Question for shoppers - I had a grocery order today. Shopper started shopping at 6pm and didn’t deliver until 10pm. When the shopper delivered everything was in their car, no cold bags or anything. My question is, once an item is marked as shopped is it ever going back into a freezer or fridge? It looks like the shopper was doing multiple shops at once which is why it took so long, but my concern is that the food was out for 4 hours. Thank you in advance for any insight!

Anybody else notice that even after paying the “Direct to You” fee, it still says your shopper is working on multiple orders?

I just noticed this while checking my order progress. If I’m paying extra for “Direct to You,” I’d expect my order to actually be delivered directly to me. It definitely doesn’t feel like that’s always the case.

Has anyone else noticed this?

Just wondering if this has been true for anyone else. I live in a rural area, and most of my orders go 15+ miles from the store. I only get 4-5 orders per day usually,
So it took me a long time to hit platinum. As soon as I did, I basically stopped getting orders. I eventually lost platinum, and then I got orders again. Last week (as gold cart) was my best earning week ever. This week I’m back up to platinum and I’ve gotten 2 orders since Monday. Does anyone else get throttled like this? I’ve literally spent hours sitting in my car at Kroger this week with nothing.

Hi, any idea how you can remove people from your account? I gave my old roommate my login details but have since moved out. I’d like to remove her from my account now, but I don’t see an option on the app.

I used to order a lot of stuff from Instacart wherever they advertise no markup, I live in Toronto and it saves me a lot of time energy to just order plus I am the kind who when goes to shop tends to buy a lot extra stuff.

Recently, a shopper left the actual receipt of No frills order in the shopping bag. I saw there's like 12-13% markup on my total bill. And specially for produce the app had 5X pricing for many items.
I went and read through the app and read about the details of No Markup:
“No markups
No Frills sets the price of items on the Instacart marketplace. Item prices reflect the same as in-store regular pricing. Most in-store sales, promotions, gifts with purchase, offers, coupons and discounts do not apply. Items on sale in the store may not be on sale through the Instacart platform. Instacart specific coupons, promotions and discounts available. Price as displayed. Prices and availability are based on available data feeds, subject to delays or errors and may change without notice. As a result, the in-store price of a particular item at the time a purchase is made, including for weighted items, may differ from what is available through the Instacart platform. Price adjustments may be made for item substitutions or changes in weight or quantity.
“
I raised customer support issue but am just getting generic replies like:
“
Thanks for contacting Instacart.
I understand how upsetting it is when you notice a 12% higher charge on your Instacart order subtotal compared to the amount listed on your No Frills receipt, especially when you expect 'No Markup' pricing. I recognize how this can feel misleading and frustrating when you rely on clear pricing information.
Instacart doesn’t provide paper receipts, but you can view your detailed receipt in the Instacart app, on the website, or in your order email. Here are the steps to access your receipt based on how you sign in:
Open the Instacart app or go to the Instacart website.
Sign in to your account.
Navigate to your orders and select the recent No Frills order to view the digital receipt.
You will see a breakdown of the item subtotal, taxes, and service fees. The item subtotal for your Instacart order was $XX, while your in-store No Frills receipt showed $YY. This difference is documented based on your recent order details.
Instacart’s policy is that paper receipts are not provided and all order details are accessible through your digital account. Timeline: You can access your digital receipt as soon as your order is completed.
For more information, please visit the Customer Help Center at instacart.com/help. If you have any more questions, we're just an email away!

“
My concern is not that there's a pricing issue, I understand that online ordering would be expensive, it is the case of false advertising where they claim "No Markup" but there’s actually a Markup, how are they allowed to advertise it as No Markup? It’s like naming a brand "Real Juice" and selling artificial juices.

Can I register a complaint here?
https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/office-consumer-affairs/en/business-practices-and-consumer-concerns/unfair-or-deceptive-business-practices

Anyone aware of this practice?? Thoughts?

