well, my lack of a motor vehicle makes it hard to get big items from the grocery store, so i decided to give the grocery gateway thing a try. allow me to relate my experience.
registering: my online registration form was denied for some reason. turns out it was because my roommate had previously ordered and they don't allow seperate accounts for the same address. i emailed customer service and they emailed back and told me to call them. i called and set up an account with a very friendly and helpful customer service rep. however, she misspelt my login name, my email address, and my street name, even though i clearly spelt out each word for her over the phone (B as in bob, A as in adam....). that meant i did not recieve the email telling me what my misspelt login name was, so i wasted soem time trying to login and getting rejected. i had to call back to get that corrected. once i finally got all that sorted out i was able to login quickly.
ordering: the site was fairly well organized and easy to navigate, the selection was good and they had almost everything i wanted (and then some). the prices were ~10%-25% cheaper than my usual grocery store. and as much as 40% cheaper for things like large size boxes of cereal and peanut butter. also featured items were very well priced. my only complaint is the lack of 'president's choice' and 'no-name' alternatives, which is understandable but lamented. i had not been shopping in some time so decided to stock up and order ~$150 dollars worth of food and household supplies. the items were well organized and cross referenced amongst different categories, but not well described. clicking on an item for 'more information' simply showed a slightly bigger picture and repeated the vague description from the main list (i.e. 100% whole wheat bread).
delivery: i placed my order on a wednesday and was able to select a thursday delivery time, 6:30 to 8:00pm was the window, i believe. the driver arrived at 6:00 with my order (half an hour early, suprisingly enough), which was a little annoying because i was just getting out of the shower and had to answer the door in my rob, but no biggie. however, the first box that he brought up contained 4 boxes of maxi pads, and some raspberry, chewable tyelenol, among other things that i definately did not order. i pointed that out (i really have no use for maxi pads) and he apologized and took the box back, but brought up the 5 other boxes laden with the stuff i did order. the driver was polite and efficient and left quickly. so i started to put stuff away and check it off the attached invoice, i soon noticed that i was missing things. i concluded that ~%25 of my order was not present, but was marked on the invoice as 'delivered' & 'received'.
follow-up: i called the customer service number and explained the problem and listed the items that i had not received, they aplogized profusly and promised to follow-up. they called me back 20 minutes later and told me that they had contacted the driver and that he did not have the rest of my order, the mistake must have been at the warehouse. they offered to send them out for saturday between 11-12 (since i was not available friday). i agreed to that (i wanted my food!), but because i am too reasonable and understanding, i did not ask for a refund or credit. i set my alarm for 10:30 on sat but got up at around 10:15, 2 minutes after i rolled out of bed a grocery gateway rep called to tell me that 'due to difficulties at the warehouse' they could not make the 11-12 delivery time for my order. they offered to send it 'sometime in the afternoon or on sunday' but they 'could not be sure of what time in the afternoon the order would be ready' at that point. i was not certain i would be home all afternoon and i was going to be out of town on sunday, so i declined and made arrangements for them to redeliver the order monday (tonight) between 6-7. they also offered me a $10 'inconvenience' credit toward my next order, which i accepted.
conclusion: well, if they show up tonight with the rest of my stuff i will give them another chance because i appreciate the potential convenience of their service. if they screw it up again i will wait until some competition comes along before i try online grovery shopping again.
anybody else had good or bad experiences with grocery gateway that they wish to share?
registering: my online registration form was denied for some reason. turns out it was because my roommate had previously ordered and they don't allow seperate accounts for the same address. i emailed customer service and they emailed back and told me to call them. i called and set up an account with a very friendly and helpful customer service rep. however, she misspelt my login name, my email address, and my street name, even though i clearly spelt out each word for her over the phone (B as in bob, A as in adam....). that meant i did not recieve the email telling me what my misspelt login name was, so i wasted soem time trying to login and getting rejected. i had to call back to get that corrected. once i finally got all that sorted out i was able to login quickly.
ordering: the site was fairly well organized and easy to navigate, the selection was good and they had almost everything i wanted (and then some). the prices were ~10%-25% cheaper than my usual grocery store. and as much as 40% cheaper for things like large size boxes of cereal and peanut butter. also featured items were very well priced. my only complaint is the lack of 'president's choice' and 'no-name' alternatives, which is understandable but lamented. i had not been shopping in some time so decided to stock up and order ~$150 dollars worth of food and household supplies. the items were well organized and cross referenced amongst different categories, but not well described. clicking on an item for 'more information' simply showed a slightly bigger picture and repeated the vague description from the main list (i.e. 100% whole wheat bread).
delivery: i placed my order on a wednesday and was able to select a thursday delivery time, 6:30 to 8:00pm was the window, i believe. the driver arrived at 6:00 with my order (half an hour early, suprisingly enough), which was a little annoying because i was just getting out of the shower and had to answer the door in my rob, but no biggie. however, the first box that he brought up contained 4 boxes of maxi pads, and some raspberry, chewable tyelenol, among other things that i definately did not order. i pointed that out (i really have no use for maxi pads) and he apologized and took the box back, but brought up the 5 other boxes laden with the stuff i did order. the driver was polite and efficient and left quickly. so i started to put stuff away and check it off the attached invoice, i soon noticed that i was missing things. i concluded that ~%25 of my order was not present, but was marked on the invoice as 'delivered' & 'received'.
follow-up: i called the customer service number and explained the problem and listed the items that i had not received, they aplogized profusly and promised to follow-up. they called me back 20 minutes later and told me that they had contacted the driver and that he did not have the rest of my order, the mistake must have been at the warehouse. they offered to send them out for saturday between 11-12 (since i was not available friday). i agreed to that (i wanted my food!), but because i am too reasonable and understanding, i did not ask for a refund or credit. i set my alarm for 10:30 on sat but got up at around 10:15, 2 minutes after i rolled out of bed a grocery gateway rep called to tell me that 'due to difficulties at the warehouse' they could not make the 11-12 delivery time for my order. they offered to send it 'sometime in the afternoon or on sunday' but they 'could not be sure of what time in the afternoon the order would be ready' at that point. i was not certain i would be home all afternoon and i was going to be out of town on sunday, so i declined and made arrangements for them to redeliver the order monday (tonight) between 6-7. they also offered me a $10 'inconvenience' credit toward my next order, which i accepted.
conclusion: well, if they show up tonight with the rest of my stuff i will give them another chance because i appreciate the potential convenience of their service. if they screw it up again i will wait until some competition comes along before i try online grovery shopping again.
anybody else had good or bad experiences with grocery gateway that they wish to share?
