Instacart

I am handicap I depend on instacart and it honestly is more work for me to compile my order to babysit my shop or to chat with my shop or to be sure that Instacart get me the right items and dont refund it because they dont feel like looking for it and if youre lucky your order will arrive at your door however I had the most bizarre experience this evening after two hours of shopping my Insta cart with my shopper while placing the order assisting the person by chatting I get a message saying rate my own alleging my order had been delivered when it had not been I called Instacart the guy I spoke with said he didnt know what to say he couldnt explain what had happened the grocery shopper abandoned my cart meanwhile Ive been charge for groceries that say theyve been delivered and then I get a notification saying my order is now being placed for tomorrow night 9 to 10 PM meanwhile I have laundry in my washer I need softener my husband has no cream for his coffee in the morning morning are usually pack him snacks because hes diabetic I do not have those now and all theyre willing to do is credit me the order youre going to refund my money for groceries I did not get course youre going to do that but that does not resolve what I went through how much time it took me this evening and the fact that every store is now closed if I wanted to get my groceries I would have to take an Uber to Walmart which is not safe at this hour and it would cost me additionally for now the Uber and to use the little electric cart to get around the store because I do not walk not to mention its not safe so I said to them I have spent thousand dollars this month in Instacart I expect that you could credit me $100 for the inconvenience she said the most I can do is $10 I spent $1000 in groceries through Instacart in June and you cant give me a 10% gift $10 is not acceptable for my time it took this evening to make my grocery list place my order and babysit your shopper and stress me out when my order didnt arrive but it said it did the time is spent calling Instacart and dealing with this whole situation was a total of three hours and you wanna say Ill refund your order that never arrived and give you $10 that is so disrespectful that is not appreciative they obviously could care less about customers everybody stay away go to Shipt

Twice during the covid 19 crisis instacart has ripped me off. And conveniently has no way to be contacted by phone, no way to leave a message via email and does not ever contact me back when requested. The first order I had deliveries from BJs and Shoprite. Most of the items were there although some were missing or substituted without me approving it. But the Shoprite order had 46 dollars worth of chicken breast on it- I ONLY received $25 dollars worth of chicken breast. I was charged for all of it. I filled out the online form TWICE because there is no phone service and asked to be contacted and refunded. There is no way to leave a detailed message. After the second time I noticed I was refunded $8.25 for a $21 overcharge. No one has ever contacted me from insta cart.

Now my second order from BJs and Shoprite. BJ's order arrives, the shopper was asking if it is the right house. I should have asked if my chicken breast is there before she left. There are numerous items missing, like half to 1/3 of the order and NO CHICKEN BREAST at all. I ordered 10 lbs to make cat food and for my family. I can't tell from the site yet if I was charged or not for it and the other missing items, about $250-300 of items ordered. The order is not even appearing on the instacart site so there is no way to make a complaint at all even in the limited facet Instacart have which is pretty useless.

I wish there was a better alternative. I have not been able to get a delivery anywhere else including wholefoods amazon, totally useless. Stop and shop peapod, never any deliveries and shoprite shop at home. When I signed up for shoprite at home it says they don't deliver to my house although the idiot at the store told me they do, but offered no help. She transferred me to the manager line at my request- NO ANSWER. So I hung up.

I tried calling the cellphone number the shopper called on at first when she arrived and was confused about the house number- I got shoprite where some idiot proceeds to tell me they have nothing to do with instacart. 2nd call I get the instacart message which says as usual there is currently NO phone service. I have covid and pneumonia, thanks for ripping me off. TERRIBLE! IT IS A FRAUD. I AM STUCK WITH IT FOR NOW BECAUSE IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO GET A DELIVERY ELSEWHERE. I CAN'T WAIT TO LEAVE THIS AWFUL COUNTRY BEHIND AND GO BACK TO CANADA. ASSUMING I SURVIVE COVID.

IF I FIND OUT I HAVE BEEN CHARGED THE FULL AMOUNT FOR EVERYTHING INCLUDING ITEMS NOT RECEIVED I WILL STOP PAYMENT ON MY CREDIT CARD. MAYBE THAT WILL GET A RESPONSE FROM INSTA CART WHO APPARENTLY THINKS THEY CAN GET AWAY WITH FRAUD DURING THIS CRISIS. I ALSO SIGNED UP FOR FREE DELIVERY BUT I AM NOT GETTING IT ON THE BJS ORDERS.

First let me start it off like this I am a shopper for instacart with a five star rating. I am very careful to follow all requests from the customer and as professional as possible however I can't say the same for some fellow carters. First things first when we go to the store we handle everything so how I start my day is I wait in my lot for an order to take. Once I pick the order you have to drive to that store it could be 30 min away Instacart don't count that time or distance. When we get to the store about 90% of my orders there is some sort of problem with. They either don't have that item in stock or no longer carry it or they switched packaging so even tho it is the same item and brand it won't go through because it's new packaging. The toilet paper and rolls right now are incredibly hard to find the one the customer order especially if they are picky and want NO SUBSTITUTES. You gotta understand when we get there usually they don't have everything u want it's not our fault it's the store and instacart for not updating there items and inventory timely. I can't tell u how many times I've spent going in stores looking for an item they do not even carry. Shoppers deal with alot and if you think instacart pays us well they do not. They only pay us per trip for gas and wear and tear if even that. We rely on tips and too often the tip is very low like 2 dollars so by the end of the hour I worked I did one order and made like 5 to 7 dollars for an hour. I am not trying to be ungrateful as I still will deliver the orders the same as I would with a big tip. I just wish customers realized we only get paid with tips generally. The platform is very confusing for the shopper when something goes wrong and literally over 90% of my orders go wrong. The item is out of stock or that brand or the item is discontinued or a different size and the customer writes please do not contact for substitutes makes it that much harder to please the customer. Please keep contact with your shopper and communicate you have to understand when we go to the store it's not waiting for us usually very rarely is there just a delivery order it's usually full service. So we have to drive to the store find all the items pack them all up deliver them and bring them to your house nothing is handled for us. So when I go there and they don't have what u want I have to contact you and if you say please do not contact me for subs which it says alot idk if it's generic message or not but then we have to cancel that item when instead I could contact you to find something suitable for you. We are human and different so it's hard to please someone else with absolutely no communication. Items are out of stock frequently or not the same as they show the shopper. Not to mention the biggest thing we are timed every order is timed and not just order but every single item is timed and on our screen we have an average time per item that does affect our star rating and it does affect the quality and amount of orders we receive and since insta prioritizes the time aspect so hard we are under slot of pressure at all times from the moment we push accept to the time we push finish order. So while we are looking for an out of stock item or a item that no longer exists we are getting timed and stressed out especially when we can't even get in contact with the customer to try and remedy the situation. Also the more time we spend on an order the more orders slip away from us and the less money we make in a day. That's why I think alot of shoppers suck because they don't do good under pressure like some of us do. I focus on quality before anything else even if my time is affected but others don't. On average instacart pays us 7 dollars an order and 90% of the time I have to drive about 20 min to the store 10 to 20 min to the customer house and also however long it takes to shop for the order. It's stressful at times and time consuming but I love to help others but please understand we live off tips and when they are low it can make it even more stressful than needed. Also this happens so much that when I get to a customer's house they look at me crazy like who the heck are you and tell me I didn't order anything only for me to contact customer support and they call the customer and they did place an order or it was the wrong address or someone placed an order as a gift and didn't inform the recipient. This job is way more stressful than necessary and when I do door dash which is like half the work because all u do is pick up the order and take it to customer people generally tip alot more than when I do instacart and again have to do the entire thing from start to finish a typical tip for that is 2 dollars and that can make a shopper feel unappreciated or underappreciated especially when things start to get stressful such as missing items / different items in stock but the customer does not want to be contacted. I have not done this and never will but I understand why some of my fellow carters switch to a different platform or are more picky about orders. Just to be 100% honest as a top 5 star carter I get to pick orders first and I usually skip ones with anything under a 5 dollar tip just because the time and effort spent on the order versus the money and appreciation. Some customers are very rude and do not tip at all even sometimes. I have yet to have a customer add an additional tip after the fact. And the other thing is rn it is a pandemic and that doesn't seem to affect anything and actually before all of this people actually seemed to be more generous with tips. Hopefully this has cleared se confusion as to why u have cancelled or subbed items ESPECIALLY FOR TOILET PAPER/ NAPKINS/ PAPER TOWELS ETC... if you don't believe your shopper feel free to check the store because I'm not lying when I say about 90% of my orders are stressful and something goes wrong the other 10% of orders are miracles and very nice and easy but still low pay from instacart. Were not paid more because the order is bigger let's say u have 20 cases of water insta throws an extra 3 dollars for a heavy load that's it. For example tho I had two orders offers for 9 dollars a piece each involved 7 from insta and 2 dollars tip one was for 2 items and one was for 16 way bigger items same place same pay but less work for one of those so I chose the 2 item order. Please be kind to your shopper they deal with alot for unfair wages but it's the only job available for some of us at the moment and we are struggling hence why we work for insta to begin with. Thank you all stay safe and be careful.

