Instacart-Get Grocery Delivery

I just discovered Instacart and I love it! I’ve recently had back surgery and I have a hard time getting around. Going to the grocery store is very difficult for me. All the grocery stores now offer ordering your groceries and picking them up. That’s great but I have a hard time just sitting in my car and driving due to complications from my surgery. This is a great alternative. Before driving to the other end of town (22 miles one way) to go to Sam’s Club or Sprouts was a major chore for me just getting there. Then to walk through the store and shop I could do it but then would be down for several days with excruciating back pain. Instacart has been a lifesaver for me! Even though I’ve only used it a couple times in the last three days. I love the fact that I can use it for any store that I shop that. Downloading the app I get two weeks free with no service fee. After that it’s an annual fee which is wonderful. The first gal that delivered to me was the one that told me that they had an annual fee. I was unaware of that so I started looking into it. You do see a slight increase in what you pay for the products that you’re getting but that’s OK. How else are they going to make money? The convenience of not having to going to the store is wonderful!! I definitely give them a five star review. I would give them a 10 star if I could. Thanks Instacart for making my life better. Heidi

I love ordering from my phone. The cost of delivery and tip is worth me not having to leave house and put miles on my vehicle or deal with aggravation of crowded stores. The closest Publix is about 15 min away so I’m already committing to at least a 30 minute drive. I only had an issue one time - I ordered things for dinner (it was about 5ish). I should have ordered earlier but I didn’t know better. It was about 2 hours in and no one started working on my order. I called IC to see what their policy was and what the recourse was if my groceries didn’t come. The lady said “then it will just come tomorrow”. Which of course was unacceptable since it was dinner and I work for a living and wouldn’t be home. I ended up going myself and, as I was in Publix, someone started working on my order. My fault, I had forgotten to cancel it. I told them right away obviously through the messenger system. But, I’ll just always remember that ordering sooner is better. I wish there would have been a way for someone to say “no one is available for 2 hours, fend for yourself!” Keep in mind I live in a small city, mostly rural. I’m surprised we even have this service here. I love ordering groceries on lazy days!!! I also save some money from not going in the store and getting things I don’t need. Thanks IC!

I’ve used this app over 10 times and the last time i refused to use it again. The service has always been great, loved all the shoppers. The last time they showed me the prices of the individual items and i was okay with it, they also showed me the delivery charge, the tax, the tip, and the service charge. Everything added up and i was fine with it. Everything i put in my cart was picked up by the shopper, there were no replacements or refunds or item changes. When the order was done the item prices magically went up so my purchase was $10+ over what i was expecting. Its never done that before and i didnt order anything special. I tried to email them and asked them why the prices mysteriously went up and they said it was service charge and i tried to tell them the service charge was already added in when i agreed on the prices. Email after email was the same reply, it was a service charge. They already add some service charges into the price if the item, thats why they’re higher online than in store then they add another service charge at the end. Which again i was fine with paying but then they charged me extra when they shouldn’t have and all i was getting was robot responses saying it was a service charge. I understand there might be some higher prices in the store but that doesn’t make every item price go up $1-$2 after you agreed to pay the price they told you.

This is such a great concept. I love that it gives you all the nearby supermarkets that work with Instacart so it’s easy to compare prices. I will not give it 5 starts due to 2 things. 1. Once you’ve placed your order, you have a few minutes to add any items you forgot, as long as you do it before the person begins shopping, the problem is, there is some kind of glitch with the app because 8/10 times it will not let me add anything; I’ve only successfully been able to do it maybe once, but most times, it just wont give me the option, even if the person hasn’t started shopping. 2. There is an extra $20 that is added to your overall total in case there needs to be a replacement for a more expensive item or in case you add something else in general, if none of your items were substituted or if you didnt add any items, your bank account will reflect the actual total that was given to you at checkout. My only pet peeve about this is, they tell you about the extra $20 in super tiny letters at the very bottom of the page, it just looks like general policy writing so imagine the surprise when you sign into your bank account and see an extra $20 dollars than the one you saw at checkout. I didnt catch this at all at first so be aware, whatever your balance is, add $20; but dont let this scare you, you will most likely not need those $20 so it will be back in your bank within a few days

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The app itself runs well. And in theory the idea is a great one. But unfortunately almost every single one of my shopping experiences through Instacart has been a bad one. Maybe it's just something about my area, but frankly the shoppers are awful. They are constantly purchasing the wrong items, running extremely late and making mistakes. And perhaps some may not appreciate this, but another issue is shoppers who are smokers- my groceries arrive drenched in the smell of cigarette smoke and even sometimes leaves a subtle cigarette flavor on certain items. No judgement whatsoever, truly, it is just very unpleasant to someone who does not smoke. I have only had one or two shoppers that really did a good job. **I wish Instacart would invent some way to favorite or request specific individual shoppers.** Especially because even when a shopper does a bad job, I feel pressured to still tip and rate them well because they may be the same person who accepts my order the next time and could, I dunno, spit in my salad or whatever. After thinking about it, is it really even safe? All these strangers coming to our homes? I dunno, I think more vetting needs to take place and some kind of choices need to be given to the consumer as far as WHO they want shipping for their produce and what not. Instacart is good, but it could be great with some tweaks and improvements. Until then, I do not intend to renew my membership.