Instacart

I placed close to a $300.00 grocery order with Instacart about a week in advance. The day came for my delivery and the app showed me that someone was shopping for and even replacing items that were "not available" in the store. I waited over an hour after my groceries should have been delivered and no one came. I contacted customer service via phone and had an automated message tell me that call volumes are too high and that I would have to submit my complaint online. It took days to get a response. I checked my bank account and noticed the charge had not come out. I finally heard back from customer service via email over a week later and Instacart stated that they were going to credit my Instacart account for the missing order or I could let them know that I wanted to be refunded. I let them know that I wanted a refund. I checked my bank account and the charge had come out of my account conveniently around when they had emailed me about a credit or a refund. The email had stated that if I requested a refund it would be issued to my account between 5 and 10 business days. I waited 5 days and there was still no refund. So I contacted customer support and asked when I would be getting my refund. They explained that they issued me a credit and it is available in my Instacart account (even though I had clearly stated previously and promptly that I would like a refund). So I replied stating again that I wanted a refund and that is all. Someone replied and said that they could not refund me due to it being a week after the scheduled purchase. I let them know that I would be disputing it with my bank. I did not receive a reply. I contacted my bank (M&T) and explained the everything to them. She gave me a case # and let me know that they would be contacting me via USPS regarding information they may need in support of the dispute. She went on to reimburse my bank account for the missing Instacart payment. I will go out of my way to make sure M&T Bank have everything they need to follow through with this dispute. This is terrible customer service on instacart's part. I feel as though I was manipulated into what they were hoping would be surrender. I am so upset and offended that the opposite of what they wanted is taking place. I refuse to use a $300.00 credit for a company that I don't believe does good business.

No good deed goes unpunished! In the 1.5 weeks I've been shopping/delivering for Instacart, the issues have been unending. I decided to keep trying to help those who cannot do for themselves like the elderly & those who are ill, as well as those who are avoiding to shop for their family's own safety. While there may be some not-so-honest shoppers out there, that is not the case with every shopper; many of the issues are outside of our control. The issues are increasing for the shopper's side & here are just a number of things in my short experience: Batches we see may contain 1 to 3 customer(s) order(s) from a single store and most of the time are visible for mere seconds only. I have accepted a batch that consists of 3 customers orders and the following have happened on many occasions: I have waited in line outside of stores in the rain as Instacart are controlling the # of shoppers at one time - if we have not selected "start shopping" then we are at risk of losing that accepted batch for not starting within a specified amount of time; if we select "start shopping" & waiting in line for a long period of time, it appears we take too long to shop & affects our time & rating; the app freezes/crashes; the app constantly loses connectivity during the shopping making the list of items unavailable for viewing in order to shop; the app at times may either not display the aisle or list the incorrect aisle to find items; the app scanner sometimes does not read the item(s) correctly, causing a forced entry that can be time consuming; often customers request new items they forgot to include in their order via the chat/message, which has gone missing at times if the app loses connection during shopping; often customers are not monitoring/approving/declining the pending replacement items the shopper suggested/added for out of stock items, which delays our shopping/delivery time; most of the time the "incorrect item the customer feels was done by a shopper not paying attention" is really a respective replacement item for an item not in stock; some customers get upset if certain or too many items they selected are out of stock (which is completely out of our control). One batch/shopping trip that should have taken an hour, ended up taking 4 hours due to app and customer issues, but I continued to complete it as I did not want those families to go without the food they ordered and were expecting. We get paid about $0.30 for each "unique item" (a little more for very heavy items like a 25lb of carrots or 35lb of dog food), not for every single item that is ordered (i. E. if you order 20 limes, we get paid for 1 lime) and when an item is out of stock and not replaceable, we are paid less/not paid for it although we are still driving, shopping, looking for good replacements and waiting for customers to respond, which holds us up, takes more of our time, delays deliveries and not to mention exposing ourselves longer to what another shopper or store employee may be carrying. There are times customers want to cancel their entire order out of frustration while we are in the process of checking out; just so you know, shoppers/deliverers cannot cancel a customer's order from the shopper's side of the app at any time. We can only cancel/release our acceptance of a batch prior to shopping. I had a rude customer demand to cancel because most of her items weren't available and she did not want suggested replacements (although she did not select that option during her order and after I already waited a long time for her to respond with her approval/decline. I explained I am not able to bypass or cancel orders, sent her a snapshot of instructions I found online to guide her through the process on the customer side and she was just nasty and refused to. Also, the app keeps customers in a particular order it assigned, it does not allow us to rearrange or bypass any orders in a batch or begin delivery for the next customer. Unfortunately these app/customer issues cause the batch/order to remain open until we can get a hold of customer service, which can only be reached via chat only (phone # disconnected) and it has taken upwards of being on hold on my app for 17 hours to get an agent while being #3,199 in queue (I promise I am not exaggerating by any means). So it appears as if I took 18+ hours to shop/deliver for that batch and customer service agent(s) state they cannot make any appropriate adjustments, even though it's an app issue and not truly reflective of my work/time. While experiencing these issues, shoppers cannot see any new available/pending batches to shop for or accept to help those in need waiting for their orders and we are not only losing our time, our gas, draining our phone battery, wasting our data, but also losing out on making money to feed ourselves and our family. In Addition, customers will pay a bartender or server 15-20% gratuity of their total cocktail/food bill to make them a drink or serve them food from a kitchen within mere feet of their table, but will leave no tip or only $2 tip for someone to drive their vehicle (using up gas) to get to a store that may be 10+ miles away from where they live, shop for them and communicate during that trip, wait in line, deal with inclement weather and carry their groceries to the door. That is quite unbalanced and inconsiderate. It may be because many are unaware, but I hope this sheds some light on the process and what we are going through trying to help everyone stay safe.

First off, the system for Instacart is quite frankly garbage. The moment I signed up a year ago, it was SO difficult to change anything. Not to mention, when you try to cancel your subscription, you have to go through a maze of tabs just to figure out which one it is. If there is one thing Instacart was smart at doing it was making it difficult for people to cancel because Instacart know how furious people get already when they start the service. But hey, maybe I'm just dumb and the type of person who goes to their "Account" tab first when trying to manage any subscriptions.

Secondly, most of the time, when I did order things, the person getting the items would get it wrong AND/OR be too lazy to get the entire order and mark things as "not available". The person gathering the items would deliberately reduce or refuse to gather the amount requested. I get it, 10lbs or more of chicken or beef is a lot to carry around but c'mon, do your job. And while there are no repercussions for the person getting the items since they get to hide behind a cell phone screen, there are people out there who possibly can't go out and get their groceries. Maybe they don't have a car or disabled, or something else, but at least make SOME effort.

Thirdly, the tipping system is pretty bad. Maybe the person getting the items would make more of an effort if they knew that the TIPS that Instacart allows at the end of your order, was actually going to them and not the driver. Then maybe this review would be different. But why would I tip the driver for delivery of only half or a quarter of my items that they didn't even get? Not to mention, the driver ISNT even the same person gathering the items. Now maybe if the person getting the items was ALSO the person delivering the items, then I get the "delivery" tipping service but why tip someone who isn't even doing anything and just being a chauffeur? That's like me doing DoorDash, having the restaurant bring ME the items that are needed to be delivered and then I go to the customer's house with said delivery and the customer tips me. That makes absolutely 0 sense and yet that's the system that Instacart has got going on. The person prepping the food or order should get the tips.

Don't get me wrong, there are some good, hard-working people who work for instacart. I'd say 20% of my orders overall did a little above-average job when gathering my orders. They would call and double-check before they finalized the order. And to those hard-working people, I can only hope that you find a better paying job that will use those skills better because 80% of the people I placed orders with were just terrible. It boggles my mind to think that 80% of people just do not care and don't really do their job. You know, the job that they are getting paid to do already, which from my understanding is pretty good money already for this low-level experience job.

