Instacart

Ultimately I stopped using instacart because they would no longer deliver booze and Amazon Fresh does. Also they don’t do a great job anymore at any level of customer interaction.
After they proved unreliable and I had to order takeout for dinner guests instead of making food as instacart had some excuse for noshowing too many times, I just simply uninstalled.
Hope they sell before becoming Groupon 2.0.

I used Instacart/​petco service today to test it out to see if it something I would use again. I love it! It is so convenient. The driver was really nice, and they contacted me via text when they had questions. This is an awesome service. :) I will recommend this to everyone I know with pets for the instacart/​petco.

They delivered the wrong items on the first order, but then promptly credited my account.
On the second order, they said they delivered the items, but didn’t. I e-​mailed, and they said they would respond within three hours, but only responded several hours later after a third e-​mail, saying that they would take care of it.
Finally received the items a little more than 24 hours after they said it was delivered; but again, they were the wrong items.

Oh its fabulous. My goodness, on a lazy day its just heavenly! I really don’t think I have anything bad to say about it. Just that there are a very limited number of options to choose from but that’s understandable. So I would definitely recommend it for those lazy days where you just have to go to the store but you don’t want to get out of bed. Oh and the people that deliver your food are really sweet. They don’t just drop off your stuff and leave they take the time to say hello and all that. Customer service is a big deal to me and they passed!

Meh! OK, i’ll preface this by admitting I’ve become a bit of an amazonfresh snob. I LOVE the idea of Instacart, which is why I am a diehard amazon fresh fan. I have a ton of kids and I think I would rather stick a sharp pencil in my eye than take my kids to Costco (or to ANY store, frankly) ever again. So for the idea I give it 5 stars. That’s where the convenience ends unfortunately. For starters, their website is perplexing. Half the listed and pictured item options do not actually exist for you to purchase. I have used Instacart probably 15 – 20 times, and not once have I ever received every item I have requested. Keep in mind these are items that Instacart lists on their website as items available for purchase. At the end of your transaction on the instacart website, it lists replacement choice if an item happens to be out of stock. To which I always say «don’t replace». If amazon fresh regularly carries an item that is currently out of stock, the website indicates the item is «out of stock» and you cannot purchase the item at that time. With Instacart, it’s quite inconvenient and annoying to receive multiple phone calls and tests from your «shopper» who is at Costco, trying to determine if it’s OK for her to purchase the lunch meat pack that is «turkey only» rather than the variety pack. Phone call after phone call, text after text, calling with questions. Now, while I appreciate that they want to help determine what would be a suitable replacement for me, I cannot be on the phone 4 or 5 times with these people while they ask me if it’s OK if they buy the Quaker Oatmeal instead of the Kirkland Signature. And they also call to inform me that the organic sweet cherries will not be at Costco until the month of May. Now, I implore you, why were the cherries even listed and pictured on their website with an option to buy… when Costco won’t even be stocking them until May??? SO irritating. And time after time I have received non-​organic produce when I have clearly stated on my account that I want to purchase organic produce only… but they don’t call to clarify if it’s OK to buy non-​organic, they just do it. And now I have paid for what I don’t want and won’t use. All this despite the fact that I have already stated I don’t want replacements anyway. Another thing I find truly baffling: have you ever in your life been to Costco and found that they were out stock of toilet paper, or other similar staple? Neither have I. Well, magically Instacart employees can and will claim these basic supplies were «out of stock» and therefore they could not purchase them for you. (For the record, you ARE refunded if they cannot find the item and no replacement has been purchased for you.) But I ask you: Costco out of stock of toilet paper!!! Seriously??? Which Costco are they shopping at, the Russia location??? Give me a break. I can’t figure these guys out. Almost not worth the hassle, depending on how desperate I am. BTW I always tip 25%, and I don’t have the guts to complain, I’m super nice to them, so I don’t think they have labeled me as a pain-​in-​the-​ass-​customer. I just can’t figure that operation out. I’ll stick with amazon fresh and if I MUST go to Costco, I’ll go by myself, on a Sunday night… right before they close. ;) Good luck.

Instacart is perfect for the person too lazy or unable to do their own shopping, but there is a price for it. I just tried it once since their first delivery is free. However, you are given an option to give no tip, 5% tip, 10% tip or 20% tip if you pay with your credit card. I ordered about 20 items displayed as available on their site from Whole Foods. During this selection you can indicate whether you want unavailable items swapped or left un-​purchased for a refund. On the day of delivery, they called me about an hour in advance even though I had already said what I wanted online with regards to unavailable items and had me go over it verbally again with them. Overall about 5 items were unavailable or swapped. I am not sure but I could’ve sworn the original total was $ 17 less then what I ended up paying when the actual receipt was finally sent and it’s possible two items I had originally wanted disappeared from the list, but maybe I was just forgetful. In terms of customer service, they offered me a 2^nd free delivery regarding possibly lost items originally ordered so for that I’m happy. If I do it again I will make sure to print a list of what I originally selected (and their prices) to compare against the final list and receipt. I believe they add a markup of about 10% per item… they’ll list a package of pasta from QFC for $ 6 when I can buy it at the store for $ 2…I no longer think this is a good deal at all.
Update: I was going to order again since they offered «free delivery» but then decided to ask them why their item prices are about 5 times higher than what I can find in the store myself.
«While we try and price our items based on the market retail value, the prices are also that of our own and we must take into account the shoppers gathering your items.»
So.they ARE adding their own prices… and then saying it’s «free» delivery… this is just downright deceitful and unethical and I am now going to start calling this company INSTA-​SCAM.

