r/instacart

7 items with 1 being a case of water, the other items were small things like pizza rolls and bread. i work in the service industry and know the importance of tipping. i tipped decent on the order ($25, over 50% of the order cost) because i know how it is bringing water upstairs (im on the third floor, no elevator). delivery note said leave at the door. i hear a knock and go to check the peephole and my shopper is still standing there. i open the door and she proceeds to ask, “do you got somebody to come down here and get this water caaauuussseee…” no, i do not have somebody to go get that water, i paid YOU to bring it up. i didn’t sneakily add the water while she was shopping, the water was the very first item i added to the order. i put that i live on the third floor in the delivery notes. i don’t get why someone would accept the order knowing they can’t fulfill it.

instacart gave me a $5 credit and told me i could change the tip up to 2 hours after delivery, 6 hours after it was ‘delivered.’

TLDR; shopper made me leave my apartment because she didn’t want to carry water upstairs despite generous tip.

I’ll explain. In my area, there are 2 Krogers. One is extremely nice, great produce department, a very wide choice of items.

The other one is less than half the size, the produce is often sketchy, and the selection (comparatively) is anemic.

The issue is that Pitiful Kroger is 3 miles closer to my house than the other, better one. But Instacart always forces me to order from the close one.

Is there some way of making a choice between them, or am I stuck with this arrangement?

Yesterday, a customer wanted a case of 24 Eska waters. The shelves were empty. I checked the ends of the aisle to see if they were on display there but they weren’t. I only noticed while checking out that they were displayed at the front of the store but behind all the checkouts 😖😖😖 Why can’t the store put a note where the empty shelves are, letting people know that the water is on display at the front of the store?! They do it with soft drinks too, etc… Would it kill them to put up a sign?

I placed an order for inflated balloons from Michaels, to be delivered 1-2 hours before my baby shower.

1. The balloons I received were not inflated. I called Michaels and they said it happens all the time; Instacart shoppers come in and say they don't want them inflated b/c they won't fit in their car.

2. The shopper, a woman according to the receipt, was supposed to ring my doorbell or call me to come down and collect the balloons. A guy delivered the balloons. I don't care who delivers but it's clear they aren't on top of their shoppers.

3. He never called or rang the bell. He just chucked them outside the front door of my apartment building. I happened to see him out the window and was able to go down and get the bag before it was stolen (as happens often in Chicago).

4. I had to leave my party preparations to drive to the store to have them blown up, at an extra expense.

5. I processed what I thought was a refund online, but turned out they only do credits. A nice scam, but ok. But I expected the credit to be for the full amount, including delivery and tip. It was for the balloons only. Why on earth should they keep my delivery and tip money when the item I ordered was never delivered?

6. I called Customer Support to see about getting my full refund. "Princess" took my call. I told her my issue and she responded with "Uh-huh". That's it. No apology, no offer to make things right, no explanation of anything. Just "Un-huh. So I had to ask her "Are you able to do anything about this?" She told me no, that I took the credit online so it was my fault and there was nothing she could do. When I told her I expected that credit to be for the full amount (delivery + tip) she started raising her voice and arguing with me. I asked for a supervisor. She went silent. I asked again, and she again argued. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I asked again for a supervisor and she said she was going to put me on hold. I asked why, and she said something about creating a file. I said no, I wanted a supervisor and she said she was trying to get one but that I wouldn't agree to go on hold. I told her that's b/c she didn't tell me she was getting a supervisor, that she said something about creating a file. It went around and around like this. It was like arguing with a 7-year old. I finally asked "Are you going to get me a supervisor, yes or no?". She again argued and finally said she would. Unbelievable.

7. The supervisor Paul was apologetic and understanding. But after yet another hold he told me that he could do nothing since I was outside the 3-day window. What? I placed the order on the 15th and called on the 18th. When I pointed out that I was within 3 days he gave me the run-around saying the 15th counts as the first day, the system is automated, there's nothing he could do, blah blah blah. Seriously?

I received and incomplete order, no notification that it was delivered, and no refund for delivery or tip.

I will never use Instacart again. Too many other delivery options.

So I got a $20 gift card and I'm trying to spend exactly $20. I was trying to make my order exactly $20 including the authorization, and for my items, with a 9% tip of $2.29, my total was $19.10 and I'd be charged $19.67. But since im trying to make it exactly $20, I tried increasing the tip little by little until I got my amount. However, when increased it by just 1 cent, my total shot up to $19.82 and would be charged $20.41. Why is my total shooting up 72 cents just because I increased the tip my a penny????