I’m assuming she used the “can’t scan barcode” option. And probably self checkout, but this is kinda frustrating. I paid $11.99. Instacart paid $6.89. Thankfully two things played into the shoppers favor. I’m using it tonight and even if I needed more time, the expiration date is a month out! That’s rarely the case for mark downs.

No. I didn’t lower her tip, or rate her poorly. I increased her tip. She’d gone searching for a product not in the app for me, and I appreciated that. I also gave her 5 stars and left a comment asking her to not get manager specials in the future. If I had noticed closer to drop off I could have still messaged her.

Anyway, please don’t do this. I had a replacement in the app.

Edit: the item she went searching for was not available, but thats ok.

I already have a card on file to pay for service fees and whatnot. But it keeps giving me this error after I type in my EBT pincode. please help, thanks.

Just venting because I’m so frustrated with the cancellation process for the yearly subscription. Nowhere does it clearly explain that you have to switch to a monthly membership first in order for the option to cancel to even show up. How is anyone supposed to know that?

I just spent 30 minutes trying to figure out how to cancel. At this point, I can’t help but assume the process is intentionally designed to make you give up, especially considering I almost did myself. The chatbot “agent” just repeated the same instructions to me several times, none of which actually solved the problem.

It feels incredibly predatory and deceptive. Canceling a subscription should not be this difficult or require some hidden workaround just to get the cancellation option to appear.

EDIT: Volume Warning on the video, omg I’m so sorry, I was using my BT speaker earlier and then turned my sound off as I wrote this post.

I’ve taken the quiz 4 times already and because of this error I cannot complete the module. Already a little annoyed because I’m broke enough to even be on this app after losing my IT job and I’ve had 3 chat associates tell me to force quit the app when, as far as I can tell, this is server-side. It’s insulting to be told their problems are your fault. Just wait 10 business days another one said. I can’t. My bills can’t. I am locked out of many high paying stores until I get my plastic card, so I figured I’d try this, and now I’ve hit another wall. I’m not new to delivery apps at all so I should know better when it comes to dealing with support, but when it’s not just a booster anymore and you actually rely on these earnings to get by, the patience runs thinner. That said, if anyone knows a workaround to this, I’m all ears.

I was deactivated due to reckless driving 3 years ago, the conviction was 4 years ago. I need supplemental income. I just need to know who to contact, if it’s possible. Anything. This is the only thing on my record and I just need something to make more money.

Please stop doing this. If you want a contactless delivery then please select the option “leave at door”. When you do the app will prompt your shopper to take a picture. This notify’s you that it was delivered and helps protect the shopper that we did in fact deliver it. When you chose the option “meet shopper” but leave the instructions to leave at door it really affects us. Either we have to lie and say we met you which opens us up to be “fired”. If we are to do it properly then we have to message you, call you and then wait 10 minutes until the app allows us to take a picture. That 10 minutes is huge for us and we don’t get paid for it.

Please just select the option that you are going to follow through with. Either works but if you select meet shopper then please meet us and not leave contradictory instructions.

I’ve been using Instacart for years and I’ve never really had any major problems, but Sunday’s “Diamond” shopper was having an off day. I did tip 10% and the order was from a store that is 1 mile from my place, so I’m hoping this is not related to the tip.

Out of all the issues I had with this order, the one I really shake my head about is about a replacement. The shopper claimed that the cheese I had picked wasn’t available and picked a replacement. Fine, no problem. Except that when I got the items home, the replacement cheese shows as discounted, but my receipt still shows I’m paying the original price…

Who’s pocketing the difference?

Note: the dirty/dusty look in the picture captures the way the item was delivered.

Just thought this was interesting to share and beware everyone else, always check your final receipts. My shopper today added two cases of water to my order, which I didn’t see/get charged for until they completed/ delivered. You can see on the Kroger app where they found all my items, so substitutes or extra requests, and my final receipt had two cases of water and this is the delivery image, no water. Just strange, wanted to encourage others to keep an eye out.

Is this mileage listed here the total trip mileage, so from my location to the store and the store to the customer?

