**UPDATE** My Walmart Plus Failed

UPDATE:

I recently saw a Reddit post that mentioned the absolute genius of Sony. "The founder of Sony hired an outspoken critic of their products so they could make better products. 20 years later, he became the president of Sony."

Walmart, are you listening? You don't have to hire me. I give my criticism out for free.

Walmart has a membership plan, similar to Amazon Prime. I gave it a try and... boy, what a complete nightmare.

So why get a Walmart Plus membership?

First of all, what made me want the membership was the fact that there was no-minimum free shipping and free local delivery with purchases totaling over $35. About the same for most grocery store plans. Hyvee's Plus plan purchase minimum is lower at $24.99 but the item prices are higher and the store doesn't have the product variety that Walmart does - naturally because, who does besides Amazon? The other thing is that Walmart is a budget-friendly one-stop kind of place to shop. I know there are haters galore but I am a Walmart customer due to finances and my lifestyle limitations.

So.

General Pros and Cons

The no-minimum free shipping of items went well when I used it but I hated taking advantage. I did make some small orders but started trying to be more organized so that I was not ordering one single thing at a time. Besides, even though you can find almost anything for shipping, the product prices get crazy and vary greatly. I'm not paying $30 for a variety bag of potato chip snacks to be shipped when I can get them delivered or in-store for $10.

Now grocery delivery is my jam, as the kids say (said?). I am on such a crazy diet for my sarcoidosis and have such small food storage space that I usually order once every 2 to 3 weeks. Grocery delivery is a convenience for many people but for me, it is a necessity. I don't drive and I live in a tiny town where neighborhood shopping prices are driven by wealthy tourists. I truly rely on grocery delivery from big box stores.

(Side note: recently, I learned that Walmart Plus members can get Paramount Plus also. Well, that is its own nightmare story so I will save it for later.)

The Plus membership taxes my budget because, at $12/95/month plus tax, it is more than a discounted Prime membership. But again, I depend on the delivery services.

So, what went wrong?

I am going to let pictures tell most of the story. Thankfully, I am in the habit of taking screenshots because of cognitive issues. I had to go through the screenshots of the phone app and Twitter messages just to sort out for myself what the hell happened. My Twitter messages shown are in reaction to what's going on with the ordering app and the Walmart site chat reps.

Here goes:

This was the beginning. The first problem order & it was a doozy. It never did arrive & cust svc were as stumped as I about what happened. As you can see, I was actually worried that the delivery driver might have been in an accident.

Keep in mind, I had so many problems with this order that I dang near had to whiteboard the screenshots to sort them out. This one problem was to do with the water I ordered. The shopper removed it from my order as being an "unavailable" item. Funny enough, I was able to go in and add the water to a new cart. Never did get the water or figure out what was up with the unavailability. 

The same order is still a problem the next day. The app shows that the order is still being delivered. The tracking info (I think it showed the driver being 17 minutes away) had not changed overnight.

This phone text is showing nonsense info about an order that a chat rep canceled for me. They canceled it because they thought the app might be glitchy... The word "glitch" got used a lot by the reps and myself.

By the way, this text came in on August 3rd for an order that was made, screwed up, and canceled on the 2nd.

And I realized that part of this crazy, lost, glitchy order included items that were to be shipped rather than driver-delivered. At this point, my brain hurts and, because of my sarc, I'm actually taking handwritten notes to keep track of this mess.

Then I get an app message saying that my order - yeah, that crazy, canceled, lost order - is... delivered.  I have no idea what is going on. I have nothing delivered. A chat rep assured me that the order has been canceled (I was worried about credit card charges) and to go ahead and just start a new order.

 The magic water that keeps appearing and disappearing from stock is still a problem but the chat rep refunded my bad order. I'm still fairly happy at this point, I decide to hang with Walmart for the time being. (That happy feeling won't last.)

 

This is all annoying but I'm still game. I even thanked the chat rep and said that I'd once worked cust svc so "I get it". 

The bossy side of me though can't help but offer some long-winded advice to Walmart. It goes on for several Twitter messages. I won't bore you with it, but I go on for a bit. But back to the nightmare...

With that first bad order all taken care of, I foolishly think things will be better. I place another order. 

This order was made early in the morning to be delivered between 5 & 6 in the evening on the 6th. That did not happen. On the 7th, I got in touch with Walmart. Again. 

 BTW - that whole "We'd like to look into it"? That must be a copy/paste script because they use it every time. Until later, when they stop the fondness for "looking into it"...

They "look into it" and things are fixed. Then they made the mistake of inviting any more concerns - or maybe I made the mistake of taking them up on it.