I ordered groceries to be delivered to my Walt Disney World resort a few days prior to my arrival and chose my delivery window. I ordered from Publix through instacart as well as BJ's. I chose my pick up window to be 10am-11am. I arrived at the resort about 11am and had called Bell Services at the resort to bring my groceries up. I noticed a bunch of items were missing including crucial items such as diapers and water bottles I ordered for when we are in the park. I was missing 3 items from my Pubix order and everything from my BJs order. By the time I got the groceries from Bell Services it was almost noon so I called them again to make sure Instacart didn't forget any packages in the luggage room. Nope. So I checked my Instacart app to see if it stated that there was a delay with my BJ's order or why some Publix items were missing. Nothing. No notes, no messages, nothing. But yet I got charged for all the items! So I called... because that's what I wanted to do on my Disney World vacation. While on the phone with a customer service rep, he advised me that the BJ's order was never shopped for at all. But again, no notice, no email, no phone call. But it was okay to charge me for these items. He said they will send out a new shopper asap to shop for those items. I also mentioned that I am missing items from my Publix order that never arrived including the diapers I needed for my baby since I only packed a few for the plane ride. I was told that I couldn't get the Publix items re shopped for until the BJ's order was delivered but yet the BJ's order hadn't even been shopped for yet. So here I had my entire family with 2 kids waiting to go to the parks at Disney World and I couldn't go because #1 I was dealing with arguing with Instacart customer service and #2 I wouldn't have enough diapers for the entire day. I was told I can be issues a $5 credit for all these issues...$5! For missing an entire order from BJ's and missing 3 items from Publix, all of which I was charged for. That's an insult! On top of that, when I ordered I had gotten $40 off my order due to a promo code. I took a screen shot when I ordrered like I always do out of habit and all of a sudden, my promo code coupon only showed $20! Where did my other $20 go? I mentioned that as well and got a very vague "Oooooh I see... that's weird." So anyway, I asked to speak to a manager to see if they can get someone to shop for my missing Publix items asap instead of waiting for BJ's to be delivered. Nope. But I was offered a little bit more money, but still insulting. I asked to speak to another manager. Third guy, Kevin, also said they cannot shop for my missing items until BJ's is delivered. I don't really understand why that is? It's two different shoppers so why not send someone else!? Especially for a first time customer like me who hasn't had a good experience yet you'd think they would try to do their best to make things better. Kevin ultimately ended up offering $35 back to me and he would get all the missing items out to me asap and have the shoppers contact me via text message to make sure everything is bought and dropped off. I appreciated that. I was still so angry by all of this, and at this point had wasted 1.5 hours on the phone with 3 different reps being put on hold constantly. What a waste of my first day in Disney. I got my missing items, had a lovely vacation after that.
When I got home I checked my credit card statement and no credit... hm? I go on my instacart app and find they gave me the money credited to my Instacart account! Not to my credit card! I told Kevin I would never use their company again so why would he put it as a credit to my account with them? I wanted the money back on my credit card! How shady! So I sent an email to their customer service because it was late at night. I got a response stating the credits go to my instacart account. I wrote back stating that was incorrect. No response... I reply again... no response. So now I have to call... explain everything that happened to representative. Get transferred to a specialist. Explain everything that happened again. More wasted time. This specialist said she was going to issue me the $35 credit to my cart but she needed to confirm something first and put me on hold. Now after 40 minutes on the phone I get disconnected. DISCONNECTED! I have to start all over again! I call back, this new guy I am speaking with says the $35 is an appeasement for my next order. I tell him I am not ordering again after all this! He tells me sorry. Like that's it, im on hold waiting for ANOTHER supervisor right now. This is the most ridiculous company I have ever ordered from! Ordering groceries should not be this difficult! Their customer service is a disgrace and their business practices are laughable. Some of the things I was told was ridiculous. Being credited $5 for missing diapers so I can buy some in the park is ridiculous... because diapers cost way more than $5 in the parks! I will never use this company again and would warn others not to either. I've been fighting with them for a week now, still haven't gotten my refund and plan to dispute my credit card charges if this does not get resolved. Please people do not use this company! Save yourself the time and stress and frustration and money and go with someone else for your grocery needs!

In order to take advantage of a 14 day free delivery trial, you had to sign up with a credit card that would automatically charge $140 for free delivery for so many orders for the year. If you canceled before the 14 days were up, you could avoid the charge.

I received an email that the 14 day trial was coming to an end. I liked what seemed like an honorable out which endears me to a business that Instacart are on the up and up about something that doesn't really profit them. Creates trust straight off. I already liked this company despite only placing one order.

I was routed to the website from the email in order to cancel the membership. (you can still use the service, you just have to pay for deliver if you cancel the membership) After a great deal of parusing, I could not locate where to cancel. There was a contact link, but no listing of emal address so the email would go directly to company but likely not give you a paper trail as it was an internal email. After drafting the email, it wouldn't not send. So I ended up calling to cancel. At this time I realize I am 2 days past the 14 days, but I see on the website that you can cancel at any time and receive a prorated refund, that's fine. I speak with a rep who advises me that since it hasn't been charged she can just cancel it and no prorated charges. I liked the service (albeit felt guilty that the person who just shopped for me looked exhausted and I asked if she was ok, she replied just tired as she had already worked a 12 hour shift as a nurse, while I was home sick and the deliver was really appreciated, I double tipped, not relevent, but not sure I can in good conscious, not just do my own grocery shopping)

I insisted that the rep send me an email confirming our conversation and subsequent cancelation of my membership. If you have had a gym membership, or back in the day cd membership that was impossible to cancel, you understand my request for confirmation email.

However, today I see that the charge did indeed go through. It was a debit card so the charge came directly out of my on hand funds. While this won't interupt any other payments for me, another time when the kids were little that would not be the case. I am writing this review to warn others who might be in this position, especially people who would benefit from this service, such as single moms home with sick littles but need groceries but also on a tight budget and an unexpected $150 would upend her budget for a week.

When I called today to get the funds refunded they were trite with me, indicated that the email advising me that the funds would not be charged was irrelevent. Continued to insult me like my frustration with this bs business practice isn't annoying. I will never use this company again on prinicple of poor business practices becasue if this is how they treat me now( and I can still order and just pay for deliver, but I won't be using this company for it) I don't trust them to be honorable in any future dealings, including how they treat their employees.

I was not surprised to find such a low score for this business when I came here to place my report. A word to new businesses, an error is a golden opportunity to show off for customers. You don't have to tolerate bullying but you better not bully your clients. There are too many choices and people that understand that at the end of the day people will do business with companies, espeically ones of this nature, where they feel like their business and concerns are valued, even if that is just expressing an understanding for whatever the error is.

I placed my first order with Instacart and was lied to from the very start. First, Instacart did tell me there was an "authorization fee which confirms your account is legit which is a percentage of the entire order. Why they cant charge $1 like every other company in America to confirm an acct is legit? I asked more than one rep when this fee would be put back into my account and I was told by each one it would be reversed immediately after check out and they have an actual cost of groceries. What they dont tell you is that theres an assistant and a driver fee you will pay if you dont catch it before check out and cancel it. The assistant fee is 10% and I think driver fee is 4% or $4. Fortunately I caught them. But wait, theres more! They also dont tell you that if the store doesnt have items on your list, YOU ARE STILL CHARGED for those items and they issue a refund instead of simply not charging for what you didnt get. Nor do they tell you the assistant and the driver are more than likely the same person as was in my case. It gets worse. This assistant/driver delivered the groceries, did not knock, text, email or even attempt to notify me that my food on my doorstep. If someone hadnt been visiting that day, Id have never known the food was there. The temp was very high that day (over 100 degrees) and all perishables had begun to deteriorate by the time the food was discovered. I immediately called Instacart and they could see in their records no attempt had been made to contact me by this person. In the meantime, Instacart had already hit my bank for almost $200. I discovered in a conversation with their rep that I'd been lied to about when the fees and refund would be put back into my account. It was not instant as quoted but its 3-5 business days before you get your money back (if you ever get it back). Now, Im angry beyond belief because these people are wasting my time with their lies. In fact, Instacart did actually refund the fee that day and then reversed the refund overnight! When I called Instacart, they said it was my bank. I called my bank, they saw what Id seen. Instacart had indeed refunded the fees and then reversed the refund. By now, Im at five calls and its the next day. I know this for a fact because I saw it on my account. I contacted Instacart again and informed them what they'd done and demanded a refund of the entire order because I felt lied too, the food was unsafe and I was terribly inconvenienced and they'd tied up funds I desperately needed due to several lies and omissions. See, I believe Instacart knows if they inform ppl of the following: 1. They're not refunding these fees immediately, 2. There are fees you can pay to driver and assistant 3. That the assistant and driver are the same person and you could potentially give the same person two tips and 4 (I don't think the assistant actually gets that assistant's fee though. It goes to Instacart if memory serves me correctly). They charge you for items you the store didnt have and then issue refunds, people would run for the hills.

After my first experience with instacart, I was totally against them; but after talking to their service people, I decided to give it a second test run... this is also because I really like publix and was also hoping to give whole foods and the liquor store a try. I ordered 60 items from publix and this time, I noted that Instacart had an area to make notes about possible replacement choices, so I filled in what I wanted to replace and what they should not replace if out of stock. When I got to the end, I noticed that they had the automatic 10% that was ready to put a 27 dollar fee on my charges, as well as my 5.99 delivery and optional tip. I remembered the service person said that I could option out of the 10%, so I did and where it asked for a tip, I put in the amount 10 dollars. I also avoided all the offers for free delivery which gets you into a yearly contract; so I finished with the 60 items at 287 dollars, a delivery fee of 6 dollars, a 10 dollar tip and 5 dollars taxes. I made the list out last night; but I opted for a delivery of 12-1 pm the following day, so I avoided express delivery fees. Instacart said they put a pending amount some 40 dollars over the amount I had charged; but I will watch that.
Today the delivery man came, he was very nice and insisted on doing on the lifting himself, I appreciated that. Unlike Amazon fresh, they put everything into the plastic bags that look like they have been recycled, so my bread and particularly my sub sandwiches looked like they had rolled under a few heavy items before coming to me. Of course, since they don't use ice, the cold things were sweating... God I love Amazon Fresh and their square bags with dry ice... ah well, I did love that I got my daughters kern nectar, my fresh cut bakery bread... which Amazon doesn't have and my daughters publix french toast sticks plus alot of things only publix has. Now, some folks ask how they do this... how do they do it so cheap... well, here is my theory: I notice that many items appear to be things that would have been taken off the shelf for little problems: dented cans, overly large fruit that doesn't fit in bins, baked bread loaves that are too large for their bags or sliced too thin... they take stuff that publix would not ask regular price for and then they tack on anywhere from 45 cents to 1.00 on each item. So a shop that I would have paid 199 dollars for if I had gotten dressed, used my gas and taken my poor bad leg around every isle of publix; I paid 287 dollars for. So, when instacart cries that they don't have enough money to pay their poor drivers, so they want me to give them 10 percent, I still say... no, pay them like Amazon Fresh does. I am happy to give a bit of a tip; but really.
Okay, so here is the other bit of information: if you take advantage of several stores offered by instacart at one time, you still pay a fee for each store; so I decided that I will try whole foods another time and do a whole delivery.
All in all, I have decided that I still like this service, they are improving; but I still prefer Amazon Fresh with their pristine, fresh products, and perfectly turned out grocery bags.