A month ago, shopped an order where the Customer “okayed” the items through the chat.
Now I have 4 items which the “Sell by” dates are have not reached and the Customer marked as EXP-RED!

Who are we contacting regarding a review? This has definitely been frustrating since now my Diamond status is taking a hit and No Priority. I’m now in the “Needs Work” space.

Order shopped on 8/14!
I had already picked up a replacement. Now I regret this cause .. wtfffff‼️

How much you want to bet that the Customer had this sitting somewhere in their cabinet and reported this one. I cannot see a store having this on the shelves for over this amount of time.

I am a frequent Costco shopper in Nor Cal, but I've been locked out of grocery delivery for a long time. Now I'm going to need delivery services in the next few months, and I'd like to get it working.

I had ordered successfully a few times--no problems--and then in 2022, I received an email saying they (Costco Same Day) were cancelling my order. They wanted me to verify the card used on my last order. I did that, then got an email from trust_safety@instacart.com saying they put my account on hold. To remove the hold, they wanted a secure upload of my DL and my payment card showing only the last 4 digits.

I let that go (did not comply) but then in 2023 I could not log in (I forgot about the earlier problem) and contacted them, and learned that was deliberate. They responded my account was locked, I needed to do the secure upload of my DL and payment card. I provided this, then they responded that a photocopy of my ID was unacceptable, it had to be a photo of it. I thought this was ridiculous, but I complied, and provided a photo of my DL. And then they responded again, saying they wanted, "A selfie holding your photo ID up to your face, so that we can verify a match" signed Quinn, Instacart, Financial Risk Team.

At this point I decided this escalating string of requests was ridiculous and I was obviously just being harassed by someone who didn't have anything better to do. I did inquire, "Can you tell me why you need this? It seems really out of line with normal online shopping procedures" and I never heard any more from them. But my account is still on hold. I cannot log in at "Costco Same-Day Powered by Instacart website" and the URL says, "https://sameday.costco.com/?user\_deactivated=true"

I shop online very frequently and have never experienced anything like this. All my activity has been in the same county. Does this sound normal? I want to contact them again but this feels so creepy. I cannot believe I need to fight a permanent ban for having done absolutely nothing wrong or in any way out of the ordinary.

I would love to send flowers (and perhaps some food items) to my niece. I figured I would use a grocery store close to her home.

Won't the items just show up at her door with no explanation? How can I include a note to let her know that they are from me?

I am done using Instacart I have been an Instacart member since its inception. Never had any issues except for a missing item here and there. I tip very well to start and give extra of they bring my groceries to my door/follow directions (apartment building). Lately, it has taken 1-2 hours to get groceries after shopper checks out. And when groceries arrive, anything frozen is now unfrozen and cold items are room temperature. Customer service chat has only ever offered $5 or $10 credit.

Am I expecting too much by asking if they are using temperature controlled bags? Or am I being impatient?

I was delivering 4 orders yesterday when my tire popped, I had to cancel bc my car started making a bad noise. They canceled and told me to return the high priced item, which I was going to do today, but I just received an email saying my account had been deactivated.
Am I able to appeal w the return receipt? And like a picture of my tire or sm?

i plan to place a big sams club order (over $100) that has some pretty boxy and heavy stuff (toilet paper, cleaning supplies, household items, etc.) and just want to know if $40 tip is good? specifically if the tip amount equates to the load of my order. does anyone else tip in this range for large orders on the heavy side? just want to make sure i’m being reasonable for the shopper, but im also broke and trying to budget and don’t want to over tip. hopefully this isn’t that foolish of a question

Today I used Instacart for the first time to order groceries. I was surprised by how many unavailable items and substitutions there were. So I ended up canceling and going myself, though I need to be indoors for medical purposes.

Everything I ordered was there. I was surprised the most when they put tomatoes and red onions as not being available which is ultimately what made me cancel. A few others were the brand of water I wanted, diced chicken (instead of tenders), the creamer I wanted and some of the spices.

I’m wary of using the service if this is going to be the normal. The total was about 75$ and I left a 15$ tip. Is this something that is common? If so, does anyone know of any other food delivery services for groceries that are more consistent? Thanks in advance!