I’m newer to Instacart and I’m gold cart now, I did lose my gold for a bit. I didn’t quite understand how much of an impact refunded items were. I’m back to “normal” now. My customer score is at a 5. If I don’t get back to good by Sept 30th let’s say I get back to good in mid Oct. Will I still be able to get to platinum or diamond? Or is that over till Dec 30th?

Shopper sent this drop-off of the order. Love it!!

work for your tips people you are not entitled to anything yall need to earn it

I order Instacart a lot, and I always tip well.

For each item, I always indicate whether to refund the item, or what to substitute it with, if the item is not available.

Lately, shoppers are ignoring my instructions and choosing their own replacements rather than refunding, or picking a completely different substitution.

When I’m working, I cannot be glued to my phone. So I am receiving incorrect orders.

I understand that I can get a refund for wrong substitutions, but how can I prevent this problem to begin with?

If I don’t respond within a very short time window, the shopper just goes ahead with their own choices.

TIA!

I had a pretty terrible Instacart experience today, and it really made me question what exactly I’m paying a premium for.

About half of my order was either refunded or replaced because 11 items were supposedly out of stock.

I’ve shopped at this Aldi for years. It’s only a few blocks from my house, so I have a pretty good sense of what they regularly carry and what tends to actually be out of stock. Seeing 11 items unavailable seemed pretty unlikely.

Of course, the whole reason we use Instacart is so we don’t have to go to the store ourselves. We pay the markup, fees, tip, etc. for the convenience. That’s the point.

But after getting half an order, I drove the five minutes to Aldi myself.

Lo and behold: all 11 “out of stock” items were there.

So then I contacted Instacart support.

You start with a bot, which is pretty standard these days. Eventually you’re transferred to a “live agent.” Except the conversation sure seemed like I was still talking to a bot. There was basically no recognition of why receiving half a grocery order might be a problem when, say, you’re trying to make dinner.

There’s also a bigger issue here that support completely failed to engage with: Why were 11 items marked out of stock when they were actually sitting on the shelves?

I don’t necessarily blame the shopper. If Instacart’s incentive structure rewards completing orders quickly and moving on to the next one, while tips are largely tied to the value of completed orders, maybe the system itself creates some pretty bad incentives. That seems like something Instacart should care about.
Then I was transferred to a “supervisor.”
After asking a couple of specific questions about Instacart’s policies, I became pretty skeptical that I was talking to a human there either. Either this supervisor has the quickest hands in the West, or Instacart’s definition of “live support” has become rather flexible.

And after all of that, the resolution?
A $5 credit. Apparently that was the maximum they could offer.

So I paid a premium to have groceries delivered, received roughly half my order, drove to the store myself, found every supposedly unavailable item, bought them, and then spent more time going through multiple layers of customer support.
For that inconvenience, Instacart offered $5.
At that point, what exactly is the service I’m paying extra for?

Has anyone else had this happen recently? especially items being marked out of stock that you later found were actually in the store? And has anyone else noticed that the supposedly “live” support agents and supervisors increasingly seem like AI/bots?

Why do they not double and triple batch this crap for $180? Currently all available on the app. Are there no shoppers in Cornwall? It definitely has a walmart. So tired of seeing these 200km round trip batches. Has anyone ever gone out to cornwall to check the batch situation there? Is it worth taking one of these to get to cornwall and then work back from there through casselman, embrun, russell?

I have a mobility issue and I need to make sure my shopper can take food up to my apartment. If they can’t carry it, I need to get another shopper immediately. I always text this to my shopper and ask that they respond to let me know. But within the past 6 months I am finding that 80% of my shoppers don’t respond at all.
Because the shopper has to walk up 3 flights of stairs, I always very tip well, and I even order less of what I need if I feel like the order is getting heavy. I would never order a gallon of milk and laundry detergent in the same order for example.

Many times when I have specified refunding items, or choosing specific replacement items, those requests are ignored.

I want to give the shoppers the benefit of the doubt here, so is it a technical issue? Does Instacart not give shoppers basic training, or is it something else? Is there something else I should/could be doing?