I just spent at least 2 hours doing online food shopping from sprouts farmers market that uses instacart for delivery. The first order was supposed to be free delivery. When I was about ready to pay, Instacart wanted to charge $6.52 service fee. I'm not sure if the service fee was based on the amount of money I was about to spend or if it was fixed. It was confusing because they also had a list of other amounts, including the $6.52, that were listed under tips. At first I thought the service fee was a tip until I looked further. It said the service fee 'helps support the instacart platform and covers a broad range of operating costs including insurance, background checks, and customer support.' They normally charge a delivery fee that they said varies, which they say they don't charge if you pay for membership and spend $35 for an order. Why is it up to the customer to pay a service fee on every order for the costs of running their business that is on top of their other charges? Another concern is that they said they were going to take more money than the actual bill and then do some sort of adjustment afterwards so I'd only be paying what it actually cost, but seeing that some people have never been refunded for overcharges or mistakes doesn't fill me with confidence that they wouldn't do that to me as well. I'm glad I came here before I went through with the order because of the overwhelming number of bad reviews and that some people reported the repeated problems I have had with amazon fresh delivering warm and melted foods. I've been looking for an alternative, but I can see that this isn't it.

I almost forgot that about 6 weeks ago I was going to try to order some things from vons.com. Eight years ago I did some online food shopping with vons.com. On several occasions but nothing more since then. At the time it had nothing to do with instacart. Vons made the deliveries. However, since then instacart have somehow linked themselves to my vons.com account. My account details have almost all changed since then, but I have been unable to change them myself. Either the change I made wouldn't stay changed and reverted back or there was no way for me to even attempt to change it. I was confused by instacart being involved and their involvement has resulted in my not being able to change my account information with vons.com. The only people I could contact turned out to be instacart, who told me they didn't have it under the information I gave them and asked if I had a different name or email or whatever it was at the time, I forget now, and when I told them no, I never heard back from them. If the only way I can get delivery from vons any more is by instacart, I won't be doing it anyway, but I don't like the way I can't even have any access to my own account any more, and that my account is stuck in some sort of limbo where I couldn't order anything if I wanted to because of the details being wrong.

I don't like the way these companies with personal shoppers have taken over and most of the ones I have had have been mediocre to bad. Now you're dependent on some stranger you don't know doing your shopping, and in my personal experience not at all like they were doing their own, not having good judgement or common sense or following instructions, and also dependent on what happened to be in stock by the time they finally got there to do the actual shopping. I never knew what I was going to get and in what condition with the other companies I have tried and instacart is apparently no different.

Do yourself a favor - uber to your supermarket, do the shopping yourself, then uber back. Don't get insta-scammed.
The mark-ups on items, missing items, unauthorized substitutions.
Not worth the missing items and produce, and perhaps you DO get the requested produce, yet it is far from a quality choice, coupled with head aches of complaining again and again only to get a small credit just to keep you on the hook for another hit-or-miss attempt at what at first sounds like a great idea, just so poorly performed on all ends of the spectrum.
Human resources and a better vetting/interviewing/accountability structure needs to improve substantially if this type of service expects to be what it claims to be.
Today. 2 separate store orders.

Wegman's order goes nearly flawlessly (shocking) Got everything as ordered and delivered timely despite delivery being 2 houses down for a minute, no sweat the gps corrected.

Aldi's. Where to begin? Despite making replacements for everything on the list so 30 items, all available according to the app, with 30 substitution items - also available says the app.
Either we got a rogue shopper or the app went haywire as items were being recklessly added, substituted or downright incorrect. Contact was attempted yet not responded to, before anything had any semblance of sanity there was a notification of the shopper checking out. Great, so I suppose we needed a chat in person to see what the issue was.
Unfortunately, by the time of being notified of the shoppers arrival, I reached the door to see the aldi's order at my feet and the vehicle with a beep of the horn already pulling away.
2 -5 lb bags of apples? Nope, 2 apples.
2 -5 lb bags baker potatoes? Nope, 2 potatoes.
2 head of Cabbage? Nah, here's two heads of iceberg lettuce. Same thing, who cares?
No pretzels. Yet we get charged for them, I suppose shoppers get a little craving being around so much free food all the time it never hurts to indulge, since we customers can only complain and get a refund credit to our next order and never an actual refund for what we order including a refund for the monthly subscription... keeping us on the hook to have another similar episode the next time around, perpetually never getting the order just right/shopper "forgetting" an item purchased/etc.

-This is barely the beginning of winter and were looking forward to how helpful something like this could be, my wife and I really feel for the elderly and folks who really need this service and see the horror stories on this site and can only wonder if this service will ever improve if even any steps are being taken to try - it really seems like a great idea but just an enormous mess and whomever is handling this is showing lack of empathy and effort. Hope with each and every complaint that a message will become clear and we pray it will be for the better and improvements come swiftly or a better service will surface elsewhere.
Regards A&K

I am a senior if you order online for pick up the total for exact same order(14 items) has a difference of 7.52 which does not include the delivery cost with the fees taxs etc it a difference of 16.04 not counting for a tip for the order. So it turns out you are paying a much higher price for the delivery then if you pick up. For me that's more then what it would cost for me to take a cab there and back and still have my items shopped for me and cost would go up as the order gets bigger I see that I've paid as much 30% more on the groceries themselves after going back and checking my orders since may I understand Instacart needs to pay all their operation/platform, but I just noticed that Instacart are marking up the prices around 30% more than many of the store prices. And they advertise many of them as as part of their store contract list. Yet when i contacted superstore about this they said instacart sets the price and instacart says the store sets the price. Some one is making large profits from seniors who need a service like this and the cost difference is not clearly states anywhere on their sites unless you really dig around to find the pricing policy We still pay. Then you tip - fair enough - that goes to the shopper. But what you do NOT usually see is the higher prices you pay for the items you buy. A few times my shopper has inadvertently left the actual receipt (not the one on the Instacart site) in my bag. Comparing the actual receipt to my receipt paid to Instacart today here are the numbers: Instacart receipt shows I was charged $149.46 (includes a 15% tip and service fee for MEMBER). But looking at the actual paper receipt left in the bag, my shopper (Instacart) PAID $113.71. That means for the convenience today of me not going to the store, I paid $35.75 - or 24%. Nearly a quarter of a percent more for this convenience.
Different pricing from online pick up and the delivery price example 1. OCEAN SPRAY
Diet Cran-Lemonade Cocktail 1.89 L $2.97ea$0.16/ 100mL instacart price Ocean Spray Diet Cranberry & Lemonade Cocktail
1890 ml Current price:$4.05 $0.21 per 100ml = difference of >1.08
Example 2. LYSOL Laundry Additive2.70 L $13.98ea $0.52/ 100mL
Instacart price Lysol Crisp Linen Laundry Sanitizer
2700 ml Current price:$15.35 $0.57 per 100ml =differance of >1.37
Don't use Instacart - https://www.bbb.org/greater-san-francisco/business-reviews/food-delivery/instaca...⇄ There are 178 negative reviews. And that is just one site best to check online and do some research as many stores now offer free delivery and no mark ups as well there are many options for seniors with no fees whatever.

Where do I begin?! DO NOT USE INSTACART!
I 100 PERCENT retract my amazing review of insta cart delivery!
We placed our second order Wednesday and then we later placed $44 in add ons to that order, no issue.
We had our groceries delivered today no problem! 30 min later another delivery driver dropped off our original order without the "adds ons." I told him we already received our order. He told me to just keep them and figure it out.
So I looked on our credit card transactions and we were charged for both orders when we only placed the order once. AND then there was a random $160 charge on there for nothing!
I called price chopper Instacart told me they had nothing to do with it that we had to contact Insta Cart.
I called them and was on hold for 3 HOURS and 18 min! I finally got to talk to someone and he basically told me after arguing with him that I placed the order twice (which I didn't obviously) he told me there was 1 min between the orders. Obviously, I didn't have time to go back and reorder everything and send it again in 1 min, and I don't need double milk, bananas, cheese etc... he put me on hold came back to tell me he couldn't refund it, and asked if I received the groceries? I said yes, but I don't want them! I'll gladly return them!
I informed him I'm not paying $110 for a double order I didn't order, that's not my fault, and a glitch on your end!
He put me on hold again, because he said "this is a difference of opinion, and he didn't know what to do" then 15 min later on hold I was hung up on and then sent a text from a number I am unable to respond to that says "we have given you a refund as a one time courtesy. It will be credited to your account within 3-5 days." didn't tell me what was being refunded! Was it the $110 double charge, was it the $160 random charge! He could of easily came back on the line and told me that, but no he was tired of dealing with me! And he hung up!
So I get on the website to send an email about how unacceptable this was and when you go to "report a problem" it takes you back to the top of the page same with the email link. So I've ended up finding an email and emailing them!
So use them at your own risk! Our first order was great, but this is becoming a headache and I'd rather of risked getting the corona virus and going to the store then having to deal with this $270 issue! I've wasted over 4 hours on the phone today dealing with this and it still isn't resolved!