I had the worst online grocery shopping experience of my life with Instacart. In May, 2020 I ordered groceries worth $180 from Burlington MA based Wegman's store that has ties with Instacart for grocery deliveries. I ordered the groceries from Wegmans.com. Instacart did not deliver the groceries. I called Wegmans Instacart didn't take any ownership of the issue and redirected me to Instacart. I spent 1 hour in call with Instacart, then Instacart finally agreed to refund my money to my credit card in 5-10 business days depending on how long my bank took to process the refund.

They never refunded my $180 to my credit card.

In December I had some free time during Christmas break. On 12/26/2020, I called Instacart to find out where is my refund, the person first asked me, were you sleeping all this time why didn't you call us sooner. I explained I have a full time job and family to cook and clean for. Don't have time to breath some days. I told the helpdesk guy, shouldn't he be asking " Why Instacart employees are not doing their job to deliver groceries and to process people's refunds?"
Then spent 1.5 hour with him and he said he will submit a ticket to have refund processed and gave me ticket number 75316523. He said the refund will be processed in 5-10 business days based on how long my bank took.

Helpdesk guy continued to say he was sorry for the pain caused to me and in good faith he will give me $100 credit in my Wegman's account as a compensation. I did see the credit come through and reflect in my Wegman's account.

Today it is 1/9/2021 and I still have not received my $180 credit back on my credit card. I called Instacart and spoke to 2 ladies who took 2 hours of my time to go over the May 2020 to Jan 2021 history and then again submitted another ticket to a supervisor to get back to me ticket #77152910.

The goodwill $100 credit they posted to my Wegman's account, I am not able to use it at Wegmans. Wegmans is saying we didn't give you the credit so don't call us on how to use the $100 credit. Instacart is saying since it is not our site we are not able to help. Effectively the goodwill /good faith credit is worthless to me. I spent 6+ hours on calls with Wegmans helpdesk and Instacart helpdesk and they keep pointing fingers at each other saying it is other party's problem. No one wants to take ownership to solve the customer's problem.

I am really frustrated. I work hard day and night and weekends to earn a living. $180 is my 2 weeks worth of grocery. Instacart is stealing my $180 and there is nothing I can do but keep calling and getting more frustrated and waste another few hours of my life.

I have lost faith in Instacart employees. Now on I am asking them to email me the ticket to give me proof that they actually raised my issue to someone in Instacart. I have 2 email proofs so far. If anyone is interested to look at those emails I can send the emails. I was not able to attach to this post.

Issues going on within Instacart that need a serious look:

1) They are hiring drivers who are incompetent and delivering groceries to some other addresses. Doesn't seem like drivers are required to keep the proof of where they dropped off the groceries so someone can verify if it was actually delivered.

2) Incompetent heldesk
I) There is no process and workflow to make sure a ticket raised by customer has been completely resolved. No one worked on my first ticket from May until i called in December. When I called in Jan, no one has still worked on my ticket from December. My tickets from May, Dec and Jan are open as of now
Ii) First level help desk people are clueless. Do not understand english well. Make you repeat the same things over and over until you feel you could puke now if you had to say the same thing one more time. Any time you call the helpdesk, the calls go on for 1 to 2 hours. The call from May lasted 1 hour, Dec went on for 1.5 hours, 1/9/2021 went on for 2 hours. Still no resolution.

3) The helpdesk is saying I am very sorry for the trouble caused to you and here's $100 credit for the pain caused to you but he is actually giving me fake credit that i can't use at Wegman.com.

4) They are not willing to refund the money in any other way but give it back on the credit card used in the transaction. They say the refund will take 5-10 days to process depending on my bank's policies, but they never process the refund. IF customer forgot to follow up with Instacart, Instacart wins and gets to keep the customers money without delivering any groceries

5) Their business model seems like lets wear down the customer until customer decides it is not worth their time to follow up with Instacart and keep the money without delivering the groceries

Compared to all this Amazon has been the best online shopping experience of my life. All glory to Amazon!

