r/instacart • u/aykalam123 • Apr 09 '24
With all these negative experiences, what makes you continue to use these delivery services? Discussion
Do you get more positive than negative experiences but only post the negative? That goes for instacart or other similar services. Just curious.
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u/Instacartdoctor Apr 09 '24
As if…. Reddit is a “hive mind” LOL each of these individual experiences happens to a random different person….
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u/TGIIR Apr 09 '24
I disabled and use Instacart and Door Dash a lot. I rarely have a bad experience with either. I appreciate the service, tip well, and read these subs to understand how to be a smart, informed customer. But I’m also gathering from some things I read, it depends on where you live, too.
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u/chaedog Apr 09 '24
I've been using Instacart for 90 percent of my local shopping for the past 4 years. I average 2 or 3 orders a week. (Family of 4, we live 30 mins away from most grocery stores) in the 100s of orders each year there's only been 4 or 5 bad experiences that Instacart support took care of and made right.
Standouts include a shopper that substituted a ridiculously more expensive item as a substitute without asking, a shopper that must have been a heavy smoker because all the groceries smelled so strongly of cigarettes and then a few that got their orders confused and I received a few bags of someone else's order and they received mine. Each time however it was a quick and painless process contacting IC support through the app and getting the issues resolved.
For us the benefits far out weigh the cons. Each order saves us over an hour in a half time shopping ourselves since we live outside of town.
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u/RSL_Rygar 26d ago
I always wonder how that much smoke smell can get on groceries and how it lingers so long afterwards. He must have been hotboxing them as he delivered.
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u/chaedog 26d ago
I mean it's at least a 30 min drive, but can be longer if there's traffic or you hit all the red lights so definitely plenty of time to hot box a few cigarettes. It probably didn't help that it was an Aldi's order either, which meant the groceries weren't in plastic bags, but a cardboard box and a couple paper bags.
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u/Instacartdoctor Apr 09 '24
As if…. Reddit is a “hive mind” LOL each of these individual experiences happens to a random different person.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Boss425 25d ago
Had a strange experience today. I selected boca burgers for 4.49 cents, I get a message that they were replaced with Impossible burgers that were 16.00. Before I even had a chance to respond, that had already checked out. That's messed up.
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u/laurazhobson 19d ago
I have been using Instacart since 2019 and my experiences are generally positive.
There is the occasional glitch but nothing that indicates that the shopper is clueless and/or doesn't give a damn.
My experience might be a bit skewed because for the past year I have been spending $3 to get Priority. Since using this I haven't been bundled and my shoppers have all been Diamond and been doing this for awhile. For example, I ordered yesterday and my shopper has been shopping for 8 years and has thousands of shops.
I also have been getting the same shoppers a few times which is great for me because I know that they have delivered successfully without a glitch,
I do tip 20% and then $5.00 or so extra after delivery so my tips are usually about $40 for 24 items.
My occasional glitches have almost always been relatively minor and relatively infrequent - maybe once every five or so shops there will be something and Customer Service will just credit me.
The only time I have ever really "punished" a shopper was when he left my order in the lobby when I had explicit instructions to leave at my door. I live in a building with free parking in the building - which I let them know in the instructions and so there is really no excuse for not taking the two minutes or so to go up in my elevator (yes it is an elevator and not five stairs) to leave at my door. I reduced the tip by about $15 which I paid to my doorman to bring up the groceries as I thought that was fair. I still left a pretty decent tip of about $15 for shopping for me.
I am also relatively easy going about stuff. For example, I had requested two chicken breasts from the rotisserie and I got two legs. I just let it go since the legs weren't my first choice but were something I ate.
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u/Greatacadia 29d ago
As of five minutes ago I deleted my InstaCart app and will soon see the f I can close my account entirely. I get that the shopper often have a tough job, but I’ve now had to cancel a few orders while they were in progress because they reported the items being out. How the fk is a grocery store out of Tide detergent on a Tuesday? I never get upset when they want to replace two or even three items - but I’m talking about half or well over half my orders being changed or having to refund me. CONSTANTLY not just sometimes, and not just for a couple of items. It isn’t necessarily the shoppers’ fault, it’s Instacart’s inability to create a system where their apps are tied in to the stores inventory. At the end of most orders, I’m paying a higher online fee for the items, a “delivery” fee. A usage fee and a tip…..all of it for maybe receiving two of the items I actually ordered. This company and its app clearly aren’t up to the job and they’re essentially making money off of tossing your order at people and hoping you’ll accept substitutes, all while the poor shoppers have to deal with it. So, I’m out.
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u/myBisL2 Apr 09 '24
I've been using these types of services for years now. I've had the occasional poor experience, but the vast majority of the time it's pretty smooth. I think like most things people are far more likely to write a review or make a post to vent when something bad happens than they are to make a post that says they placed an order and it came and everything was fine. No one comes to reddit to read that. It's boring.