I've been waiting patiently for hours to come and as soon as Instacart come I end up having them cancelled due to a background check I thought that was the first thing that would be done way before a instacart debit card would be sent. It seems a little backwards for me to have 2 cancellations back to back and now I'm running into a problem with having the proper bags to begin shopping. I signed up for instacart back in December and now that hours finally came available only for them to be cancelled is not a good look on my end. I would think before the process even begins a BACKGROUND CHECK would be the 1st thing done so that shoppers like myself and future shoppers don't have their hours cancelled due to a background check that takes 2-7 business days. I had my hopes up about finally getting a shift in only to be highly disappointed to have them cancelled all because of the process that is set up at instacart to begin shopping on the platform. You are wasting alot of peoples time by having them get a card mailed to their address only to have to be on a waitlist for several weeks or more just to do a background check and have your hours cancelled or given to someone that has been a shopper with you since day one. I'm highly upset and I will no longer be using this app. Why put people that think they are going to make extra money on the side to support themselves through a background check after the app is downloaded, after they went out and bought the PROPER INSULATED BAG REQUIRED and a debit card sent to them to purchase the items just to be on a long waitlist to get hours. It makes no sense and the procedures need to be reevaluated because I'm sure I'm not the only one this has happened too. The way I would do it would be BACKGROUND CHECK 1ST THEN IF IT'S A GO SEND THE DEBIT CARD MAKE SURE THEY ARE READY BY HAVING THE PROPER BAGS TO SHOP AND THEN PICK HOURS. All the people that are on the waitlist now have not had a background check I'm assuming, so the same thing will happen to them and so on. Sounds a little dumb of how things are done and honestly not fair. I had high hopes of joining instacart but now I just think it's a way to get all these people all over the US to sign up just to have to wait on a waitlist or a 2-7 days for a background check to be completed that should of been done way before a card was sent out way before people get prepared are ready to shop. I will be writing a review of my experience of instacart and I can't even say one good thing because I never got the chance to shop to even say how great of experience it was for me. Instacart needs to go back to the drawing board and brainstorm more ways to make the process smooth for shoppers coming in. It should be like any other job you fill out a application then pass the BACKGROUND CHECK then you arw officially ready to begin shopping with Instacart. Not the other way around by having thousands sign up so everybody thinks they are approved only to be emailed that hours are cancelled because of a background check. Make it make sense for the people that would like to join instacart.

My order placement went very smoothly. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that my Shopper was able to text me while she was shopping to let know items were out of stock. However, that's when things went seriously awry.

- She lets me know that- allegedly- the brand of K-cups I had ordered were out of stock. She suggests substituting a 16 oz CAN of Folgers ground coffee. Since I do not own a coffee pot- and since I had ordered K-Cups- I selected "NO" and suggested an alternate brand of K-cups. She ignored this, and when she arrived at my home, I received the can of Folger's coffee.
- Next, my Shopper informed me that my local Smith's does not carry Boar's Head products in their deli. I found this odd, since I shop there weekly, and Instacart always have Boar's Head. Additionally, when I place orders at Smiths using ClickList, I am also able to receive Boar's Head products. In any case, I told her it was fine to substitute any of brand of deli lunch meat. So, she did. However, she did not register the substitution on my order- So I still paid for Boar's Head prices (top of the line, $12.99 per pound) for each one pound of turkey and one pound of Muenster cheese, but I received a lower grade brand. While likely a mistake, this is unacceptable, fraudulent, and basically ripping me off.
- Next, my Shopper informed me that she simply could not fulfill my order of pepperoni. She didn't offer a substitute brand or product, she just told me she could not get it at all. Again, mind blowing.
- Finally, she shows up at my house late. I don't mean to personally attack her, but when we saw her and interacted with her, it was clear why she could not find anything in the store and was generally having much difficulty. She was frail, confused, she randomly asked me if I was having a party?-- My husband flatly later told me " I'm pretty sure she was on meth".
- This was a $200 order. I felt like received horrific customer service, and there was nothing I could do. To be honest, your app does NOT make it easy to file complaints. Eventually, I was able to submit a problem with my order-- but the mobile app only let me submit one problem, and I ended up receiving a $5 credit for the can of coffee I received, which is useless to me. It doesn't make up for the fact that because of the terrible service I received, I do not have useable coffee in my house right now. It doesn't make up for the fact that I paid $25 for a pound of high quality lunch meat and a pound of high quality cheese, but received a lower grade product. It does not make up for the fact that the Shopper just decided she could not fulfill my full order. The Shopper you hired and trusted to do this work did a terrible job, and I received terrible service. We are your ideal customer- dual income, too busy to shop, would be shopping with you weekly. But not anymore, and I will be sharing my experience online via Yelp, BBB, as well as with the ABQ Journal, NM Business Weekly, and certainly all of my family and friends. Fix this. Call me.

Instacart treat the shoppers like $#*! and do not care for their safety. They will take orders in very risky areas without any concern for the safety of the shopper. I once received an order for a budget suits in Dallas that was located on the side of a service road next to a strip club and liquor store. There were people hanging out watching mu every move. I couldn't help but to think if it was after dark how much more dangerous this situation would be. In addition to this they often overcharge the customer which gives the customer a bad experience and leads to them taking it out on the shopper. Customer often confront the shopper when they are unhappy with unapproved charges to their account. To make matters worse they force the shoppers to replace out of stock items with poor selections the customer do not want rather than refunding their money. The customer then gives the shopper a poor rating and will not tip them. They will force you to fill several orders at one time rather your vehicle is large enough to properly accommodate such large orders. I've had 3 orders assigned at once from Costco totally to over 56 items. They do not offer any compensation for the wear and tear of you car and if you get a ticket they tell you its you issue even though the accept orders in undelivered zones. Your only choice is to walk a long distance carrying a large order leaving your vehicle unattended. You pay changes and they do not pay you what they guaranteed. They will make changes to the app that will force you to shop at one particular location even though you may pass several location on the way to one store that does not guarantee if the item will be in stock. They have not order restriction for apartments on 3rd and 5th floors. Someone can order 30 bulk items from costco and will have to struggle to deliver under these circumstances while trying to avoid any injury to your body. Even after lugging all these bulk items up 5 or more flights of stairs they customer still does not tip because they have been charged additional fees and think that money comes to you rather than the company. I have had customers demand a physical receipt due to being charged a higher price that what actually rang up in the store. They will try to force an order through 2 hours ahead of schedule even when the customer explained they would not be home until that time. You get to the home and have to wait or take the items back to the store just to re-shop the same items later. Most definitely shady business that does not care about the shoppers or customers.

I was so excited when I started to use this service. I am a germaphobe and I am deathly afraid of going outside my apartment at this time of covid-19. What attracted me to the service was that Keyfood had a product I was looking for at the time I placed my order. My delivery date was originally 4/30, but I kept checking to see if an earlier date and time opened up. I managed to snag a 4/27 between 11 am to 1 pm delivery time, which was amazing because I place my order on 4/25. I added a bunch of items to make it over the $35 limit to use the service. Today, my "shopper" was super attentive during the shopping process. Several of the items I wanted were no longer available, including the item that made me first sign up to use the service. It went all to hell when it came to the delivery. The app and the "shopper" kept me abreast of the steps in checking out and then being on their way. The app included a map to show me when the shopper was relative to my house. Then, I get a message from the "shopper" that my delivery was left downstairs (NOTE: THE APP DEFAULTS TO YOU GIVING PERMISSION TO LEAVE ITEMS AT YOUR FRONT DOOR, which I would have never agreed to had it been prominently displayed when checking out.). My front door was checked within a minute of the notification and there were NO GROCERIES left at my address. Two surrounding buildings were checked because my building is part of a series of 3 buildings, and nothing was found. I called customer service first and got the same message about instacart no longer taking calls. I went online and started a chat from my account profile. I explained that my groceries were not delivered and I had no way of contacting the "shopper" because the number she called from was a generic phone number used by instacart. After chatting with the customer service rep, she claimed she got in contact with my "shopper" and the she said she delivered the items. Then I explained to the rep what my building looks like and where it is located in relation to the corner of my block in the hope that she could relay this information to the shopper so that she could say whether or not she delivered to the correct address. I was never dignified with a response to that. Then I explained that I live on the block in the same apartment I grew up in and when the online chat customer service rep indicated that maybe someone stole my groceries, that really pissed me off. My family is well known on my block and no one would steal from us. As a matter of fact, Instacart would walk the groceries to us, as long as our names appear on the package. The customer service rep told me my "shopper" would call to clarify the issue. I never got a call. Then the rep asked if it was okay to receive a credit for my total. I told her "No. I am never using this service again. There should be a way for "shoppers" and "customers" to confirm that the items are being delivered to the correct address." I said this because the map that I referenced earlier was only available as long as the items weren't marked as delivered. I told the customer service rep that I wanted a complete refund. After chatting with the rep for almost 45 MINUTES, she said that I should expect a full refund. I hope this is the case. I am never using them again and will tell everyone I know to NEVER USE THIS SERVICE.