I've ordered from Instacart about 100 times + and at first it seemed to take the new company a bit too get a routine down w/ALL the diff employees. HOWEVER, I'm ALWAYS communicated w/if there's ANY refund/replacement w/ANY items I ordered & all the replacements are what I would have EXACTLY wanted or bought myself. Really as long as U simply STATE in the notes for the shoppers, U SHOULDN'T end up w/any unwanted items brands. I mean really, imigane just HOW FRUSTRATING this HAS to be to try as HARD as U can too pray each & EVERY store, these poor shoppers have to go to let alone deal w/on a DAILY BASIS! Not to mention these particular "Stores" also don't EVER SPECIFY online while ordering to their good customers, that EACH & every individual location of stores carry diff brands/items they're not ALL THE SAME,... I continuously thank my shoppers if they're professional & staying in touch with me about any item occurances, if any that they're going out & physically going out on their OWN GAS & wear & tear of their own vehicles not too mention while NOT getting reimbursed for barely half there time/gas. We really gotta try to put ourselves in their own shoes too people! If it takes over an hour, let's think does it ALWAYS take U JUST under an hour to shop for urself?! Nottt me, rately Not too mention, these workers are timed, they've NO control what's so EVER IF/WHEN if any of their customers order items will even be carried@ the store they're sent to rather also just plain old the store NOT carrying certain items or just being out of stock. I've seen it myself, sum of U customers WON'T even leave them a tip regardLESS!? It certainly isn't anyone's fault but these certain stores if they're out of stock, think about it, shoppers have NO SAY nothing TO DO W/STORES ONHAND STOCK OF FOOD!?
Also, I had quite a few long talks w/ quite a few of my FAVORITE shoppers & Instacart LUV their jobs but I'm really wondering how tha heck they live off of there tiny paychecks that usually have hardly ANY, IF AT ALL ANY TIPS to go w/their shopping orders & delivery's! I just wonder how some people really have ANY real common sense anymore these days, IF UR needing/using a businesses services ESPECIALLY if a delivery: including grocery shopping for sum of these PICKY, NEVER SATISFIED customers It's ONLY MORALLY ETHICAL U LEAVE the poor hard workers a TIP! I MEAN COME ON,... I guess I can see IF it's ONLY an item or2 but still, U DIDN'T have2 do anything for it but pay, & those of U who do NO tipping, SHAME ON U! IF U ever have tried to survive on tips mainly, U know just how CHEAP & downright RUDE ppl are & can be. I know I've! :( :( Lost alot of respect ESPECIALLY hate to say it, & I'm ABSOLUTELY NOT A RACIST OR anything LIKE THAT BUT THE BLACKS/ OLDER SENIORS, I've SEEN TOO many young kids too but I believe it's honestly because they just don't have the $?,... However, w/that said go do whatever URSELF, OR COOK URSELF. WHATEVER THE CASE MAYBE, U CAN'T AFFORD TO TIP THEN U DON'T HAVE ANYYY business ORDERING OUT & getting a delivery service to ur house, COME ON!
I just see those of U "Pissed" off customers, just a thought have U EVER thought about what they're & do go thru on a daily basis to serve us & try & make certain customer's of us that are NEVER satisfied, SATISFIED!? Lol RIGHT,...
Poor shoppers, I have had SUCH GREAT, PROFESSIONAL, reliable, CARING shoppers I couldn't be more SATISFIED!:)
I JUST HAD TO VENT A LIL because I KNO FIRST HAND WHAT IT'S LIKE & I personally give them a TON of credit. So PLEASE B4 U go BADMOUTHING these hard working bust there butts just to be on time & trying with ALL their might to get ur frustratingly ridiculous orders exactly right to a tee w/out GOD FOR BID having to bother U & being on time too! Please for the love of god, take into account how frustrating it is on a daily basis U going & trying ur absolute hardest & best yo do it all by urself & the overwhelming NEVER ENDING problems we encounter ourselves, like having to try to deal w/ certain employees@ these grocery stores too,... Ughhh
Then again, maaaybe sum of U should try our self to make sure & get EVERY SINGLE ITEM EXACTLY brand/size etc,... U need! Well actually some STRANGER U know nothing about, having to pray these stores have everything their customers are wanting/needing along w/ all of it being in stock while being timed & trying to get thru a lane@ checkout FAST NOT to mention bagged specifically right to someone else's specifications. Then dealing w/ putting it all away in hot/cold bags & delivering BEFORE the cutoff time?! Haaaa NOT ME, takes hours for me half the time & I don't really have to big of orders, can U imagine?!
The final & last thing I couldn't even want to begin to try is delivering to an APPT. Building where customer leaves NO GATE CODE, BUILDING #, not to mention when the shopper calls U, omg then the dang smart customer WON'T EVEN ANSWER THE CALL! I'VE seen certain things sum of U would NEVER BELIEVE. The besy one yet, sum of U ppl claim U NEVER recieve even HALF of ur order, when the shoppets had to individually scan each & EVERY ITEM SPECIFICALLY U ORDERED OR THEY get past checkout w/the right total to put on the companys card or it DOESNT GO THRU!
I've also seen a lot of U say on the app one of Ur items was a "POOR REPLACEMENT", first off did U happen2 get any calls texts from Ur shopper & U DIDNT ANSWER BACK? LOL THAT wpuld be UR PWN FAULT, certain stores IF U PPL EVER SHOP URSELF ONLY OFFER 1_2 DIFF BRANDS IF CERTAIN ITEMS IFF we're LUCKY! EVER THINK IT WAS THE ONLY REPLACEMENT AVAILABLE MAYBE, PROB NOT!? I hear soo many try sooo hard & customer's leave em hanging & of course then complain afterwards! The GULL, MAYBE try adding some suggestions for replacements, U CAN DO THAT, usually inevitable THEN U WOYLD CERTAINLY GET WHAT U SPECIFICALLY WANTED! Unfortunately w/grocery stores,...
I've heard the HORROR stories from these poor shoppers & Sum of U should REALLY be ASHAMED of urselves! Really,... Maybe just maybe try to take someone else's list go to a store they pick, while being timed like CRAZYYY & then U offer NO NOTES WHATSOEVER, so U likely refund them. But then, of course never fails a lot don't answer back there shoppers till they're done shopping, cuz they can't wait all day for a reply from the customer again, they're timed & still need to HOPEFULLY get to deliver the order to a house & god for bid NOT appt again- w/NO directions/#'s & they're the ones who have the TERRIBLE miserable lives themselves to try & be mad of a poor replacement or sum crap like that! Or just ALL together LIE out their teeth that half or more of the order wasn't delivered or missing, & oooh ya U would PROBABLY say they were late too inevitably,...
All I've to say is common sense ISN'T a flower in which grows in everybody's garden! Lol But really, at least TIP THESE POOR shoppers ppl, my goodness! Would U order something online have someone else do ALL UR dirty work, on TOP of delivering ON TIME or showing up early cuz U literally were RUNNING for this random person's ordet & THEN at the end of course end up w/ NO TIP AFTER U CARRIED ALLLLLLL THEIR GROCERIES INSIDE & PUT THEM WHEREEVER the customer preffered & weird wanted them also not to mention double bagging ALL BAGS so ALL ur hot/cold food stayed that way! I'm getting tired just writing this review & TRYING to explain what these POOR, HARD, HONEST, CARING WORKERS KEEP going thru!? Help ppl! WE ARE THE ONLY ONES WHO CAN HELP THEM IF, & ONLY IF they're ACTUALLY ONE OR TWO OF THE GREATEST WORKERS THE COMPANY HAS ON UR SIDE OF TOWN?! LET'S TRY & SHOW OUR APPRECIATION, LET'S QUIT BEING SO STINGY & DOWNRIGHT NASTY TO OTHER HUMAN BEINGS, LIFE CAN BE HARD WORK/our jobs shouldn't HAVE TO MAKE OUR LIVES WORSE along w.the nasty thoughtless customers that usually add to it. But now we can't JUST 4GET ABPUT THOSE FEW & FAR BETWEEN CUSTOMERS PF US OUY HERE WHO W/OUT THESE SHOPPER'S SERVICES & HARD WORK certain customers would be in old folks retirement homes, or just plain couldn't manage to get their groceries on their own & these great wonderful shoppers are the reason they get too still remain in the comfort of there own homes! JUST A THOUGHT try & wear someone else's shoes out for size first & THEN MaKE OUR CONCLUSIONS, I MEAN REALLY I WOULD HATE TO HAVE TO GO OUT IN 100 DEGREE PLUS heat to grocery shop, honestly I couldn't be MORE THANKFUL,... Maybe some of us need to really THINK about our own blessings/thanks & then think about Karma too, of course! Lol: D
Thanks Instacart, ur Tempe shoppers are absolutely TERRIFIC & PROFESSIONAL & VERY COURTEOUS! I WOULD HATE TO LOOSE UR SERVICES, I WOULD BE UNRUEFULLY LOST & SUPER SAD!
A VERY THANKFUL & HAPPY LIFETIME CUSTOMER!: D
ZIRA;)
SORRY GUYS BUT SUM OF U NEEDED TO HEAR THIS! THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST SHOPPER SERVICES I COULD'VE EVER WISHED FOR, & Y'ALL NEED TO BE THANKFUL FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES WHO ARE ALWAYS GOING ABOVE & BEYIND & BENDING OVER BACKWARDS,... HUH HMMNN INSTACART! :)

I have finally had it with Instacart. I live in a small town, apparently with few shoppers.

