InstacartReviews 2,486

Beware of instacart's deceptive marketing tactics. They lure you in with a free first delivery. After placing my order, I saw that they charged $11.99 for delivery. When I called their customer service, after a long hold, the "happiness" team member finally agreed to remove the charge, like he was doing me a favor. Also, they would not honor a $10 coupon for my first time order, saying there were restrictions that were not listed in any of their marketing emails, or during checkout. Why would the shopping cart allow me to use the coupon code and not honor it after I place my order, and after my card has already been charged? Shady practices. Stay away from instacart, or be prepared for a losing fight with their "happiness" team.

Horrible Instacart service. I order 12lb puppy food through INSTACART PETCO and instead they delivered 4lb and still managed to charge me $38.99. I'm on phone with Customer Service for almost 45mins and they still had the audacity to charge me for what's been delivered and reimburse me the rest.
Buying in bulk is a lot cheaper but hey Instacart you are a bully for charging me more for 4lb and refusing to take the order back and reimburse what you decided is fair. Hey Instacart, I am guessing you were that bully in school who stole Lunch money from other Kids. Go to hell. I would give 0ratimg or minus 1000 but I didn't have an option

There were problems with my recent order all throughout. The shopper kept getting things I hadn't ordered, which I declined. Ok fine. Things happen. However, I ordered, and paid for several organic produce items, but when I unpacked my order, after the delivery/shopper left in a hurry, I found non- organic vegetables had been delivered. I tried getting through to management about the issue, but haven't received a text regarding it, much less phone call. This company charges more than the store for items to begin with, but to pay for items you didn't receive is really the last straw.

I've used instacart twice and both times my order has been wrong. I'm not sure how this business even operates under such poor and helpless employees. After they offered me a 5 dollar coupon I explained how insulting it was that they thought 5 dollars would compensate me for having to spend my entire night waiting around for my driver to return with my correct order. Never use this service they should be out of business shortly anyway.

Was with my friend Memorial Day Monday. We were without a car so my buddy called to place a food order around 12 noon for an early evening delivery. They missed the 6 o'clock delivery, called to say they'd be there around 8p. They then missed the 8 o'clock delivery and called yet again to say they'd be there between 10 and 11. They again missed the delivery time and called again to say they'd be there between 11 and 12. You can guess what happened then. The delivery never arrived, and no call offering up any wxplanation nor to apologize to my friend. Unbelievable and inexcusable! Having never tried them myself I sure as heck will think long and hard before I ever call them. I'd rather go to Ralph's or Wholefoods myself that way I know the food will arrive. Truly pathetic!

Several of my deliveries have had missing/wrong items. I get that this happens... but it is a lot. Today was the last straw. I ordered 23 items, and received about 15 of them. I asked for the remaining items to be delivered (or as they say..."redelivered" LMAO). They screwed that up too, missing 5 items. They then said that they couldn't deliver to me within the next 2 hours... when would I like a "RE"delivery? I told them to chuck it, and reimburse me for the items I had now been waiting 4 hours for. Their remedy? Free delivery on my next order! WooHoo! Obviously there will be no next order.

Seeing these reviews and the lack of info on their site before I registered, I hesitated to use Instacart, but my back was acting up and I didn't want to haul groceries from Whole Foods.
I used Instacart through the Whole Foods site and it worked well. I went to the Whole Foods site and clicked on delivery. I registered there and was able to find what I needed. This included packages of different pieces of chicken, and I was able to enter notes describing what I needed.
I received a text saying that my order had been adjusted (uh oh!) and the shopper would call me. He did and he was smart and articulate. No trouble understanding my order. He said they didn't have one of my items. It wasn't urgent, so I told him to forget it. He verified the size and cuts of the packages of chicken - he had gotten it right! I was happy and impressed.
Later I received a text saying my order would be delivered about 7:15. The driver actually came earlier. Even better!
I had been a little concerned about the raw chicken, but they had it in the fridge until delivery. Awesome!
This was the first time I ever had groceries delivered, and it was excellent. :)

I have no problem paying more for groceries through Instacart. For me, it is very valuable to have groceries delivered to my home. However, Instacart has terrible customer service, unlike Peapod and other food delivery services. If you have any problem with an order they make it very difficult to get "live" help.