Dozen attempts to cancel the 7 day trial on day 6 via in-app cancel process. Went to the instacartexpress tab where membership selections are managed. Find this somewhat odd itself, or just poor design decision, this isn't noted or accessible under My Account tab. Regardless, the instacart express tab lists current selection for membership and it does clearly and boldly state the end date for trial membership and indicates the billing date for current plan- (however, if viewing in standard orientation via android app it requires scrolling down on a page that at first glance isn't obvious that additional info is provided below the page load view)- and provides a place to cancel by click through to new form. After you indicate that you wish to cancel the follow up page offers a short drag down selection to select reason for cancel and text box if you wish to comment further. After you select a reason and confirm cancel it jumps back to previous page. Hopefully most users catch this flaw. I double back to main account page and again check instacart express tab to determine if, despite the glitch, it is actually changed to cancel status here. Nope. Thus begins an unending cycle. Delete and reload app. Same results- no confirmation just a loop. Frustrated I log in via web browser -more of the same and so I give up and call to cancel via phone. Status unchanged after call and Instacart would not oblige my request to email any written confirmation. Which I find very bizzare and increasingly concerned that these 'glitches' may be an intentionally deceptive programming labyrinth to prevent cancellation within the trial time span. Here was the final comment I provided in comment box of in-app cancellation form:
Why can i not get a cancellation confirmation by completing this form here OR by way of the phone call with customer service. I was told that she turned off the renewal and it would reset after I refreshed the app BUT after I requested some written (email) confirmation of the cancellation she had supposedly resolved, I was placed on hold (for the second time in this particular call) and the rep stated they could not provide me with an email to confirm. I asked what happens if the full annual charge is deducted from my account when I wake up tomorrow because this is day 6 of 7 day trial- and then there is no record to verify that I made beyond the standard effort to abide and cancel per the terms of services for trial period wihin in time frame. She politely suggested that "all calls are recorded" as an acceptable assurance. As if trusting a company to willingly allocate time and resources to digging up a recording in the case that I am billed and have no evidence of cancellation thus no viable proof should I need to dispute the charge with bank later, it speaks volumes that after (assuming reason for hold) speaking with supervisior the company refused to send an email note or form to confirm the phone (and app failure) confirmation. Yes, I was polite to the rep because it's not her fault the product has intended? Or unintended programming issues. Or her fault that the supervisor won't provide evidence assuring cancelation. Or that apparently shes unable to or has been instructed not to turn off membership from her access to my account. Unbelievable.
Bottom line, who does business like this and expects to retain any portion of grocery delivery market for very long when you have competitors like Shipt and Amazon, amongst others, who provide app's that don't perform like a first run beta test AND provide better pricing AND very responsive customer service.
Good luck Instacart investors and employee's - it's hard to imagine it thriving a year from now or even surviving.

Hello friends, I feel compelled to share my experience with InstaCart. As a busy professional, the idea of groceries delivered to my home, according to my schedule, is an appealing concept. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend the service at this time. Here's why:

First of all, during my approximately 8 experiences with them, the made mistakes or improper/unacceptable substitutions every single time. On paper, the company has numerous ways to prevent this from happening, but in my experience, Instacart didn't work. Theoretically, you can text directly with your shopper, request a phone call prior to checkout, have the option to approve or deny substitutions and even add items to the list in real time while the person is shopping. In reality, I would get a message from my shopper indicating that he or she had begun shopping. I'd get a message or two saying they had made a substitution and then finally each time they would finalize the order and checkout before I could I could approve or deny the change. I'm talking about a window of less than a minute to respond before they would close the order. The substitutions were sometimes OK but several times were not acceptable for various reasons. Also, several times the shopper simply got the wrong item. For example, I requested sage and seltzer water but got rosemary and tonic water, respectively. Frequently, I would select a specific item on the website/app but then the shopper would indicate the item was out of stock and another similar item would be substituted. Most recently, the shopper said fresh brocolli was out of stock. Really? Wegmans had zero brocolli? Hard to believe. But they did send me a 3lb bag or prepared brocolli crowns for double the price. Acceptable? Sort of.

Two out of the 8 deliveries were late. You can specify a 1 hour window between 9am-9pm. But on trip #1, my initial order, they were 15min late. No big deal. On order #7 they were 1.5 HOURS late. You read that correctly. I specified the 9-10am delivery window and the food came at 1130am. I could wait any longer at home so I left at 1115am and texted the driver to leave the bags by my side door, which she did neatly.

Customer service phone calls were both pleasant and frustrating. The reps were very polite and apologized profusely but had no real way to solve the problem. They would say, "Oh, that's not right, you should be able to have the shopper call you before she checks out" or "you should be able to communicate with your shopper in real time" etc. But unfortunately, the problems persisted. When items were missed or improperly substituted, they would apologize but would not deliver the proper item to me to solve the problem. Instead, each time I complained, they would offer me $5 off my next order plus they would refund the cost of the erroneous item(s). While that's reasonable, if any of those items were critical items, I'd have to then go to the store myself to get a single item. Clearly, this defeats the purpose of paying for a grocery delivery service. I found myself tensing up every time they were shopping, wondering what was going to be missed or wrong on this order. That's not helpful for me based on why I was using InstaCart.

Finally, there's the cost of the program. You can choose $12 a month for an annual plan or $15 on a month to month. I did the latter and I'm glad I did. (You can also do no plan and just pay a one time fee for a single delivery anytime you want). With both plans, you get "unlimited" deliveries during that time. HOWEVER, when I examined the bill, I noticed that InstaCart was not costing me only $15 a month. There were other charges PER ORDER such as $3.50 driver tip, $3.50 service charge (theoretically for software support costs), and a general markup on the cost of every item. Assuming I placed one order a week, I'd be spending over $10 per order more than if I went to the store myself. This adds up to over $40 a month IN ADDITION to the $15 a month I'm paying for the "service plan". So $55+ a month extra for unreliable service and possibly missed items?

I'm sorry InstaCart, that won't work for me.

I really wanted to LOVE InstaCart. I've been waiting for years for the home grocery delivery to come to my area, Buffalo, BY. I also believe that this has the potential to be the wave of the future. But not today. Not in Buffalo.

I think that one simple change would make it all better for me: if InstaCart would deliver missed items to my door with the next driver going to my area. I'm reasonable. Mistakes happen. But right now, the customer is the one on the hook when mistakes are made. And that isn't right. InstaCart should fix their own training and problem solving internally. And when they make mistakes (which was constantly) they should have fixed the problem by delivering the grocery item to my house, thereby completing the order for which I paid them.

If you are considering InstaCart, I recommend trying either the monthly plan for one month and see how it works for you in your area OR consider using the single use order option for special situations like when you're sick or traveling or arriving home late on a Sunday and need food for the week, etc.

Good luck and happy shopping! Please consider sharing this review with your friends and families so others can learn about my experience. Maybe I can save others some trouble.

Instacart is a bad company.

It is a crapshoot when you order using Instacart. In my experience, I estimate that one out of every 12-14 shoppers are enthusiastic and professional. The rest are rude, difficult, argumentative and have horrible attitudes from the get-go. Instacart are unprofessional, ghost you on text messages when you ask questions, substitute your preferred items even though you have checked the "no substitutions" box, make excuses for not getting items you order even though the items are available in the store, (I call to check), and more than once I have had shoppers walk away in the middle of the order, angering the store staff when carts of groceries have been abandoned in the store. As one of the good shoppers told me, "Some shoppers just quit on you."

When you call Instacart to complain or to try to seek a solution, the people are usually nice, although I have gotten some rude ones. However, they have absolutely no authority to do anything.

I used them to deliver groceries from my local Kroger. There are two Krogers in my area. One is old, small and often out of products, and the other is new, huge and rarely out of inventory. They are right down the street from each other, no more than a couple of miles. I think they ultimately intend on closing the small, old one, which is why they built a new one almost within walking distance.

In this situation, Instacart defaults on sending their shoppers to the old Kroger even though my profile specifically gives the address of the new Kroger and indicates it is my preferred home store. The Instacart people claim that no one in their company can change where the Instacart app sends the shoppers, because "the system" determines the store. Ask almost any question and you will be told about this all-knowing, all-powerful, autonomous "system" that makes all the decisions and cannot be changed or challenged.

Trying to explain to them that "the system" can do only what a human tells it to do, and that there are people within their company who have the authority to change "the system," is an exercise in futility. They respond as if I am speaking in a language from another planet. And speaking of language, the people with whom you communicate when you call Instacart speak English as a second (or third?) language, so there is always difficulty communicating. I'm not casting aspersions on people who speak English as a second language, only pointing out that communicating is difficult.

What is most frustrating, however, are the shoppers. Rude and unprofessional, they clearly do not approach being an Instacart shopper as a legitimate job. They think nothing of leaving your groceries in the cart and walking off the job. When I have talked to Kroger's staff about the Instacart nightmare, they have expressed their own troubles with the company.

Delivering groceries is a good idea, but Instacart is a bad, bad company. It probably is a process that looks good on paper, but the execution is a nightmare. Success depends on hiring good, responsible people as shoppers as opposed to hiring only people with a pulse, and giving your front-line Instacart customer service representatives at least some authority to effect change.

My advice - don't walk, RUN, from this company. Wait until another company comes in to compete and does it properly. Some young, healthy, aggressive entrepreneur should build a good company to challenge this very bad one.

I will never have my groceries delivered by Instacart ever again. I know they deliver in my area for Kroger and Publix, but I want nothing to do with this company.