One of the perks of a Plus membership is a Paramount Plus membership. Of course, I was having problems with mine. Of course.

I won't go into it all but I wasn't able to sign into Paramount. Not on any browser. Not after clearing cookies and cache and waving a magic wand over the computer. But, bless their hearts, they really wanted to help me with it. At this point though, I have Walmart fatigue & I decline.

See how they are almost begging to help with the Paramount issue? That urge to help will fade fast when we get back to problems with the Walmart ordering system...

I can do without Paramount but... Another order and another Walmart screwup. My new order is going to be delayed. Of course. Because a delay usually signals a biggre problem, I get proactive in alerting Walmart:

Late doesn't bother me. Getting another weird system glitch is what worries me.

Am I a pest for being concerned at this point?

Nope, I am not a pest. I am apparently psychic. This order is also turning out to be a problem. The order is late and the browser is not updating and neither is the app on my phone. I try cancelling to avoid another hours long delivery failure nightmare.

As usual, the chat agent is amazing and is able to get the order cancelled. However, even the agent is curious about the "glitch". He is very sorry and encouraged me to try placing the order all over again. I decide I will try that.

When I mention that I am going to try again but am wondering if it will work this time, Walmart pulls their old copy/paste "reach out" message... They want me to provide them with past order info. As if they cannot scroll back through all these messages.

I give them the problem order numbers. I provide them with a maddening screenshot of a particuarly weird that happened. An order shows on the app as both delivered and cancelled. It's like magic.

At this point, I am done. Walmart is mysteriously not responding to the provided info - info that they requested. 

They just ghost me. So I let them know that I am cancelling the order and cancelling my Plus membership.

Here is how bad that "glitching" of their system is. The chat rep now goes into "forwarding" the problem to a "team". I'm just over it at this point.

 

There are more screenshots but, at this point, I have a headache. I made sure that I canceled my membership and made sure that all charges were refunded back to the original payment method. Then I immediately went back and resumed my InstaCart membership. That's only $10 per month. Sure, I will have to InstaCart shop between Hyvee, Aldi's, Target, and the other stores but at least I won't have to work an unpaid part-time job of fixing Walmart delivery problems.

One funny thing to mention is that, before their Plus program, Walmart was one of the InstaCart shops. I guess they think they can do a better job with Plus. Good luck with that.

When I canceled my Plus membership, I still had 20 days left to use it. I tried doing a couple of shipping orders but, because of the crazy pricing, Amazon was cheaper. And more reliable.

So, as I mentioned to Walmart in the Twitter messages, I wrote a blog post about this epic failure. I will send them a link but they haven't been responding to me for a while. Their problem is in not listening to customers. One of the suggestions I made to them was to have someone take a look at how InstaCart works from a customer POV. I doubt they did that.

Peace

--Free

P.S.: I'm too weary to look it up, but I did tweet out that Walmart failed me. They did the "reach out" thing & I reminded them that they were ignoring me. So they... ignored me. You have to laugh.

Online Shopping in General, InstaCart Specifically

Last year I did a post about online shopping. I also wrote another post that I thought I had published but... it was still there as a draft post when I was checking just now. Of course, the non-published post is the one that was most important. It was all about the perks and erks of the process. Oh well, I will recap the points I wanted to make in that post, then I will get on to reviewing the InstaCart experience.

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To recap the post that wasn't, I talked about the pros and cons of online shopping. Here are the highlights (and keep in mind that I am speaking from the viewpoint of someone who no longer drives.)

• PROS - convenient during inclement weather; for people without transportation; for budgeting (no loitering and impulse shopping); and can be scheduled.
• CONS - lost shipments are a hassle; broken items have to be returned; product descriptions might be deceptive, and there is a wait for delivery.

Overall, though, I prefer online shopping because it helps keep me on budget and - no car. Even though I have family that will jump through hoops to get me anywhere I might want to go, I hate having them out on winter roads any more than necessary. Keep in mind that I live in a tiny town in Iowa. Two things about that: winter and not a lot of nearby stores. The nearest Walmart is less than 10 miles away but it can be a rough 10 miles, depending on road conditions (and out-of-state idiot drivers using the highway). Also, if I am sick, there is no getting me onto a highway even for a short drive.

