Service with a smile (most of the time!)

As someone who works full time, my evenings are sacred; and when I would prefer to stay at home rather than go out shopping in the cold - on-line grocery shopping comes in extremely useful.

I have tried out all the major retailers – Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Waitrose; but the one that stands head and shoulders above the rest is Ocado. 

They have many tempting offers to reel in customers, namely money off if you spend over a certain amount on your first shop.  Their website is very good, offering pictures of all the products and detailed descriptions of them.  I particularly like the fact that the site remembers your previous shops, and from that can put together a suggested shop for you.

Ocado supply products from Waitrose and have now also started to supply their own range.  Everything they offer is fresh and well packaged.  I particularly like their organic fruit and vegetable boxes, offering more than enough for a family of three or four for at least a week.

Ocado now pledge to price match Tesco on their own range, and if they don’t you are sent a voucher for the amount you overspent.  For example, I spent £1.34 more on my last shop and was duly supplied with a voucher for this to use against my next shop.

Your shopping is packaged in colour co-ordinated bags to identify whether it is for the store cupboard, fridge or freezer.

Most of their delivery drivers are very obliging, and cheerful.  I have encountered a few exceptions to this rule recently; our last driver was rather monosyllabic!

All their delivery slots are one hour in duration, and very occasionally they will turn up earlier than scheduled, however the drivers always call you beforehand to make sure you are at home and able to accept the order.

As with all on line grocery retailers, there are occasions when mishaps occur.  Perhaps an egg will get broken, or a pint of milk will leak.  This is easily solved, contact Ocado via the website and they will refund you.  All very fair and straightforward.

All on line grocery retailers will charge you for delivery; these amounts vary according to the time of day you want your shopping.  Ocado have now come up with an innovative delivery pass which allows free delivery during the week, rather useful and can save you anything up to £7.

My score :-

Out of 5 would be 4. The loss of one point only due to the fact that my last delivery driver was a bit on the grumpy side.