I am beyond beyond disappointed in this company. By far on of the worst experiences I have had. It's started out great! No complaints and it was good extra money, between $400-$600 a week. However, everything went wrong about a week ago. I received a delivery only order. Now mind you, when Instacart changed the delivery fee to $1 I asked to be switched to a shopper only but didn't receive a response. Reason being. They have a bad habit of sending you wayyyy outside of your zone despite the fact the team lead in orientation said we would be delivering no more than 15mins from the store we shop at. That was a bold face lie! I was also told I would receive an hourly minimum of $10 hour to compensate for the time spent without an order, another lie! The hourly minimum is only for the first 20 orders. Back to the matter at hand. A week ago I received a delivery only order. I get to the store and half the order has to be redone because all of the frozen stuff had melted. The previous InstaCart member had spent over an hour and fortyfive minutes trying to deliver the order. I get all 11 bags to the customer only to see for myself that there was no parking and the customer was requesting that I park in a tow-away zone were tow trucks were sitting and waiting for unattended cars because according to the tow truck driver it had become a major problem so they were really enforcing the ticket and toe policy that clearly marked by dc government signs. So I call shopper happiness and explain all of this to them. Now I've dealt with them before so I am fully aware of the unprofessionalism. They are the worst group of reps I've ever dealt with and I have been in the customer service field for over 11 years with insurance billing which everyone knows can be terrible. Shopper Happiness is full of disrespectful, snobbish attitudes but I called them anyway because I really didn't have any other options just like the member before me. The first rep said "oh well" and hung up on me. The second rep told me to end my shift and take the reliability issue. The third rep (that was supposed to be a supervisor" told me to take the chance of my car getting towed (no they were not going to reimburse me) or end my shift and she would make sure I got a reliability issue. I told her I would deliver it but the customer would have to come down so I wouldn't have to leave my car. Her response "we offer door to door service, I'm sure that was explained to you in orientation". So I did the most logical thing, I ended my shift and provided a detailed explicit for my team lead. No less that 5 minutes later I received a call stating that my shift was going to be ended because I cursed at a shopper hapless rep. THAT NEVER HAPPENED! I never said one profain word to any of the reps I spoke to. I told him this and he told me he was going to disable my account, pull the calls and investigate further. Welp, that never happened! I sent him text, no response. Left him voicemails, no response. Send emails to shopper happiness, no response. I was finally able to obtain an email for "upper management" because of course they don't have a number to call. It took "upper management" two days to respond and once they did it was just a generic message that stated that my account was disabled due to a customer incident. What customer incident? I didn't have a completed order that day to have a customer incident and the customer in question was very understanding of the situation. According to the "city lead" my account was deactivated due to me using profanity. A prime example that the call wasn't pulled and my email weren't reviewed! I asked them to pull that calls again and three days later I get an email from the city leads "supervisor" stating my account would be deactivated today because I refused to do delivery only orders. Again that wasn't the case and that was yet another LIE! So when hoodrats and hoodlums deliver your orders you have every right to complain and please do. They are finding every way possible to replace the loyal manner with newer, younger members. Wayyyyy to many new people and they are not being monitored. They are kicking the good people out and cutting their order. Just order somewhere else, trust me! They over charge customers on everything anyway and they allow us to use coupons but charge you more than the regular price just an FYI! They'll be gone soon!

Instacart is one of the absolute worst companies there is right now. Instacart take penny pinching up charging and cutting corners to a whole new level solely to line the ceos and higher ups pockets. They explicitly tell the shoppers to never under any circumstances give the customer the physical copy of the receipt because they over charge what the actual shelf price is on every item. They pocket all of that mark up in addition to any other fees they may charge you. Also, they have a deliberately misleading optional "service fee" which was specifically worded and made to look like it's the tip. (The service fee does NOT go to any shopper or driver, it goes 100% to the company and is OPTIONAL) You really have to understand how totally on purpose that was too. They saw how much money the drivers/shoppers were making in tips and thought that not only do they want to rip you off by over charging, but now they want the money that is supposed to be going to the shoppers/drivers as well. They changed the way the app looks and added in the "service fee" last November. Before that the drivers were tipped on about 95% of all orders, now they often go an entire week without a single tip because the company is pocketing that money under the guise of the "service fee" Which again, does NOT go to the driver/shopper... aside from all of that, it's standard practice for the shoppers to have to sit on hold for upwards of 45 minutes - 2 hours just to get a hold of someone should there be any issues with your order. (And five to seven days to respond to an email)They cut corners so badly that there's probably less than a dozen phone reps available in customer service for the entire country and they're incredibly unhelpful the majority of the time. They make it virtually impossible for their shoppers to get in touch with them or to help them if there's any problems with the order. They also provide little (at best) to absolutely ZERO (at worst) training to their shoppers before hiring. They actually refer new hires to an UN OFFICIAL face book group for instacart shoppers in order to learn the most basic of tasks involved for working for them.

There's ALOT more I could say about other ways this company is absolutely rotten to its workers (who most of them really want to do a good job for the customer) as well as how bad they are to the customers... but those are the main points that people should know about... I should also point out that many problems involving the timing/late orders and many other problems etc. are typically not the drivers or shoppers fault, (sometimes it is) but in most cases it's due to penny pinching and corner cutting and an utter indifference to your needs by the management, who will often assign drivers multiple orders at one time that are going to all corners of the city. All in order to avoid paying the driver a 5 dollar long distance gas bonus. Which they have to pay the driver for if a single order is more than 15 miles away from the store. However, if they lump three four or even five orders into one delivery run, then they don't have to pay the long distance bonus. They frequently use that loop hole to weasel out of having to pay the 5 dollars to the driver, And in the process, making it nearly impossible to deliver the order on time.

Read the notes in my file. You'll get up to date, if your employees made accurate notes about all the calls I've made to you, Instacart, my bank, and credit card company customer service. Recap I had $200 set aside for my family Thanksgiving. I ordered delivery of groceries from Kroger. I'm a senior citizen and disabled which I can't drive. Next I get a text from Instacart they're running 2 hours behind. I chatted with the shopper via of text on substitutions. It went silent for about 45 minutes when I get an email, not text, driver needs gate code. I replied via of text and email 154. I get another email "Meet shopper outside. He can't find you."
I go downstairs and the gate was propped open, people were moving, and didn't see anyone in my small half circle driveway entrance/exit in front of my complex. I text and emailed, "The gate has been open since 8:30pm, my delivery was so delayed it was around 10:15pm. I asked the guys moving how long Instacart had the gate open. Your driver's Was at the wrong property." Next I get an email my order was cancelled! That was our thanksgiving groceries. I sent 8 emails to customer service with Instacart to bring my order. You put a pending charge of $169.07 on my credit card that wouldn't drop off for 7-10 days. I called the bank, cc company, you, Instacart starting at 4am day before thanksgiving. I only had available $30 left of credit to buy thanksgiving on my card since $169.07 had been deducted for my delivery the night before. A Kroger supervisor, heartless, said the best he would do is give me a $50 credit.
I was furious for so much deception. The only way I could use the $50 was to get delivery! Forcing me to use you and Kroger again when you already had my $169.07. I didn't see the credit of $50 on my account so I called Kroger and was told to type in "I have a $50 credit" on a product instructions for substitutions. I couldn't spend over $30 because I had to put my cc down again and your rep said you wouldn't make any charges. After checkout the $50 would be applied. This is what happen. You took the amount of groceries from my cc leaving me with no money to buy thanksgiving and to top it off, you had the audacity to charge me a delivery fee plus driver tip. Subtracted from that "$50 credit". You didn't give me $50. It worked out to be around $35. Once again you also put a pending charge on my cc leaving $3 available credit. You stole my family's thanksgiving.
I'm sending this to you on thanksgiving since the only thing I had ingredients to make was a cake and bread in our bread machine. I hope you enjoyed your thanksgiving knowing you stole my family's thanksgiving. We're new to Dallas so we don't have anyone to even help us out. I will be posting this on every social network, Kroger's and Instacart website reviews, App Store, and sending this scam to channel 4.5 and 8. It is so hard on me when I have 3 sons home from college and can't give them thanksgiving. I feel so stressed out, anxiety, depressed, like a horrible single parent. This is because, even though both companies knew my money had been blocked for pending, we had no groceries, and we would not have any food for thanksgiving, YOU DID NOTHING! You should feel embarrassed and ashamed of kicking me to the street.
I want my money released immediately, something to make up for my family not having thanksgiving except for a cake and loaf of bread, and some type of reprimand to every heartless, horrible customer service employee, like Mary, that I pleaded plus begged to help me, the day before thanksgiving, to just bring me my groceries. I hope my testimony goes viral on the web and others will share it with all their threads. It is so unbelievably I can't believe this happen. How does your company pay your bills? What type of consumers use your service? I posted this on FB and a lot of the comments even added your a horrible company to be employee. You treat your drivers that do the shopping like bottom drawer individuals. What's ironic is it actually you that is bottom drawer.
I'm on a fixed income with 3 sons in college, which still did not help escalate this to any authority to solve this problem. I expect a reply that will rectify all the wrong you did to me for thanksgiving.
You should be put out of business. Here's a problem solver a child could get right: why didn't you go get my groceries, since you still had $169.07 pending for you to use, and bring them to me? I don't believe you even had a person shopping for me the night before. Knowing your customer service is the worst, you had already admitted you were running hours behind, I don't believe you even attempted my delivery. The whole "you shopping" was made up. It sure was not because a gate was closed, or your driver didn't have a GPS. Another possibility, having gotten so many comments on Facebook, your driver could have just quit their job to burn you since you treat them so bad. You are such a "wrong", "worse", "joke" of a company the possibility's are endless of who despises and has a payback towards you. I wonder how many of your bills are in the third and last notice status to keep your lights on. Regardless there's something not right because no one can succeed treating other people like what you did to my family, and me, on thanksgiving.
May you file for bankruptcy!

With very few grocery delivery options in my city of nearly 100,000 people (hard to believe in this day and age, but true), I was glad to see Instacart come to my city. I was in a jam, as sometimes people are when Instacart need this service. Everything "seemed" okay at first. When you order from any online grocery service, you do know that you will be paying more than you do in the store for your convenience. However, what Instacart has done, at least in my area, is totally unacceptable to consumers.

My shopper, who did the best job that she could, was new. She told me that she had not even done five deliveries for the site so far. That being the case, she probably did not know that she should not have given me the store receipt. Also, when I placed the order, it was not clear whether I could leave a tip for the driver or not. I had to pay out of pocket for the tip, and I paid the driver 25 percent. She appeared to be in poor health, and I tried to do what was right. What she paid was $33 dollars less than what I was ultimately charged by Instacart. I did not realize this until I reviewed my bank statement and saw a HUGE discrepancy.

I called their customer service and to their credit, at least it is someone either stateside or a remarkable ability not to show their accent. The representative said that he would review my order, and he quoted the price that was charged to me. I told him that I had the receipt from the store and that there was a $33 dollar difference. The representative then told me that while it was "confusing", there are markups from what the store charges when you shop in person than when you order online. That do I realize, but I want to share the following with you:

SOME OF THE ITEMS ARE MARKED UP MORE THAN 100 PERCENT. I was "charged" 4.99 for a 1.99 item in the store. I was charged 6.79 for a 2.49 item in the store. Some were less, like 1.99 for a 1.49 item. And I paid $11.99 for a $6.49 item. But anything more than 50 percent is completely unacceptable.