First time, about 2.5 years ago, I had outpatient surgery and couldn't get out. So I thought I would try Instacart. Local store had a great price on New York Steak, so as part of my order, I ordered 6. Only one got delivered, and the driver took off like a bat out of hell. Instacart made good on it, but I was left with the impression that the shopper was a thief. I was given a refund for the missing items, and an additional credit of $10 plus free delivery on my next order.

So I tried again several months later, got an excellent shopper who contacted me while shopping when an item was no longer available, and she informed me of a 'bulk pack' price very close to what was on sale. I think I had a couple more okay experiences, though one shopper took over an hour to deliver some frozen items, clearly having shopped for multiple people at the same time as I could track him once he left the store, and the frozen items were melted. Again, Instacart refunded but some of my purchase was ruined, and the whole point of using a service is so you don't need to go out. I had to go out and replace the needed items myself.

Next time, that same shopper again was working some scam- The store had a buy one, get one free turkey sale, and even though the price showed up on instacart's website, I was billed for both of them, and I think the shopper maybe took home the two free turkeys that two purchases would have given. Could not prove it- but same shopper as the one who shopped for multiple customers, who also had a woman driver when he was clearly listed as the shopper, was somehow involved in me being billed an extra $15 or so.

After that, I waited over a year before another purchase through instacart, and once again, a great shopper.

Then, this last time, it was the same shopper as the previous two bad experiences- clearly a male with the same name. I ordered and was billed for a ~10 lb roast- $80, but when the WOMAN arrived, and then left vey quickly, I checked the order, and the price take on the roast I got was less than half what I was billed for-$24, and just over 3 lbs instead of about 10. This was for a family dinner with guests. I know without a doubt what happened. The shopper bought my 10 lb roast on my billing, and then separately bought a smaller roast maybe with cash, and then substituted the small roast for the large one. Maybe she kept it, or maybe she later returned the $80 roast. Either way, it was not the shopper I was told was buying my groceries, and I was out about 7 lbs of roast, and had to end up making the trip myself. This time, instacart made good on the price difference, but only said that Instacart would no longer allow that shopper to purchase my groceries.

So they don't mind keeping someone who committed fraud by having a different person, possibly a criminal shop for him, and they didn't mind that the person he used to do shopping for him was stealing from customers, possibly at his direction. After all, I had two previous issues with the same shopper. So even though he would no longer be shopping for me, apparently instacart was still going to use him as a shopper for others. That tells me how much they were concerned about customers.

Out of maybe 8 total purchases, I had serious problems 4 times.

Instacart

I just posted a review of their service on their page and Instacart promptly deleted it.

My review detailed how we've had many negative issues with their employees in the past of stating that the groceries we ordered were out of stock or did not exist. Tonight was the final straw for me... after the umpteenth time that we had this issue, I finally decided to handle it myself. About 20 minutes after we had our groceries delivered, I went to the store to verify that the items the employee said were missing/out of stock were indeed not there. As expected, I found ALL of the items that were claimed to be gone (and it wasn't just one or two items that they said were out of stock, but an entire list). A couple of examples- employee said that the toilet paper we ordered was out of stock- there was literally an ENTIRE PALLET of the toilet paper there... not in some obscure place, but right there... on the toilet paper aisle, with all of the other bathroom tissue. Another example- the employee said that the store had a sale with their strawberries at 99 cents and they were cleaned out and completely out of them. When I arrived, not only did the employee lie about the price on the strawberries, but I found TWO ENTIRE DISPLAYS of them. The first one was obviously picked over some (but there were plenty of strawberry packs still available for sure), but the second one was COMPLETELY FULL. Again... not in some obscure location, but right there in the produce section... with all of the other produce.

I called the customer support line to express my grievances at *******822. I normally don't write negative reviews because I get it... that sometimes things happen or perhaps they hired the wrong employee. But when we've had so many issues all with the same problems, it is clearly not just an employee issue- it is a company issue... from the way the company is organized, how they train their employees, or how they manage those employees. Blaming the worker only works for so long... but after so many negative experiences, this is definitely a company problem. And the fact that they removed my review immediately, tells me that this company is in fact entirely trash and lacks integrity and transparency.

See attached pictures of the items that we were told were completely out of stock and how obvious it was for me to find them:

I received a parking ticket because Instacart sent me into a undeliverable Zone Downtown San Francisco on Kearny Street. There was nowhere to park nor did I have any money or see any parking garages that were in a close radius for this undeliverable delivery from BevMo. As I was coming out of the building there was a meter maid writing me a ticket for $109 and a tow truck getting ready to attach to my car. Luckily I had my 12 year old son with me and he ran down to the car and stop them from Towing my car as I was on the elevator completing my delivery for instacart customer with a very large order to a business from BevMo extremely heavy order. Instacart sends us into undeliverable zones at undeliverable times and expects us to park in the yellow zone Red Zone and will not compensate us for any tickets we may get or any toes. Now let me tell you my purse my ID driver's license money credit cards car garage door opener and keys to my home was all in the car just imagine if they would have taken my car I would have been stranded and probably have a mental breakdown. I went down to the headquarters in San Francisco this situation happened two days ago from this post July 27th I believe 2017. I went down to 50 Beale St. Entered into the Blue Shield medical building to be greeted by a security guard I informed her that I was there to speak to someone about this parking ticket and I spoke to that happiness people on the phone and I told them I was coming there she called upstairs to instacart and they told her do not let me upstairs without giving a name of a supervisor. I told her I don't have a name of a supervisor you mean to tell me I work for a company and I cannot even get to the office to meet with someone to resolve this issue? She said I'm only doing my job ma'am I am not the one who wrote the rules. I said well let me call that happy number back and see if I can get in touch with someone by the time I called back there was an automated voice recording and it said that they were not accepting any more calls but urgent calls and it automatically hangs up on you and I let her hear it. I told her I will just email them because that's what the happiness person told me to do anyways. Instacart treats us workers inhumane and there are no s nickel or moral codes with this company. They are the biggest Crooks and they pay us less than minimum wage we only make $5 $6 $4.75 and $7.80 on Monday for deliveries mind you they may give you five deliveries and they will be all over San Francisco by time you finish running all over San Francisco you have spent that money in gas alone needless to say we don't even get tips when you have to walk up 3 flights of steps or just the mere fact that someone is bringing you your groceries your Petco animal runs and doing shopping for you at Target and bringing you cases of water the least you could do is tip us. But instacart took away the mandatory tip last year. They are the real corporate Thugs and gangsters and I cannot believe that they get away with treating people this way. I am a disabled single mother and unfortunately I have to be an independent contractor for this company and a few others. But this is the only independent contractor Co company that does not allow us to come into the office when we need assistance or help. Uber has an office Postmates has an office doordash has an office why can't instacart have an office for us to come in to resolve these type of issues. According to our Shoppers app it says that some cities do not reimburse for traffic tickets one would believe that San Francisco being the city that it is and them sending us into unsafe delivering environments which can lead to us losing our cars by them being towed and receiving hundred-dollar plus tickets that they are not willing to reimburse should be an eye-opener of the level of greed that this company holds as its value system. It is by far the worst place to work but what can disabled single mothers and fathers do when you need to make the money to pay the rent and you're running short on funds in San Francisco trying to maintain working four or five jobs. Instacart is Relentless they have a ruthless mob mentality and they treat us like dirt please please customers tip us delivers we don't make any money they don't even pay as minimum wage it is modern-day slavery Point Blank. THE END