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So, yes, I am grateful for online shopping. For a long time, I was only using Amazon, Walmart, and ever now and again, Target I was even getting my contacts and some clothing via Costco until that membership fee became a problem. Even my prescriptions are delivered. Pretty sweet, right? And for the most part, I was set for most of the goods I needed. The one thing missing was perishables - meats and dairy. Then I discovered that Hyvee - via Aisles Online - delivers for a minimal fee for orders under $100 (and free for $100+ orders). Perfect except Hyvee can be a little pricey at times.

tracking it

Very recently, I noticed that if I used InstaCart I could order from Aldi. This was otherwise not an option because the store is not listed on the Aisles Online list. InstaCart, however, does list Hyvee (and oddly enough, Petco). I decided to give it a try since there were things I needed from both Hyvee and Aldi.

Since I absolutely want to get the best value, I was comparing prices from both Hyvee and Aldi for each item on my list. Aldi is basically cheaper for most things, especially produce. Then I ran into a problem trying to search for an item that I have ordered from Hyvee recently. It wasn't showing up when I searched via InstaCart.

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Just to make sure that I wasn't having a brain issue, I opened up Aisles Online in another tab and searched the item. It was there, like always. Hmm... I did searches for a couple more random things. Not everything that comes up in the Aisles came up in the Insta.

What I ended up doing was creating 2 carts - one for Hyvee via Aisles online and the other for Aldi in InstaCart. I don't have the time or the energy for frustrating myself.

About Delivery Fees & Other Charges

InstaCart has a cheaper delivery fee ($3.99) than Aisles Online ($4.95).

With InstaCart, customers can sign up for InstaCart Express for $99/yr and get all deliveries free, no matter how large or small the order. There is also a promotion where if you order $35 or more from certain retailers, your delivery could be free. That might be a great deal for me if there were more stores in the network in my zip code. I just don't see the value in the Express service when my choices are Aldi's, Hyvee, and Petco.

my referral link

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My InstaCart basically included the following charges:

• Checkout Bag Tax or Fee $0.42 (but those Aldi bags are awesome)
• Delivery Fee $3.99
• Tip $1.00 (you can choose the tip amount)
• Service $2.75 (I guess this is for the shopper putting the order together)

I can't be mad a that "bag tax". Those Aldi bags are awesome and I will be re-using them for sure.

There were options for the Tip. You could select from set percentages or type in an amount. I felt that with all the other fees, a minimal tip was appropriate. However, because of the quality of service, I will tip more in the future. After all, I didn't have to get out and warm up a car, drive into town, shlep through the aisles, cart up and unload bags... Yeah. God bless that Tammi who did that shopping for me! I think she is covered by the service fee and the tip must be for the driver.

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*use code* TCONWAY13A115

Ordering from Hyvee is much more straightforward but kind of set. If you need to make changes to your order once it's been placed, you have to call the store. The fees are also right up front. You order and as soon as you pay, that amount is what is charged to your card. If something is not in stock, your card is refunded quickly. The service is also a bit more local-friendly. By that I mean your shopper sends handwritten cards and information. When I first moved used Hyvee I wanted to take advantage of the store's fuel/club card. My family could use the fuel points and I could use the coupons. Of course, I wasn't able to get to the store to pick up a card and my family was out of town. I simply mentioned this in the comment section of my next order. The shopper sent the fuel card inside a card with a kind note to always let her know if I needed anything else.

If you order $100 or more from Hyvee via Aisles Online, you get free delivery. Again, this would be great if I ever ordered that much. As it is, I don't think the delivery fee is too much. It's a bargain when you consider all the trouble I'd go through getting out in the weather and on the roads. Never mind on the days when I am sick.

my referral link

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Now, just because I don't want to leave anything out, but I am really tired today, I am just going to list some little tidbits in no particular order.

• InstaCart has a sweepstake every month. Entry is by taking a survey that is mailed after your shopping experience. I entered to win the $200 Visa Gift Card for this month. Fingers crossed!
• InstaCart fine print mentioned that on my $63 purchase, my card would be authorized for $75 for up to 7 business days. However, when I checked, my card was only processed for the amount I spent. 
• Depending on where you live, you will have more or less choice in stores to shop your InstaCart. I do advise that you double check the available items. Remember, my Aisle Online items that were not available via InstaCart. I didn't see any price differenced though when there were items available in both apps.
• Don't limit yourself to InstaCart and Aisles Online. Keep in mind your location. I found both my delivery services by Googling for the ones available to my zip code (and I live in a tiny town 2 hours away from a major city). 

That's it and I hope that this helped someone. I personally don't know what I would do without these services.

By the way, I tried to do the "share" thing via social media to win referral money but the InstaCart page just kept glitching on me. If you do decide to use it, consider using the referral codes I'm posting all over this particular post. Please and thank you.

Peace
--Free