When the representative went over my bill, he explained some more "charges" and explained that they put in a de facto 5 percent tip on the order. That was never explained. So, between the de facto tip and the tip I gave out of pocket, my driver got 30 percent of the bill, which is still quite high. Again, the representative tried to say it was "confusing", but I told him that it is quite clear--they are running a ripoff.

THE BOTTOM LINE IS THAT BETWEEN DELIVERY CHARGES, TIPS, AND MARKUPS, I PAID MORE THAN 100 PERCENT OF THE COST OF THE ORDER IN THE STORE. That is COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE. I realize that this, and any business, is there to make a profit. But consumers having to pay 100 percent more of the cost of their actual bill is not only ridiculous, I can't imagine this as being an ethical business practice. My money is valuable as is anyone else's is. We are driving their business. They need US to stay in business, not the other way around.

I told the representative that I would not be shopping with them again. He admitted that there was a discrepancy but would not even make an offer to refund half of it. That was my bottom line. The minute I called in, he was very defensive. I not only got a raw deal, I got even worse customer service. Unfortunately, it does not look like I am alone in my experience with the company. If they want to survive as a valid business, they are going to have to do something to turn around their lousy practices, and quickly. I will NEVER use this "service" again. I will use a service that benefits me, not one that will completely steal money from consumers.

It's true that Instacart charges more, often a lot more, for items than the grocery stores do, but I was WILLING to accept the costs in exchange for the convenience. That premium, however, should also mean that if SOMETHING IS WRONG, that the customer should have the confidence to know that Instacart will make it right. Instacart DON'T, THEY WON'T, AND THEY REALLY DON'T CARE. You mean NOTHING to them. NOTHING.

I recently purchased two one pound containers of crab meat from Wegman's using Instacart. I was heading out on a week long vacation and didn't have time to do the shopping, so I was glad to have a service like Instacart to help me out. I was heading to a very rural area without cell service and wifi, and my parents had asked me if I'd bring some crab meat since they can't get it where they live.

After arriving, I unpacked the crab meat from the cooler and noticed that the expiration date on the bottom was APRIL 2019, and it was already late October of 2019, so the meat was SIX MONTHS EXPIRED! Each tub, at Instacart prices was $30, so we're talking $60 worth of expired crab meat. Clearly, the Instacart shopper didn't check the date, and by the time I did, I was 500 miles from home with no way to remedy the situation.

Upon returning home 9 days later, I went to the store to make a return. I was told that since it was Instacart, I'd have to contact them and do the return through them. I immediately contacted Instacart and explained the situation. THEY REFUSED TO REFUND THE COST OF THE EXPIRED PRODUCT BECAUSE, "IT HAD BEEN MORE THAN SEVEN DAYS SINCE IT WAS PURCHASED."

So, it didn't matter that their shopper delivered expired product to me. It didn't matter that the product was SIX MONTHS past its expiration date. It didn't matter that I was unable to attend to the matter while I was away. It didn't matter that I was a loyal customer that got grocery deliveries every week. It didn't matter that my elderly parents could have gotten seriously ill from the expired product their shopper delivered. NONE OF THAT MATTERED AT ALL.

So beware. If you need a grocery delivery service, then honestly, I'd look at a different source. Instacart is not worth the risk if they are unwilling to consider legitimate customer complaints.

I don't have a car by choice. So, I'm dependent on Instacart for deliveries from grocery stores and WalMart. These shoppers are the worse. I give detailed instructions of what I want and if the store doesn't have it then refund my money. When I say DON'T REPLACE, I mean don't replace it. I've had several of these shoppers literally text me back that their tip amount is going down because store is not stocked. Not my problem! Chat with the store manager. I still have to keep an eye on them because Instacart will do it anyway. When a shopper starts my order. I text them and say "if you shop for ME and not "the store" your tip will go up. They don't get this either! I start the tip amount@ 5% so they know they are getting something. I'm guessing they seem to want to do a BAD job and get 5% vs. doing a good job and getting 10% to 15%. Makes no sense to me.
I just moved into a gated complex. Oh my God thee people can't even find the Office where the keypad is for getting in. Last night (11.11.2020) the woman Olga calls me from her car to ask where my apartment is. She didn't even bother to try to find the Office. I told her to stay where she was and I would find her. NO! She starts driving around the complex. It took me 15 minutes of walking from one end of my complex to the other plus being on the phone with a Instacart Rep who is trying to convey instructions from me to Olga. She's tells him she's in a corner. Well the building has 4 corners.
The woman who went to WalMart for me Vivianna, is so worried about her tip rather than doing a good job, she substituted food without changing it on the order so I didn't know she did that. I now have cat food that my cats won't eat and I have to throw it out. I asked for a 6oz can of tuna, well I paid for a 6oz can of tuna and got a 3oz. And when she leaves she throws in the comment "God Bless" yeah well screw me!
Then there was the lady who went to Sprouts. Not only did I get my order (not to my specifications) I got someone else's order. I got a 3lb bag of frozen kale & berries, 2 1lb bags of frozen blueberries, 2 cans of pumpkin and 10 peanut power bars. I threw it all out. She at least found the Office but calls me and asks how to get in. Again instructions are very, very clear on what to do.
To say something nice about Instacart. EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE I GET SOMEONE WITH A BRAIN.

Below is the response we received from Instacart about returning some avocados we received extremely green and dented, which we needed to wait about 10 days for to soften enough to cut into, but found Instacart were extremely stringy, hard, spotted and simply inedible avocados from Costco.
"Hello...,
Thank you for reaching out to Instacart Community Support. I do apologize for the inconvenience that this matter has caused you.
After reviewing your order we're showing that it was completed over a week ago. We are unable to make changes to payments for orders one week after they have been charged.
For future orders, you can rate your order after it has been delivered directly from your account. When you rate your order, you will be prompted to provide feedback on any issues you had with your items or on your entire order. To rate your order from your account go to Your Orders and click View Order Detail.
Thank you for being the best part of our community! If you feel that the issue is not resolved to your satisfaction or if there's anything else that we can help you with, please feel free to let us know by hitting reply to this email and we will be more than glad to assist you further. To know more about our services and policies, please visit our Customer Help Center.
Sincerely,
Ezekiel C.
Instacart Community Support"

Even the worst stores give 2-4 weeks return policy, but considering this and high markup of the items, which we calculated at about 40% above Costco in store prices, plus the $5.99 "delivery fee" and $8 "service fee" and separate "gratuity", this Instacart is the worst business operation we have dealt with.

We hope all others will understand there are no returns on defective items with Instacart. The picture of one of the avocados was after 11 days after delivery, and will not ripen normal.
On the initial day of delivery, we failed to receive some ordered items, and instead of refunding us the same day we complained about missing items, Instacart insisted we only be given a future credit. We had to make an additional request with supporting emphasize why we want a refund to our original CC payment and not a future "Instacart credit".
Stay away from Instacart, unless you like being ripped off, mistreated, cheated, and wasting more time writing online reviews than it takes to buy from somewhere else or drive to the store yourself.

Instacart founder is Apoorva Mehta. Below is a copy and paste of a few of his Instacart indictments in only the last 2 years, which is all being bankrolled by too many "too big to fail" financial bail out firms to count.

In March 2017, Instacart agreed to pay a $4.6 million class action settlement stemming from the misclassification of its shopper employees as independent contractors. The suit alleged 18 violations, including improper tip pooling and failure to reimburse workers for business expenses.[27]
Instacart has also faced intense criticism from its workers and tech media for removing the option of its customers to tip their shopper in November 2016. Backlash against the policy forced the company to reinstate the tipping option only weeks later.[28]
In November 2017, a large number of Instacart workers participated in a strike against the company, alleging wages as low as $1 an hour. Instacart claimed that the strike had no impact on its operations.[29]
In February 2018, Instacart mistakenly withheld tips given from it's customers to shoppers, and blamed a "bug." Customers who also waived the service fee were often still charged.[30]
In April 2018, Instacart instituted a controversial non-waiveable 5% service fee on all orders.[31]

I have been using Instacart for around a year now and after months of frustrations, I have finally decided to be done with this service - let me tell you why your money will be better spent elsewhere:

(1) Items are consistently overpriced
For some reason, you can expect to pay 15% to 30% more than in-store prices for each item -- and that's before all the little fees come into play; an order that would cost $100 in store will probably cost closer to $160 when it is charged to your account

(2) Online inventory is almost always inaccurate
Even before the pandemic, it has been rare to actually get the items you pick out online; many items Instacart says are available will actually be out of stock, meaning your order will come back emptier than you planned, and many items Instacart say are out of stock will actually be plenty in store (meaning you could have gotten more of what you needed); I understand this has to do with the store's reporting, too, but given the computer age we live in, the number of discrepancies is absurd

(3) Poor ethics around how they treat workers
Everything I have heard and researched about their policies towards workers is concerning to me; it seems like they are doing the least possible to make sure workers are compensated properly, consistently, and safe - definitely look in the ethics of their business and make sure to tip your shopper adequately, if you do place an order!