A $217 grocery order costs me over $27.00 to get delivered by Instacart, after all their fees. This includes a $10 tip to the driver/shopper, but I think less than10 is unreasonable to leave them. I would probably leave them more if their employer wasn't reaching so deep into my pockets. Instacart charge you extra if you have bottled water etc in your order. They call it a "heavy order fee". I could see if they asked you to leave your shopper an extra tip for a heavy order, or charged you extra and gave more to the driver on their end, but they clearly just pocket it. Can you explain to me why a "heavy order" affects Instacart's business model, so that they have to charge more? It doesn't. It's not even possible. It's pure greed. Only the shopper is affected by a "heavy order", not Instagreed. Just like the fact that they have a service fee as well as a delivery fee, and both are percentages based on your order total: pure greed. They also do sneaky things on their app to try and dupe customers out of even more money (there is a pattern here: greed). They make it take extra clicks to change the delivery tip, and if you choose a new tip but don't hit the "save" button at the wayyyy bottom (most people probably won't even see that button), then it doesn't actually change the tip amount on the order and you may not even notice. Also after you place an order they say "choose $6 (or however much) of more product to be eligible for free shipping on your order". Then they give you a list of other items to pick. But what they don't tell you is that it has to be $6 of very specific promotional items, and most of the items on the list that they give you are NOT the special promotional items. So if you're not paying attention (or a poor older person that doesn't understand technology), you could be ordering a bunch of extra things that aren't even getting you close to free shipping. By the way, the promotional items are garbage things that have zero nutritional value. Companies are clearly struggling to sell them, so they have no problem working with shady companies like Instacart to literally trick people into buying their "food". Aside from the shady tricks on the app, the immensely overcharged fees, and the completely made-up fees on top of fees, I've never had bad service, and I've been grateful for delivered groceries during the pandemic. But that's exactly what Instacart has taken advantage of. Instead of just chilling out with their greed, and keeping prices reasonable, which would have probably made a lifetime customer out of me, I am now going to without question stop using Instacart as soon as covid is out of the picture. They have a counter that shows how much time you've saved by using their app. What they should do is divide it by how much extra you've paid by using their app. That would give you a sense of how much an hour or two of your life is worth. And I guarantee that would open your eyes to never using their service again.

At first it seemed like a great idea. Especially if you are going through any physical or health hardships like I was. But it is highway robbery. Not worth it in the long run. I was able to avoid grocery shopping for a year without a major blow to my budget by piece-mealing amazon prime now and clicklist through Kroger. I'm no longer in an area serviced by prime now OR clicklist delivery. Just instacart. As it is prices are marked up, as to be expected. But Between the service fee AND delivery fee, you may already be paying about 15-20% of your order. Then Instacart take out a small tip, which the drivers expect for you to increase to 15-20%. After all that, you should expect to be paying around 25% of your order in service charges and tip. I paid $30 once for a $120 order that was just enough bags for one trip feom the car. I heard from one of the shoppers once that they were only getting paid $4 for an order I placed for $100 for which Instacart was already charging me $8 in fees. They have the nerve to charge $150 for a yearly subscription. I dont pay that for amazon. And they definitely are NOT amazon. I noticed there is a pricepoint at which it becomes totally unreasonable and uneconomical to use them. Never use them if shopping for less than $30 in food or more than about $45-50. Thats my rough formula. They changed the interface often without notifying customers in the beginning. Where you go one week to tip will not be the same the next week. Your preferences will revert and rollback without cause ( your preferred bank card will change or you will not always get a text or call from shopper if there is a substitute if you indicate you want one). The app, unlike clicklist, does not keep up with what's truly in stock in the store because they aren't real grocery store affiliates I guess? So you could be selecting things that they never have. And their substitution selections they suggest to their shoppers aren't actual substitutions by any other shopping apps standards. They will sub you a different product under the same brand rather than same product different brand. And the shoppers tell me that's what the app suggested. Like for real? And you can forget about a price match for a different brand like clicklist does. They will give you a $10 5oz bottle of olive oil when you shopped for a $10 18 oz bottle as a 'substitute'. Who wants to pay that? The only way to cancel the substitution is to catch them while they're shopping, which they do at the speed of light, because there is a lot of pressure for shoppers to be fast I hear. Besides, if you had time or bandwidth to babysit the shoppers you'd probably just do the shopping yourself. Just skip it and shop yourself. This is workforce slavery and rape to any customers pockets for sub-par service. They are doing Kroger now. Save yourself the hassle and just go through clicklist ( And no, I do not work for them.)

Just a warning, this review is long. But if you're able to hang in there, you'll see what an absolute joke this company is. If not, just know I will never use instacart again or recommend it to anyone.

I had been dealing with issues with instacart for almost two weeks. My father used my account for a purchase, then decided later on to create his own account. After his first order, instacart flagged his purchase, canceled it, and deactivated his account. We called to confirm that it wasn't fraud and ask why this happened. Instacart's reasoning changed every time I spoke to them. At first Instacart said it was because his first order was too large and they thought it was fraud. We tried to confirm that it was us, but they would not allow us to reactivate his account over the phone. Instead they asked him to send a copy of his drivers license and credit card over email, which is absolutely ridiculous. I can confirm my identity through companies like Bank of America over the phone, so why I can't confirm over the phone for a simple grocery delivery?

Instacart also deleted my father's credit card from my own separate account since the card was "flagged", which wouldn't have been an issue if they would have allowed me to add a new payment method, but they didn't. Every time I tried to enter a credit card, I received an error code. I called them again and they said it was just an issue with their system and to try again in 15-30 min. When I called again, they said I was probably using the wrong web browser. When I confirmed that I had tried several web browsers, different credit cards, and THEIR OWN APP, they finally said they would escalate the issue into a "case" and that someone would contact me in 24-48 hours. 48 hours later, no one had contacted me. I call again, explain the issues with both my father's account being deactivated, my account not allowing me to add a payment info, and no one following up with me for 48 hours. The customer service agent told me someone at instacart closed our case without speaking to us which is why no one contacted us. She also said we DID NOT have to send our drivers license and credit card over email, and guaranteed that she herself would get back to me in 24 hours. She never did.

I call back two days later and request to speak to a manager because now the new customer service agent claims they have no information on the issues that I've been calling about for days. The customer service agent tried multiple times to get me to end the call and agree to another callback but I refused, because no one had ever called me back before and I did not trust that they would follow through. I sat on hold for an hour when a manager finally got on the line. He said that sometimes these issues take at least a week to be fixed, even though they had originally said 24-48 hours. He said the problems in both accounts will be dealt with by the following week.

A week later, I receive an email that MY account is now deactivated (dad's is still deactivated too, no change there). Once again I call customer service and they claim they don't have any information for me at this time, so I ask again to speak to a manager. When the manager gets on the line, I have to reexplain what happened and that now my account is deactivated, as well as my father's. He first says that this is because the bank hasn't verified our info yet and that it's not their fault. When I question him more about it, he then says it's because we haven't emailed our drivers licenses and credit cards and that they can't confirm our identities without them. Again, I tell him we do not want to send sensitive information like that over email and that an instacart employee told us we did not have to do so. He claims that employee is greatly mistaken and that our accounts won't be reactivated until this happens. I ask why my account was even deactivated in the first place and the manger claims it's because it is related to my father's account. Please note my account and my father's account are completely separate (different acct number, different address, different names). The only similarity between the accounts was the credit card my father used when he used my account to try out instacart (He's 60 and not tech savvy). At this point I am beyond frustrated with instacart's stories constantly changing and them not being able to provide any accurate information. I told the manager there is no reason that my account should be deactivated just because it had the same credit card stored, and that it does not say anywhere on their website that using the same credit card for more than one account is not allowed or recommended. Plus I could not change what credit card was saved anyway since instacart would not allow me to add a different payment method.