Loved it!
I have used Amazon Fresh and these guys are better!
You can get Costco and Whole Foods, even QFC.
Highly recommend!

Great concept that needs a lot of work. I placed orders for stuff from Costco and Whole Foods. Both arrived 30 – 60 minutes late. They didn’t really follow the instructions I gave re: substitutions for items that were out of stock. I have to give the delivery guy for the Whole Foods order credit for being very pleasant and helpful on an order that turned into a comedy of errors. The delivery person for the Costo order was a different story, leaving my order, which included hard boiled eggs, on my front porch on an 80-​degree day without bothering to knock to let me know the order was there.
Maybe I’ll try them again in a year or so when they’ve had time to iron out the kinks. For now, it’s back to Amazon Fresh and Amazon Prime for me.

What a pure god send. I was in dire straits with a sneaky sickness and in desperate need of sustenance with an inability to drive. Instacart to the remedy!
I had completely forgotten I had received a coupon to leverage their service and it was a huge relief to easily log in, select my items and hit send. The driver was prompt and friendly, providing my goods quickly and accurately. I will be using this service again. The prices are right, the tote that comes with purchase adorable and the ease perfect.
Thank you for making my life easy, Instacart! P. S. — They deliver Costco without a card? Get out of town!

So you are telling me I can get Costco items without going to Costco?! Yes! Done deal best thing ever. I love Costco but it is always busy I mean always busy who are these people and why do they not have jobs? The beautiful about instacart is it is fast with one hour delivery windows they text you while in the store if something is out and you dont need a Costco card! Amazing

I heard about Instacart a couple of weeks ago through Unilocal and even registered for the Unilocal promo. However, I soon forgot all about it.
Then this week, car-​less and working far too late to take the bus to Whole Foods, I was resigned to the fact that I’d be eating take-​out from work for dinner. Imagine the pleasant surprise I then had when I saw an email from Intsacart, reminding me of their existence and even better, telling me that they now delivered groceries from Whole Foods!
Within 10 minutes, I had placed my order (started small — raspberries, blueberries, plums, brussel sprouts and greens, all organic), chosen my preferred delivery time and paid! The website even let me suggest replacements for all my items in case the store didn’t have the one I picked. About half an hour before delivery, I received a call from the shopper saying that the greens and their replacement were unavailable, could I please select something else? He recited all the potential items I had to choose from, I chose one and wala! My order was updated immediately without me having to go online and change the item or anything annoying of the sort. Finally, in keeping with my delivery instructions, he called me 5 minutes before arriving to give me a heads up that he was almost there. And soon enough, my groceries were delivered in a nice big eco-​friendly Instacart bag!
The 5-​star experience doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll give up traditional grocery shopping — I love picking out my own fruits/​vegetables and also, Instacart is just a little more expensive. However, I’m glad to have discovered such a great option for busy, sick or simply lazy days. Hope their quality service sticks around! Also, would love to see a Windows phone app from them too.

A few weeks ago, I heard Instacart was coming to Seattle. In addition to the buzz on social media, I got a special new customer code from Unilocal.Working downtown, I’m always looking for delivery services, particularly ones that that are reliable, easy to use, and reasonable.
Instacart uses personal shoppers to pick up and deliver your groceries. I’ve tried many delivery services. I was disappointed that they don’t deliver to my home zip code but understand they are just getting started. They deliver to downtown which is perfect in a lot of ways.
One day, I used the service for our weekly salad club. I didn’t feel like carrying a bunch of stuff from home on the bus. I got on the app (super easy to use) 2 hours ahead of time and ordered two bags of salad, watermelon, and strawberries from QFC. After that, I went about my work and forgot about it. Later, I got a call from my personal shopper Kate. Kate said she was at the store and got everything on my list and wondered if I needed anything else. What? That was amazing! I told her no and thanked her from the call. She told me where she was and about how long she thought it would take to get to me. I got regular updates from Kate. I’m disappointed I didn’t get to meet her (she was unable to park in front of my office) but was grateful for her service.
The cost of delivery varies. The prices of the products vary as well. What I mean by that is some products seem to be the same as I pay in person and some seem a bit more expensive. That’s fine by me. I plan events from time to time and I’d much rather have someone else handle picking things up and bringing them to me.