Instacart Reviews 215

Buyer beware! I've used Instacart several times and had no clue they charge so much more than the store. I checked my items against the receipt and found they overcharge by roughly $10. Items that have a price on the label clearly saying $10 will be $12 on the receipt. Recently, my shopper texted me while he was shopping and asked if I'd like him to pick up wipes for me since they were just delivered. He texted the display with a price of $13.99. Very shocked to see they actually charged me $16.09. I fell for the upsell. So, lesson learned! Won't be using this service again. Big ripoff!

BUYER BEWARE! if you don't mind an American company using your credit cards like they own it and don't mind the huge mark up on items and be treated like a virus when you call them then by all means enjoy your shopping and ignore this review.

My wife and I are high-risk groups witch means recovering from COVID is very unlikely as many others our age. we NEEDED a way to get food and household items with out putting our selves at risk or breaking our budget. I found instacart and what I thought was a blessing until I found out how they do business.

First, off they Don't charge you the shelf price listed at the store they make there own prices and can be inflated as high as 30% on most if not all items, this would include cost-co, superstore, wall mart and pretty much all the stores listed on their site! add to that annual fees and/or delivery fees plus service fees overweight fees if you order more than 4-5 2 litter pop drinks! then a tip.
wow, this just got super expansive!
my food bills normally around $400.00 to $600 a month until I started using instacart it jumped to $800 - 1300.00 a month nearly double. this is reason enough to STOP doing business with this American company.

But then today I found a bunch of small charges that should not be on my credit card over a period of 5 months anything from $1.00 to $10.00. and yes I should have checked into it sooner that was my mistake I would have saved myself a lot of money if I had found this 4 months ago! When I phoned to ask what was going on with this I was hung up on and could not contact them again unless I use email or wait another 30-45 minutes on the phone. I have been down this road before with big company's it never ends well so I had to call my bank and cancel our cards and have them re-issued! believe me, it is easier than trying to deal with instacart! as for my wife and I, we will just take the hit and move on. so PLEASE before you jump into instacart do your homework or it will cost you plenty much more than you bargain for!

CONSTANT CONTACT with shopper to verify substitution ... Pleasant driver.

No transparency, Always charge higher than the store prices. I came to know this when i check the flyer. I tried reaching them for raising a concern no one provides us the store receipts. Keep on saying technical issues. Even after more than an hour of chatting with support executives no luck, they abruptly ended conversation saying escalated to technical support to resolve the issue. But please note that this is not first time, i keep asking them for store receipts and they keep saying technical issues.
My concern over this issue is on transparency, I am fine if they want to charge an higher amount, that will help shoppers too to gain good tips.

Terrible company to deal with
I used the service for the first time yesterday. I won't be using it again. Let me say that in the climate of Covid19, the way they are getting money from people is worth an email to the Better Business Bureau, which I am sending.

I seem to be having trouble explaining to the agents that I don't owe what they are saying I do. Firstly, I was receiving a refund for meat that was way over priced and not what I ordered. The agent said she would refund me $37 but instead, I found out when I phoned today, that it was put as a credit on my account. The agent I spoke with today said he would refund the money but would't listen when I tried to tell him I didn't owe what their receipt states.

So my calculation is as follows:
Store sub total - $171.58
Instacart fees and taxes - 3.99 + 9.08 + 9.08 (mandatory tip) + Grocery Hst - 1.83 + their taxes 2.00 = 25.98
Total receipt - 197.56 - from $230 they took from my account - 32.44 should be returned plus the 37 refund - a total of $69.44 should be returned to my account. They are saying I owe them over $200.
Think before you use this company.

In spite of being able to list one's loyalty cards on the app the cards are not used towards purchases. Today, I lost out on over $20 worth of PC Optimum points that I was hoping for (since I am unemployed and every cent counts right now!) as my loyalty card was not used for my purchase at Real Canadian Superstore. When I brought up the missing points with Instacart, I was told: "You can add your loyalty cards on Instacart so you can earn points or perks from the specific retailer every time you purchase through Instacart. However, redeeming your points or rewards cannot be done through Instacart and you have to make the purchase directly from the retailer." What in the actual heck?! This doesn't even make sense! I have cancelled my membership and will be getting pickup directly from the store in future. I don't know who benefited from my PC points today but, as far as I can tell, this is fraudulent and a scam. You have been warned!

Do not use this company. Horrible - Don't expect a refund for entirely missing items either. I have been waiting for mine for over 2 months now.

I ordered a delivery I was on the Superstore website. At no time did it indicate that I would be dealing with Instacart exclusively nor did I realize I was dealing with a 3rd party. Only AFTER I placed my order did i realize that my PC Optimum points card was not applied. I requested that I get the points that I would've gotten since I was on the Superstore website.

Their explanation:

"I’m sorry the credit didn’t apply to your purchase. Please accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience you may have experienced

In order for rewards points to apply, you need to meet your monthly goal before placing an order.

Once you’ve reached your goal, you can apply the promo code to your order and receive the credit.