The manager refused to listen or address my previous issues with their customer service team. He just kept stating that our accounts would not be activated until we submitted our DL and CC info over email and that we were the ones causing instacart to take so long in resolving the problem. He said he didn't get why it was so difficult for me to understand what he was requesting and that it was just plain "common sense". I told him he was being very rude and unprofessional. He laughed, denied being rude, and just kept repeating that it was just common sense. I asked to speak to whoever was above him and he said he was as high as you can go. At that moment I told him to delete both my account info and my father's, and that we would no longer be instacart customers or recommend instacart to anyone.

In his own words, leaving instacart was just "common sense". Beware of this company. Use at your own risk.

For most of 2020, instacart was pretty good. I would order regularly - usually delivery, occasionally store pick up. If you invested in making sure you had your "substitutions" right in the cart (a bad thing Instacart only let you specific substitutions after you have ordered and make it a bit hard to find where you do that) - and you picked subs you could live with or just set an item to "no substitutions" and live without it if the store didn't have it and (B) if you were on the chat available when your shopper shopped your order for the 15 mins it took - things went ok. Pretty well actually. You did need to say "green/light yellow bananas" at the item level or lighter green avocados if you wanted them to not be rotten in 2-3 days. But if you did that, it worked well. But about 8-9 months ago everything changed. The app would promote things you regularly order, offer even suggestion by 2 and save 50cents or something or highlight regular items that were on sale. Then you order them because you NEED them for meals for the next few days - and once you have ordered (and PAID) they are LOW or OUT OF STOCK? Why promote it, even suggest two, if the inventory is low? So sleazy, bait and switch. Tell the truth. Be my in store electronic inventory eyes. They used to be. Not now. Now its push what I want, even if they don't have it, collect the $, and then substitute something I don't want or force me to go to the store myself to get it. If i am there i see its on the shelf or not. Instacart used to be electronic eyes for me and honest with the buyer. Not any more. Bait and switch. Also, the app used to tell you when your order was being shopped honestly. If you ordered for say a 2 hour delivery window 4 or 5 hours from now you'd get a message on the app saying "Jane will be shopping soon" (sometimes they would shop and put your cold stuff in the fridge or freezer) or if not shopped after the order, they'd let you know shopping later or text when the shopper started so you could see what was shopped, what was outstanding and text the shopper if there was an issue. I would always text the shopper saying high and thank you (and I would have already set the tip for $ 10) and i am here if they need to text with a question. So if the shopping was later, i would get a text the shopper had started. Helpful so you can say hi and be available for those 15 mins for any issues if possible. Now right after you order, even if delivery is 3 hours away - they say "shopping shortly" in big marketing LOUD CAPS in the APP even if shortly is 90 minutes later. Annoying. And if you write customer service they say "well your order is for 8p and its only 530p" - and you say "that's not the point, don't tell me shopping shortly if its not shortly. I don't want to text the shopper if she/he hasn't even left their apartment to go to the store. And i don't want to keep the app up if i don't need to for another hour or two. That's costing me time - easier to go shopping. Just have the app say it will be later and we'll text you. Why make stuff up? I had 2 bad experiences 5 months ago. Stopped using it and did pick up with Publix app to pre-order and have them shop (that worked well actually) and do in store pick up - or had WF delivery. Today tried Instacart after 5 months. To see if my prior 2 experiences after dozens of good ones was an aberration - or if they fired the new marketing or user experience executive who had mucked things up. Nope. Same thing. Bad. Promoted milk, roasted chicken, ice cream sandwiches i often buy/order. Offered buying 2 for chicken and milk. (I did buy 2 milks). As soon as I pay, confirm order, the shopping cart says LOW on those 3 things. Might need to substitute. Why promote them then? Then it said shopping shortly at 530pm. Nope - not even close by 90 minutes. So i cancelled the order (had to get on the website to do that) and had them close my account. Sad - they started out so well but now just sleazy. And in writing this seeing all this bad stuff about item charges, overcharges, double taxing. Ugh. Another one bites the dust.

Let's start by the fact that, of all the shopping options where you can have InstaCart shop for you, their website only offers 6 places where you can input a specific store's loyalty / points card number in your account. Why is this a problem? (Note, the following example applies SPECIFICALLY to online companies in which InstaCart does not allow you to input their loyalty card information on the InstaCart site)

Let's say, for example, you shop at Kroger. If you shop through InstaCart's site, with no place to enter your Kroger Plus card number, you immediately lose out on every digital coupon, credit, and "with card" savings that you would normally receive. This alone can make a huge difference in your overall shopping total... BEFORE InstaCart's inflated prices.

Continuing with the above example, shopping through the delivery option on Kroger.com, you will receive all of the above listed benefits. Your coupons will be applied, your savings will be granted, and you'll get all of your fuel and Fan Rewards points as appropriate. When you go to check out, Kroger.com will prompt you that, if your Kroger and Instacart accounts share the same email, Instacart will link the two... only this "link" never happens. After you pay your $9.95 fee and they pass the order to InstaCart, the order NEVER APPEARS in your InstaCart orders, and InstaCart does not email you a receipt like they're supposed to do.

The InstaCart shopper takes the order, your KrogerPlus number, and your information through OnlinePay, and proceeds to shop your order. When they deliver it to you, more often than not, the driver will refuse to give you the printed receipt, often citing nonsensical reasons like "we're trained not to give it to you", or "I could get fired if I give you your receipt"... The receipt is the property of the customer, as much as every item in the grocery order itself. When that receipt is printed, it contains the last 4 digits of your Kroger Plus card number, as well as the last 4 digits of your credit or debit card information... personal information, effectively stolen by the driver "following the instructions" given to them by InstaCart.

Continuing on, there are specific reasons for paper receipts. Many stores will not grant refunds or exchanges without the original printed receipt. People utilize their receipts for expense accounts and cashback/reward applications in order to get money back on what they buy. These require original printed receipts to submit, and by not granting the receipt, not only is InstaCart stealing a piece of the customer's property, they now are quite literally preventing the customer from claiming back the amounts they are entitled to through the specifications of the program that they cannot submit to.

2 forms of theft.

Additionally, I have been told by several drivers that InstaCart threatens that drivers who rightfully present printed receipts to customers may be fired. That is the ultimate form of unethical, and even illegal, behavior, as they are forcing their drivers to be complicit in 2 forms of theft, under penalty of job loss.

If you're shopping for delivery online and the business says they use InstaCart, I recommend wherever possible that you find another source to shop from. Failure of InstaCart and their drivers to protect the information contained on your receipt, inflated prices, and the inability to recover any of your expense through business expense filings or customer reward apps... financial rape isn't worth the hassle.

If you're looking for a job, I don't recommend working for this company any more than I would shopping through them. Having your job threatened if you're not complicit in their theft and fraud, or having angry customers willing to revoke your tips (which various reports indicate shoppers aren't getting appropriately anyway) because you complied with their theft and fraud... it's just not worth the headache.

We tried this service on 3 separate occasions.
First time - we had a deliver time of 1pm. I was updated to a later time 3 x & still arrived after 6pm (causing us to cancel plans). Charged my card 5-6 times for the same amount. My order was approx. $180 which cost me almost $1k. Took few days to fix but it was several days before Xmas so I was pretty upset.

2nd time - order was rescheduled via text at least 2 or 3 times. Still arrived later. Instacart just text you and you can't reply to change it (no link in text to your order or to cancel or change). They again charged our card more than once which was resolved in a few days.

