores in Anaheim probably operate in the same way, but their times might differ -- maybe the shoppers don't shop at 3 a.m., or maybe the shelves are restocked earlier in the day. Who knows? But placing an order weeks in advance does nothing to guarantee an item being in stock, because your order will be shopped at the same time the other orders for the same general time frames are shopped, and those online orders are also competing with the walk-in customers of the stores, who pick from the same shelves.

Also, chances are that prices will be different on your delivery day if you order way in advance. The online sales prices change weekly. And the weekly in store sales end on Tuesday nights, while new sales weeks start on Wednesdays. So if you order a $5 item online, on a Tuesday, it will probably not be $5 when it is purchased and totaled up on Wednesday, because the new prices will have gone into effect overnight. The new price could be lower than what you thought it might be, or higher than what you thought. But if you buy something listed as $5 on a Sunday and have it delivered on Monday, it will likely still be $5 because it is within the same sales week.


PROS

You can get alcohol delivered. You can get fresh fruit delivered. You can get meat delivered (if you were going to cook in your Villa or something). You can get large bottles of orange juice or lemonade. You can get fresh baked goods delivered -- for example, if you would like to celebrate someone's birthday and you don't wish to pay expensive Disney prices for a cake, you can order a full cake to be delivered... or a 12-pack of cupcakes... or a pie (fresh or frozen)..... You can order a giant bottle of Ibuprofen. Lunch meat and condiments. Big cases of water. Dr. Scholl's inserts. Whatever you need, you can order it from Vons!!!

And they are usually pretty quick about issuing refunds (within a couple of days) if they screw up something, or an item is damaged, etc.

If you happen to be a Vons Club member, AND belong to their Just For U savings program (easy to sign up), you can use the Vons Club discounts, AND the Just For U discounts, AND the online only promo codes (on the website when you order) all together for maximum savings. I do that all the time!

Sometimes the online only promo codes offer free items that don't require you to spend a certain dollar amount. Most of the time you have to order $150 of groceries just to get a free item, but every so often they will give a free item to all online orders -- recently I got a free bottle of iced tea, and also a can of some new kind of Pepsi drink. So check the promo codes when you order online to see if there are any freebies there.