To locate the promo code, go to Account, select Instacart Express, and select View Point History. To apply the code, go to Account, select Add Promo Code, and paste the promo code from View Point History. "

Also note not at any time was I provided nor advised that you had to hit a monthly minimum....grr

Maybe this is Superstore's fault or maybe your Instacart but I never had to sign up to use the service other than signing in with my PC ID. Needless to say it may have only been an $74.00 order but I'm a single person so I actually take a while to gather these points.

Note though I was happy with the resolution provided when they gave me the wrong light bulbs of a refund. Though being a first time experience with Instacart I'm not impressed overall with the wrong. The shopper himself was very good at communicating with me prior to receiving the order

I doubt I'll ever use the service again. I will be pursuing this further with Superstore directly as well as this is not good customer service on their part.

I am one of the shopper who shop for instacart one day morning I get an email that if u complete 5 orders today you will get atleast 70$ plus all your tips and I didn't got 70$ after completion and I contacted them they told me it will take 24-48 hours for update and I didn't got it and after 4-5 days they flipped and told me I'll not get it and blahh blahhh they told me I didn't completed 5 batches although on their own app it's showing I completed 5 batches

So far top grocery delivery service during this pandemic! I first heard about Instacart over a year ago and checked it out, but never ordered as I didn't need anything instantly and could go out myself. Fast forward to March and we were quarantining in our home for 14 days due to travel , symptoms and immuno compromised systems. We have a Loblaws very close but were not going out. So I ordered Mar 21 and scheduled delivery 25th. Not bad. I input replacement options for each item and notes hoping all would be great. I could add or delete to my order anytime up to the day of delivery which was really nice. The best part that I didn't realize until it happened was that I could communicate with my shopper live while they were shopping my order to approve the replacement. In some cases my shopper took pictures of the only options available. It was fantastic! I got everything important that we needed. Then it was delivered and a picture of my order at my door. So now we have placed 6 orders and I subscribed monthly to avoid the delivery charge. I am so appreciative of the shoppers and round up the recommended tip because they are going out when I cannot. I am able to plan to be available @ the time they start shopping and I message that I am here to chat for any substitutes. And they always communicate. Some chat during, some at the end - but it has always worked out just fine - really good actually. I also put a note on our door for the Instacart person and have that in our delivery notes so they know they have the right delivery location since we want them to leave at the door for safety. I have also checked my charges and all are absolutely correct - no issues. I am very surprised that so many others have negative experiences. That's really too bad because my friends have tried other delivery services which do not offer any substitutions or changes and if out of the exact brand of milk you chose - no milk delivered. It was a bit challenging to get delivery windows at first and none were available for same day or next day, but I realized if you checked first thing early morning that is when windows opened up so I would have my cart ready and check out when one became available. Now they have lots of windows open . I book about a week in advance...it takes planning. We checked other sites out and none had any availability or too expensive, too restrictive - really this is the best in this situation. Thank you Instacart!

Well, so much for convenience. Ordering from Instacart was an added headache to all the craziness of COVID-19 Pandemic. I waited for a week to finally receive my groceries which I understand with the pandemic going. The day came where somebody is finally doing my shopping. She texted me for lots of items to be replaced because they were not there. So I approved replacements. Here's the thing, she asked me for replacement for a box of noodles that cost $20 dollars, she replaced it with 4 packs that cost 1.29 each and never adjusted the price. Then the frozen broccoli I ordered the big sizes and she got me the small sizes so there's another 8 dollar lost there. Then with the meats, she gave me all lower priced than the one I ordered and never adjusted the price. Over all, I paid $350+ dollars for a $200 worth of groceries. Oh, and the frozen stuff were all thawed so I can't even put them in freezer. And the most frustrating thing is, I have emailed them 3 times now to have these resolved and so far, nothing (they have no contact number) . I called Real Canadian Superstore and of course they told me they can't do anything as instacart is a third party. My advice, don't trust instacart to do your grocery shopping for you. I know it's tough these days but wear a mask and do it yourself.
PS: I'm jealous that some reviewers here were contated back by instacart. I never was. Hmnn...

I wish I could give zero stars!
Shopper texted me that he had begun shopping. He asked about a replacement item which I approved.

I had my son sit here the entire two hours of our time window (3pm-5pm) to accept the delivery. We got the “delivery in 15 minutes” text about 2.5 hours in but nothing was ever delivered.

I got ahold of someone on the online chat who said I’ll receive a refund. After reading these reviews I’m just praying I’ll actually receive one! I also found an extra “service fee” on my receipt.

I just got back from the grocery store because I had to do the shopping myself. That item that he said was out and a replacement would be given? On the shelf. I don’t even think the shopper was in the store. His name is Mark in Saskatoon.