This most recent time - we ordered (yesterday) for 6pm (it's a 2 hr. Window), the time changed to 8pm via a text (ok so now our plans change bc of this), then a change from 8pm to the following day at 6pm (how does that help us if we wanted "same day"). Yes, my card was charged and again I need to wait for funds to be returned. They claim it wasn't charged but my bank acct is deducted the amount and shows on my acct.

I used the service because I was in auto accident and got seriously injuried. Can't lift or carry heavy items or even walk for than a few mins at a time.

Few other points:
Items are not kept in refrigerated or thermal bags. Just in boxes in a persons vehicle. They arrived very much affected by FL heat.

The shoppers who delivered have always been amazing with their customer service and being super friendly. I always gave them a tip because none of this their fault. (However; I think they may not know what some items are or where to find them. Like tofu... they have NEVER been out of tofu for all the years we been shopping at BJs.

Great idea just poorly executed, organized & implemented. Look at Peapods from The North East (stop & shop supermarkets). They created this service prior to 2002 & they have a fillet of trucks (refrigerator compartments) & we used them when We first gave birth to our children so I could avoid taking new babies to market or when work was insanely busy. Take notes instacart! You have several hundred bad reviews. Clearly, you need to take this back to the table. Call me if you need a consultant because you need to fix your business design at least here in FL!

This is what we sent to the company, what a mess!

Today was our first experience with your company after many years of using similar services through Albertsons.com and PeaPod.
Id like to share our experience with you.

Around 12pm today, we placed an order for the grocery store across the street from our house.
We did this because my wife is pregnant and grocery shopping is difficult for her at this point.
Our list included many of the items we typically purchase at this location.
The earliest delivery time was for 5pm-6pm, which we booked.

At 4pm, we started receiving text messages - a lot of text messages - stating items were out of stock and being replaced with other items.
The replacement items seemingly were dissimilar in several instances (i. E. 2 single yellow onions for 50 cents total were being swapped out for $2.50 worth of sweet onions, $1 boxes of organic macaroni and cheese were being swapped out for $7 bulk boxes which contained only 4 of the exact same $1 boxes inside them, a small bag of organic broccoli was swapped out for a massive sized non-organic broccoli, etc). We clicked the links, so many links, to request the items not be swapped and instead not be purchased at all as substitutions were unacceptable. To ensure we would not have these unwanted items purchased with our credit card, we placed a call to customer service.

The phone call said the wait time would be 5 minutes. 12 minutes later, Leslie answered the phone at your customer service. I explained we were new to this service and we did not want any substitutions on our order. I told her we had clicked to modify the items and reject the substitutions on the text messages we received - she said this was not possible to do. I told her to immediately notify the shopper we do NOT want any substituted items purchased. The items were dissimilar and I would go to the store myself to check the stock as I was certain that many items would not be out of stock as reported by the shopper. She confirmed the store location being shopped was indeed the one I had chosen, despite the website stating the shopping was being done in zip code 90021 - which is more than 2 hours drive from my house at this time of day. She interrupted several times rudely as I tried to explain that I did not understand how these substitutions were being made or how their shopper uses discretion to do this. I requested the account be closed after this experience today, as this was an utter waste of my time and there was no rhyme or reason to the substitutions being made. Soon I would discover even more to be annoyed about with your service.

Indeed, I headed to the store while the shopper was still shopping our order and I easily located several of the items which were reported as OUT OF STOCK by your shopper. I ended up spending 45 minutes in the store locating these items and spoke with the store manager, who stated the shopper definitely did not ask for assistance in locating those items because there were so many Instacart missed. I took photos of the items on the shelves, literally during the SAME timeframe as the shopper was shopping and in the SAME location. One of the most humorous examples was the OUT OF STOCK yellow onions - to which there were 150 lbs on the shelf in the produce aisle, according to the produce worker - I easily picked up the 2 onions for 50 cents I had ordered. I also picked up many other OUT OF STOCK items - including many boxes of organic mac n cheese for $1.

When I arrived home, the shopper had delivered their order to our house. No receipt was included in any of the bags or with the order. No complete items list was included anywhere for us to check the order. I am fairly certain I am missing several items, but without ANY access to a list of what was ordered, I cannot check off the items. The email sent to us shows a handful of items ordered, but requires to be clicked to view the entire list. When this link is clicked, there is a ERROR 404 PAGE DOES NOT EXIST message. In essence, your shopper did not attempt to locate the items, charged us for several substituted items which I specifically requested on the phone PRIOR to their purchase were NOT to occur, and I ended up spending the same amount of time in the store I would have had to anyways to get the groceries. Since I do not have any receipt or ability to verify your purchase on my credit card with the items delivered - I am only able to calculate the amount I was overcharged by your shopper purchasing items I specifically said NOT to purchase and an inkling there are additional missing items.

I sincerely hope your service improves, as this level of experience should not occur with any business, especially not when there are so many better, well-established options.

No way to give then ZERO stars or I would have. My wife spent over 2 hours adding 65 items to a cart a WEEK in advance prior to our arrival of our vacation destination. With 3 families and 11 people total, shopping for groceries was the last thing we wanted to do after a full day of travel. We selected a 7:00 - 8:00 PM delivery time slot using their own application. When we arrived at our destination, we called to check to see what was going on when the delivery window had passed and we were still without groceries. Th e customer service rep told us "You selected a delivery time when all of our shoppers shifts are ending. We don't have anyone to shop your order and deliver it." If that's the case, then WHY did your application allow us to select that time slot? Lame excuse. When he said he couldn't do anything for us, we asked to speak to his supervisor. He managed to get a local shopper on the line and said we would have our groceries within 1.5 hours. 1.5 hours later and still no groceries. We called back to inquire and was told we didn't even have an order in the system. We asked to speak to another manager who was actually knowledgeable and found our order. He told us that Instacart wouldn't be able to accommodate our delivery that evening but set it up for 9:00 AM the first thing the next morning. 9:00 AM rolls around and then 10:00. We received an email from a community manager advising us that the shopper had an 'emergency' and would not be able to deliver in the morning and they were working to find a shopper for that evening. We called in to customer service and told them not to bother and to cancel the order in that it was too late, our guests had arrived and we already didn't have groceries for breakfast and would have to make other arrangements for lunch. Their lack of professionalism and customer service and a failed delivery on multiple commitments was too much to deal with. We were appalled when the Instacart service representative so 'graciously' (insert sarcasm) offered to waive the cancellation fee for us. (Are you freaking kidding me?) Needless to say, they waived the fee, and my wife went out with a friend via Uber and shopped for the groceries and had a good time, despite Instacart dropping the ball and not being able to deliver on any level whatsover. They also offered us a discount on our next order. We told them there was no need because there wasn't ever going to BE a next order. We would never be using them again and we will not.