(4) Shady charging/fee practices
Whenever you place an order, Instacart adds some amount (usually between $10 to $40, in my experience) as a buffer in case any item pricing changes - totally reasonable. However, it is not always clear how much will get charged to your account and - more importantly - they will place a hold on your money even if an order wasn't actually placed.
Just last week, I tried to place an order (around $120 in item costs) and had a $175 charge appear on my bank statement though *no order was actually placed*; I didn't receive any items and there was no record that I had been charged, except through my bank. Fortunately, I had enough to cover the charge, but I can imagine many situations where this would cause an overdraft. It took 6 days for this amount to be refunded to my account.

(5) Customer service is terrible, basically nonexistent
Every time I have tried to contact customer service (except last week), I have just given up instead, because it is such a frustrating process. While the rest of their website is gorgeous and well put together, the customer service parts seem like they were built in the early 90s - completely laughable.
The easiest way to get in touch seems to be through the barely functional chat box, though it still took me close to 2 hours last week to get an answer about why my account had been charged without an order. The first time I got connected to an agent on the chat, they took so long between responses that the chat timed out and I had to restart the process. I would never have imagined it would take 2 hours to have someone tell me 'Yeah, we don't know if there is an order or when the charge will be removed - probably around a week'. It's like their system is built to be frustrating, to keep people from reaching out or asking questions.

In general, it just seems like Instacart does not care about us as customers or as workers/shoppers - they only care about getting your coins and once they have them, everything else is up in the air. Avoid this service unless you don't care how, when, or *if* you get the groceries you paid for.

Quick home delivery of online grocery orders from local supermarkets and other related shops. Well... Great concept, but totally inept and very poor execution!

I tried Instacart today for first time, for grocery deliveries from each of two supermarkets, and it was TERRIBLE!

I live in a rural area, on a winding country road in a forested valley/canyon and both drivers got HOPELESSLY LOST (and one order was late), because the Instacart smartphone navigation system was totally incorrect regarding where it showed the location of my house. I wasted one hour standing in the cold outside, flagging drivers, and also guiding them by phone when Instacart called to beg for help.

Instacart, please give your drivers nav systems that are accurate. My experience today with both of your drivers was a nightmare! You wasted an hour of my time.

There are also flaws with the catalog pages of products offered by supermarkets on the Instacart website, as most listings for grocery and produce items bear no photo at all, or worse, bear only a stock photo from a stock photo house, and the product descriptions (i. E., for cat litter, for fresh tomatoes, for organic fresh tomatoes( are terribly cryptic, sparse and lacking.

Worse, the ordering catalog pages also offer no feedback as to whether the product is in stock or out of stock. In my case, for my grocery orders from two supermarkets, it turned out that 40% of the items that I ordered were out of stock, and for one item, a box of high-end organic dark chocolate bars, the supermarket staff advised the shopper/driver that the product had been discontinued 18 months ago, a fact which the manufacturer of the product later confirmed to me! REALLY? Instacart, you really cannot do better than that?

Instacart also offered me free delivery on my first order as a first-time customer, and then after I placed the order, they went ahead and charged me $11 for delivery anyway; no free delivery! Amazing arrogance!

Instacart also needs to start employing, as drivers, only professional drivers who have been trained as professional drivers. Both of my delivery drivers today were totally inept and inexperienced urban/city young women who had no training in how to find addresses outside of cities, nor in how to figure out when your nav system is giving you totally incorrect information, and to realize that it might be time to trust the directions given by the customer, and to also read street addresses on the house that they are driving past.

One of my two drivers today was so badly misled by her Instacart-supplied nav system that she passed my house by 1.4 miles, and turned down an incredibly tiny, narrow and bumpy country dirt road, in an area here in the Appalachian mountains that is heavily infested with rattlesnakes and Eastern black bears, as well as home to hostile rednecks and moonshiners whose first reaction is to kill outsiders who wander down their dirt roads. She coulda gotten herself killed, all thanks to her Instacart nav system!

The sole positive thing about my experience today with Instacart was that both shoppers/drivers exercised great care and common sense in carrying out their supermarket shopping duties. But neither was a professionally-trained driver, and they allowed their nav systems, and ineptitude, to get them totally lost!

So I have made previous instacart purchases in the past and the only complaint I had was that the food would arrive later than agreed. However last Thursday I ordered groceries and it took longer than expected to be delivered. I left out for work and my husband called and told me the groceries still weren't there now this is about 4 hours after I ordered so I checked online and Instacart said they were in route. Then I got a text message your groceries were delivered. I told my husband and he replied there are no groceries on the porch. I go online to follow up and there was a picture of the groceries on a porch but that was not my porch( picture #1). So I called to complain, they apologized and said they could deliver the groceries the following day because that store was closing. I asked them to refund my money because I needed to buy milk for the night for my babies. 5-7 business days for the money to be refunded... oh ok... so my husband had to go out and grab milk. The next day a lady knocks on my door and apologized for delivering my groceries to the wrong address. She said she was new to the area and was truly sorry. Now today I order, even though I haven't received the money for the last purchase. I ordered a little over $90 in groceries. I left a message to give the groceries to the home owner do not leave them on the porch. The doorbell rings, I open the door to groceries on the porch and it's 2 bags of groceries that are not mine( picture #2). I had to yell for the driver to stop. I say hey these are not mine, I ordered more than this. He yells back call the company that's all they said you ordered. I call and now I'm upset and yelling. She places me on hold and says they a delivering your order now. The same guy comes to my door and shows me that the orders were marked wrong. We exchange bags. This should be the end of the story but it's not! Inside of one of my bags there was a little bag with enfamil in it. I know that this must have belonged to the other person because she had purchased pampers. Needless to say they gave me a $5 credit. I will not be using it ever. The fact that you gave me someone else's groceries, what if we had the covid virus, now to take those groceries from my house and deliver them to someone else not cool. They need a better system.

It is such a long story that I will just attach a couple of the email correspondence regarding Instacart. That should be able to give you all a good idea of how inept and outrageous this company is. BEAR IN MIND THAT THIS EMAIL IS NOW THE 10TH, YES THE 10TH ONE TRYING TO GET A REFUND FOR ITEM I DID NOT APPROVE FOR REPLACEMENT AS THY WERE TOTALLY INAPPROPRIATE.My message to them followed by the 9th response from Instacart...
"sarah crawford
Fri 2021-05-07 9:28 PM
The shopper takes photos of all the items so why on earth do I need to do anything more to receive a refund? You can clearly see what was purchased and what was ordered. I have gone back and forth with Instacart over and over, and I am sincerely upset. It is not about the money - it is about the ownership of making errors and righting them. I also have a saved voicemail from you people telling me Instacart will NOT replace items unless I authorize them to do so! What is it that Instacart does not get? Either refund the replaced items or I am done. My time is worth a lot more than what this has cost me. To be perfectly honest...

This is not personal. I understand you are just trying to do your job but something is wrong with your training. It is not your fault but rather that of Instacart's management. No customer should ever have to go back and forth a dozen times in order to get something righted when you have chat logs and pics already as well as the detailed order list and the items shipped. Please forward this to management. I am done. You can refund me or I can just walk away and use other services.
From: Instacart Support <*******@instacart.com>
Sent: May 8,2021 8:31 AM
To: Sarah Crawford
Subject: [Instacart Care] Re: A Message from Instacart

Groceries delivered in as little as 1 hour
Hi Sarah,

Thank you for following up with us regarding this matter.

For future issues reported please ensure a photo is sent along with the report as we'll need for our records. At this time since no photo can be provided, we'll be unable to process the requested resolution.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Best,
Keerthi
Instacart Care

Have other questions? Visit the Instacart Help Center, where you can find resources and information 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
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[PMOPX5-E9VD]t stores and Uber offer... It matters not to me."

This is absolutely the worst service I have ever used with the worst customer service I have ever encountered. I placed a $975 grocery order with Publix which said it would be delivered within five hours. I spent approximately two hours placing the order and then another seven hours going back-and-forth with someone who was texting me about items that were out of stock and substitution options avail which I appreciate the fact that Instacart were notifying me of what items were out of stock however it would've been much faster for me to go to the store myself. I literally Wasted my entire first day of vacation with my 12 best friends dealing with this order. Then the items were delivered to our vacation rental without any type of notification two hours later than they were supposed to be delivered and left on the hot porch in the 96° Florida sun and most of the items went bad on top of the fact that the meat they delivered us was either already expired or about to expire that day or the next day. They delivered chicken that was green and corn that was rotten etc. Many items were left off of our order Including steaks, they sent the wrong solo cups, they omitted sugar for my order and substituted ground chicken for ground turkey without asking and sent us two jars of spaghetti sauce instead of the four that we had ordered and so many other things. I contacted them immediately and their solution was to deliver the missing items to us the next day by 10 AM. If I needed the items the next day I would've placed an order for that day. This ruined our plans for cooking dinner for the evening. Then the next day the order that was supposed to be delivered at 10 AM got changed to 11 AM and then I got a text message that they couldn't deliver it until after 1 PM and I wasn't going to sit at the house all day waiting for this order on my vacation. I spent over 30 minutes on the phone with customer service. They said that they only have one delivery person available in the area and that the only option was for them to come after 1 PM or for them to give me a partial credit on my account. I asked them to refund my account for the missing items and after much arguing and rudeness from the customer service agent they said they would but they never did and it has been 9 days. I asked to speak to a manager and they refused. They charged me a $44 service fee and $44 tip for a total of $88 and they refuse to refund that amount even though I had to spend two hours placing the order, seven hours back-and-forth texting regarding substitutions, an hour or so at least on the phone the next day dealing with this and then I had to spend two hours driving to the store in traffic and returning the rotten meat and then replace the items that were omitted or exchanging the wrong ones that were received. I could have saved myself a lot of time and money and gone to the store myself in the first place. Lesson learned. I will never ever use this service again! It was my first experience and it was a terrible one. This company is a complete waste of time and money. Do not deal with them.