They also do a terrible job of updating their site with the current inventory from the stores. I order items on the site, only to be told by my shopper that the items haven't been sold by the store for more than six months. It's a total waste of time to develop a $400 order from Costco only to discover - in a call from your shopper - that more than half of the items are unavailable! Ridiculous!

Get competent Instacart.

I had no issues with Instacart UNTIL I built my order on a store (where I normally have Instacart shop for me) sale brochure I received in my inbox. Some of the sale prices were amazing, i. E., 18 large eggs for $0.85 and Polish Ham@ $3 lbs. among others. When I unpacked my delivered order I saw that the discount had been applied to the items instore, however, Instacart charged me the FULL price without discount. I inquired and was told "Currently we are unable to honor in-store sales or promotions at this time." So although Instacart received the nearly $15 in promotional discounts they were unable to pass on that savings to me the hapless customer. Seems like that would not be a difficult technological hurdle to overcome in this point and click world.

Instacart SUCKS! It is very easy to make replacements and buy with someone else's money!. You guys need to verify with your client before making the replacement. If I don't respond the first time. CALL AGAIN! Granted. I responded 20 min later but still you need to verify with the client before using their money to buy whatever you feel is the best replacement option! Now I have to go back to Whole Foods to return the freaking order! Money wasted! Would never do this again!

When I started using Instacart, I was all about it. They sucked at dealing with replacements pretty bad, but that was just a minor annoyance. It was still so convenient. I payed about $100 for a 1 year membership, if I remember correctly. The price was well worth it to have my groceries delivered in just 2 hours! But now I guess they are so busy that it takes an entire day. Every time I log in to place an order, the delivery time is 11 hours or more, so I just go my groceries myself. My membership is completely worthless to me now. I will not be renewing.

I began using Instacartin June 2015. I selected a specific WF store for my orders. In Jube service was good but beginning in July service was spotty and many items O ordered were not available. Now that I am settled into my apt, my grocery shopping was switched to a different WF, without telling me. Overall, there is poor response time to customers. And the company doesn't want you to call no matter what happened. Also, the up charge is exorbitant on many products and your CC will be charged 10-15% over the actual amount and then adjusted 5 days later. My advice is find another service. In big cities there are alternatives. This company has a lot of kinks to work before it delivers better service.

I don't dislike grocery shopping but am super busy and have 3 kids so I am thrilled about being able to cross it off my list! This review is for the SF bay area - there seem to be large regional differences in how things are run, but I'm a super-happy customer. Tips:

1- only shop where they say the prices are the same as in-store. I shop Whole Foods and Target and am very satisfied about how I can check out with everything I need without overspending. You can easily shop all the sales and avoid impulse buys. I completely avoid the stores with higher prices - there's just no reason to overspend and the difference can be significant.

2- be specific about what you want and your replacements. Leave notes if there's something specific you want or don't want.

3- Choose your communication method - I like to be texted re: replacements. They are generally very helpful shoppers.

4- I use it as my shopping list, dropping items in the cart over a few days so I won't forget.

5- I sometimes order ahead - on my lunch to get dinner groceries or on Saturday evening for Sunday morning breakfast. There are busy times so don't always count on the 2-hr window as time slots sometimes get booked.

6- look at the size of what you want in the description, don't rely on the picture. Occasionally the picture is of the wrong size item.

7- If you don't like something, you can easily shoot a message through their site and they are very good about issuing refunds or credits. Its been a while since I had any issue, but I do think as a company they have good customer service.

I've had a few mistakes (like ordering 1 mushroom or way too many carrots), but I've now learned the system to where I feel like I have my own personal assistant. Wish I could get this kind of help with my other chores!

Managed by 20-something bar floozies which is 1/2 their problem (I saw a Twitter post of one). You'll wind up shopping/delivering not necessarily groceries but bulk cargo in your own vehicle for $5 and a tip if you get lucky.

The average customer in Chicago orders multiple 24 roll packs of toilet paper, beer for the year and 5 cases of Ice Mountain water to be delivered to a 35th floor with no parking area (bring lotsa quarters and budget for tickets and maybe even towing). I had to cancel a delivery order from Costco because I wasn't about to break the struts in my newer passenger vehicle (you get like $7 for Costco orders). Promised tips would be split between the actual shopper and driver for the Costco orders and never saw a nickel. The service is abused and the workers are exploited.