On multiple occasions I have had to complain to instacart about negligent business practices. The first being that instacart assigned me several shopping orders that had already been shopped. When assigning orders, the app gives you access to customer information such as their home address for delivery. On multiple occasions, Instacart gave customer information to TWO different shoppers (one of which was completely unnecessary). If I would not have noticed that the app assigned this order to someone AGAIN, the customer would have been forced to pay for the order again and I would have showed up to their residence without them expecting me. Please note the danger this could pose for shoppers; these customers have every right to be fearful when someone is showing up unannounced on their property, especially at their door with bags of unknown items. A customer could have pulled a gun on me or called the police for trespassing. I voiced these concerns to instacart customer support and they refused to rectify the situation, they even refused to reimburse me for gas wasted going to the store for an already-shopped order. Instead, a customer service agent ended the chat prematurely and would not provide a phone number. Instacart does not have a phone number available to speak to customer service, they only offer chat. I let it go. Most recently, I referred a friend via instacart's $25 refers program. I did not receive the bonus. When I questioned this, they told me they had no knowledge of me referring someone (lie #1) even though a referral is issued via a shopper-specific CODE that can be searched on their end. I spoke to several people, including a supervisor named Hugo, who told me that my $25 would be issued in two weeks (lie #2). I waited a month but still no $25. I inquired again, but this time I was told by an agent in the chat, that my friend did not meet the criteria so they could not honor it. Even though a supervisor told me previously that my money was on its way in two weeks. He mentioned nothing of the criteria being met by my friend, which is information that I would not have (instacart would). He was negligent for not mentioning the criteria not being met before promising that my money was on its way (screenshot proof available). I waited an hour to be transferred to a supervisor, after requesting it multiple times to the agent and being told the wait was "too long". He insisted that I disconnect the chat and call in the morning. He provided me a phone number that was not in service (good thing I checked while chatting him, huh?). I demanded to speak to a supervisor who had not reviewed the information and needed me to explain for the fourth time to instacart. While I was explaining, HE ENDED THE CHAT. With no resolution and without me having the chance to explain. The agent claimed the phone number was experiencing technical issues but I still cannot get through. I would have to chat someone again to discuss the matter, which I will not do. Instacart was negligent with customer information and has refused to rectify situations where their app/agents have failed.

Today I had a horrible experience with Instacart and their customer service manager Peyton. I placed an order online for a Easter party at my toddlers daycare. I ordered three boxes of chicken wings, the order was placed, monies taken and confirmation given at 930 am for a noon delivery. At 1230 the daycare provider called and stated that she never received the order for the party and called the company several times and never got an answer. The daycare provider stated she recd a message via text at 11 am stating the shopper was at the store and she would call if there was any changes. Well this shopper never placed a call or text the daycare when Publix did not have the order ready. She just canceled the order at 11am. When I recd a call from my daycare provider I called Instacart myself to clarify the issue. I was told by a representative that the order was canceled because Publix wanted a call ahead to fix the chicken and she could give me a $10 credit. I informed the csr that I felt like the way Instacart and Publix handled this issue was not only unprofessional but inconsiderate to me as the customer. This lack of professional not only placed my daycare provider in a bad place but also me being I ordered the main untray that was never delivered and I needed to speech with the manager. So after waiting on hold for over 12 min Peyton the manager gets on the line and states that is was Publix responsibility to clarify the other and her driver placed a call to the phone number on file to inform of the cancellation. I assured Peyton that the daycare provider never recd a call from Instacart the last point of contact was via text message stating the driver was shopping. Peyton then goes on to say, she could give me a $5 credit. After laughing at Peyton stating her previous subordinate just said the credit would be $10 but the issue At has was the lack of professionalism and consideration on Instacarts part. Peyton very rudely stating that was all she could do Felicia and was anything else. I request her name again and cooperate number to file a complaint regarding the service providing. Peyton then stated she could not give me her name again and cooperate number could not be given over the recorded line because it was sensitive information. I again ask for cooperates number seeing I had remembered her name from the beginning of the call and she continued to refuse to give me the number and store number involved. With this type of service and the listed reviews I will never use this company again.

I've been using Instacart a lot for about a month since I recently moved and been busy and still have to find stores by me. But i don't think I'll keep using it much. It's fine if you want simple things that you don't care much about. I haven't had issues with being "scammed" or overcharged like many other reviews have, but even without that, it can be frustrating.

Personally, i use Instacart so that I don't have to do work or spend time (or so i thought!). But i end up having to sit next to my phone and answer text messages, calls, inspect photos of things the shoppers send when things are out of stock, or they're asking me "is there anything else from this picture you would like?" Then i have to scroll into pics and looks round the shelf and type out the brand names and it's crazy annoying.

It kinda defeats the purpose for me... and it happens ALOT. Sometimes literally half my order is either replaced or refunded - even simple things that every store has like McCormick salt.

Is it an inventory tracking issue in the app or store? Does their API not get the right things from stores? Does it even intend to show only items in-stock, or does it show general stuff that's never at that store anyway? I have no idea, but it's extremely annoying. And I hate to take it out on the shoppers, my understanding is their wages have been going down, so i assume they're probably trying to work so quickly to increase volume Instacart don't/can't even try?

I just had an order of 4 items - McCormick salt in the grinder, the matching pepper grinder plus their loose pepper, and Creole seasoning.

Literally ordered salt and pepper and 1 seasoned salt, basically.

So of course shop n save didn't have the salt? So that was replaced... ok, kinda weird, but fine. But the shopper also send me a message saying "please approve the remaining replacements." I went and didn't see any other replacements, so i told her that. Then she sent me a picture of the new replacement also for Creole seasoned salt, asking me if the new replacement was ok. It looked like the item i ordered anyway... there's really only 1 kind. So i told her that it's ok, then I double-checked, and it was literally the exact same product that was on my order in the first place. So not only she "replaced" my item with the same one i ordered anyway, but i and to chat back and forth for 5 minutes checking on it.

Was she just scatterbrained or in a rush? Or is Instacart showing different pictures to buyers and shoppers? No idea! But these are CONSTANT issues and I'm not trying to sit here and shop with the shoppers the entire time. The point was it's supposed to SAVE me time, and it simply doesn't.

And then half the time, the thing that's out of stock is the thing you really needed. I order a bag of hot peppers twice from 2 different stores because i was trying to cook something that relies on lots of hot peppers. I added some other things on the order too while i was getting stuff, but then i kept getting hot peppers canceled and refunded. So then i didn't really want the other things anymore... and i never got peppers. I love the IC concept but it's such a hassle. Again, i might use it if i need sugar or something, since i don't care what kind or what brand... but i wouldn't say it's a reliable source for groceries that you actually need.

Terrible. I placed an online grocery order from Walmart on a Friday afternoon for delivery the next day between 1000 and 1200. I live in an apartment building on the third floor. I stayed home waiting for the delivery. Nothing. No phone call. No text message. No buzzer. By 1300 I started calling Walmart to find out where my grocery order was, because according to Walmart it had been delivered to me.
On Saturday I made 3 phone calls to 3 different Walmart Customer service reps. I was told to call back on Sunday On Sunday, I made another 3 phone calls to Walmart and finally was told that I would be getting a refund email by Monday. (All the while, I was being told that I did receive the order. There was no mention of perhaps there was an error somewhere in the process.) By Tuesday am, still no email from Walmart. One of these phone calls directed me to Instacart. When I called Instacart the rep there said that she did not know why I had been given direction to call them. She did contact yet another customer service rep from Walmart and he told me that he would be processing my refund. I then received an email stating that I had received a refund for $11.17. My order was $104.79. So, I called Walmart yet again and this time the rep refunded me for $91.19. So, I received a total refund for $102.29, short $2.43. All the while I was reminded that my grocery order had indeed been delivered to me. I contacted Instacart again today. Again, I was being spoken to like I am a little child and that as the customer I must do this, do that, etc. I told the woman on the other end, that I had received my refund, but that I would never be using this service again and that I had put up signs in my building to let other people know to never use this service. I told her that the issue is between Walmart and Instacart and until Instacart can get things sorted out between each other so that the customer is not getting the short end of the stick, and being spoken rudely while they are, that the business should not be operating at all. With every phone call to Walmart there is a customer service survey at the end of the call. I have given good reviews because I was under the impression that I was going to get a resolution. Anytime I engage in a customer service issue with Walmart I get the run around. What the heck is going on? The same for Instacart. What's with all this blaming and ripping off the customer rubbish? Terrible, terrible, terrible attitude.