I waited for over a week to receive my order. (I understand that everyone is busy.) After 8:30PM, last night, I received a text from my shopper to say she was processing my order. A lot of what I ordered was not available and there was a lot of back & forth texting for about an hour. I then received a text saying my order was on it's way. I was home so I waited for the arrival. The next text I received said, my order had been delivered. It had been delivered ….JUST NOT TO MY HOUSE! I tried to get in touch with my shopper-delivery person but, was told they were logged out for the night. $260.00 worth of my groceries sent to someone else's house. After calling her cell number several times, I finally spoke with the driver who casually claimed she was given the wrong delivery information? (Very suspicious???) So now what do I do? BUYER BE WHERE...IT IS YOUR JOB TO CLEAN UP THEIR MESS!!! I now had to log into Instacart and try to reclaim my $260.00. I was in an online live chart with someone who I could tell their first language was not English. I had to explain 4 times my groceries were never delivered to my house. Of course, they had to get in touch with my shopper/driver person which took a while. After about 1.5 hours of re-explaining over & over and having my shopper/driver admit they delivered the groceries to the wrong address, they finally said, they would refund my account which would take 7-10 business days. There is nothing in my Instacart account to acknowledge what happened. It just said, "Order received." YES, RECEIVED BY SOMEONE WHO DID NOT ORDER OR PAY FOR MY GROCERIES! Nothing about their mistake or about giving me a refund was included on my account information. I had to call back again this morning and spend 2 more hours to fight for my refund. I requested an email detailing my refund information. The request for my refund was only done today after I called for the second time. This has been a terrible experience which feels like a scam. Guess I will find out in 7-10 business days?

Never received the groceries, was sent text messages saying the order was accepted, being picked, on the way and then that it was delivered by Chantal. THIEF!!!!!. I WAS CHARGED $225.00 for the groceries and my elderly parents never received them. I want my pound of flesh. These guys are CROOKS!!

Never received the groceries I ordered. Company put through the $175 on my visa and sent me a receipt saying the order was complete, but I never received the groceries. I have sent five emails to support but they are not responding. I wish people would come back on here to update their comments. Let us know whether your issue was resolved. I will do the same.
The charge went onto my visa and I received a receipt for the groceries on April 14/20. As of today, Apr 18/20 I haven't heard anything back from Instacart.
Update April 20/20. Instacart credited my visa for the tip amount, but still nothing for the groceries.
Update April 22/20. Instacart sent email saying they would issue credit to my account. I replied that I wanted a credit to my visa. I'm waiting for the credit to show up in my visa transactions.
Update April 23/20. Instacart gave me a visa credit for the groceries not received and it is showing under my visa transactions.
I cancelled my monthly membership.

I work for Instacart in Vancouver and I take pride of our service. I always chat with customer about how they doing during this time and ask if they need anything else. I also make some suggestions on essential items and replacement if the requested item is not available. While putting order, customer can actually put request for specific item with no replacement option so that the shopper does not get a replacement items. We are trying best to serve the customer's needs as much as possible during this Pandemic. Now let's talk about expensive items and over charges: you go to shopping groceries specially these days, it takes lot more time as you wait in the lineup to get in the store, then shop for you while maintaining distance from others, then you deal with last minutes added items and then you again wait in the line to pay for the order. I typically spend over 2 hours for a $100 order. So if you are paying for someone's else time spent for you to shop, delivery charges, a generous tip to put our life and health at stake, stop crying for that extra bit which went out of your pocket. Nothing comes free in today's world. You pay for convenience while sitting home and staying safe while we take all the risk. Last, if someone delivered bad quality items to your door steps then it is not company's fault as we all know that some people are taking advantage of their services to make extra money and we all know that not all employees will be good. Some will cheat and some will find ways to slack around. Please file complaint against such instacart shoppers if they did not provide good service and product, you can reveiw them and give them negative comments. I am having to respond to compnay if I get a negative review within 7 days and if I get too many of them, they will suspend my employment with them. Company was started with a great idea of helping those who cant do to shop for their groceries and it is working. Yes, it is crazy busy as I work 12 hours and still not able to finish all the orders in my area due to long waiting time inside and outside of the grocery store. Please drive by and take a look by yourself and then think about before saying anything. I am proud of my job and I love to help people in need. One more thing, when putting order, please indicate if you would like a message or call before leaving your order at your doorsteps otherwise most of the order get left at the doorsteps to maintain social distancing and a picture is sent to customer with their order at the doorstep. We would like to see your faces and talk to you but choosing not to because we dont want to put your health at stake as who knows when we will be exposed to the virus even though we wear gloves, masks and clean all the stuff.

Waste of money unable to get any delivery window

Horrible
Order was cancelled on March 31 for 160$ because the shopper didn’t want to stand in line at Walmart
Got a refund 4 days later and then unbelievably was charged 160$ yesterday
They don’t respond to emails or take phone calls
Trying now to contact the bank but again very long wait times
Do not use!

I was overcharged 50 dollar extra for 1 dozen banana.my order number was [Instacart Care] Re: Issues with Order #358519743
It had been more than 3 weeks they didn't reply back to me .

They texted me at 3 to tell me my groceries would be coming, at 7 to tell me my groceries would be late, and at 7:45 to tell me that after me waiting a week, they wouldn’t be coming at all. Then they emailed me a week later -tonight - to encourage me to check my cart through again - and I could have 10$ on my *next* order! It would have been better if they hadn’t bothered trying to save the sale (which had 25$ in fees). Will never, ever trust them again. Yes, these are unprecedented times but offering me the chance to buy my groceries a week after they cancelled them is tone-deaf. Insulting, even.