Instacart
Reviews and Complaints

I placed an order for groceries from my local Kroger, to be delivered by Instacart earlier today 8/30/22 with a 2 hour delivery window. I watched on the app as the shopper, Ashley T. listed items for substitution for my approval and also items out of stock that she refunded.

When I got my final receipt for $193 I instantly knew something was wrong because my original quote was more like $154 and she refunded 6 items. When I looked at the detail of my receipt, I saw Ashlee added a curling iron, ground beef, hawaiian punch, microwave meals, snacks and other items not even initially on my order and listed them as substitutions. They were clearly items she purchased and kept for herself. She also kept a box of snack chips that I did order and was charged for. The total she got over on me for was $53.06.

I reported to Kroger and Instcart. Kroger refunded my money and they both asked if I wanted to block Ashlee from being allowed to handle my orders. I asked them both if they were still going to allow her to shop for other people in the future. They only said they would escalate the issue but it seems to me they think I should be satisfied with my refund and they plan to allow Ashlee to continue to shop for them and scam other hardworking grocery shoppers out of their money - especially those that don't notice or forget to look at their final receipt. She needs to be held accountable and fired.

Ashlee has proven to be untrustworthy and should not be allowed to shop for any more customers. In any profession, including mine (attorney), stealing from a customer/client is unacceptable and automatic grounds for termination. Attorneys can even lose their license to practice. I don't think Kroger/Instacart should treat it's employees any differently.

So I ordered my order through the frys app instacart takes care of those orders. I notice that I placed my order at 345 and clicked the two hour delivery at 649 I called customer care I was treated rudely and ultimately the guy refuse to cancel my order so now I have to wait to get my food delivery till possibly 850 at night worst service I have ever received and as some one who has worked years in retail this situation was handled all wrong definitely will not be ordering through them again

I made an order to Instacart on July 25, 2022. My account has an EBT card that is to be charged with all eligible EBT items and my credit card is only to be used for delivery charge and charges that are not EBT eligible. I never had a problem before, but on this date they charged me $145.00 on the credit card instead of the EBT card. The total order was $207.33 where $182.90 was EBT eligible and should be charged to my EBT card, instead they made three charges to my credit card $40.00, $50.00, and $55.00 and only charged $43.61 to my EBT card. They have several excuses to not fix the problem. They say that if you add items after you check out they charge the credit cad what is incomprehensible since they encourage you to add items after you place your order and tell you that if they are not shopping yet you can add items. These are ebt eligible items as it is shown on the receipt, but yet they charge your credit card. I made other purchases where I added items and it was correctly charged to my EBT card, but they told me that they changed the system after I made the purchase, between July 25 and Aug 22. This is a very shade procedure, I didn't see any warning that they would charge my credit card if I added more items. People would never think that by add items to the cart would change the payment preference method, because you just allowed the use of the credit card for non EBT eligible items. They argued that I waited to long to complaint. I just check on my credit card charges before I make a payment and my credit card is due on Aug 26, so I didn't had a reason to check it. I didn't expect to be blind sided by this company. I mistake was trusting that they would use my primary card that is the EBT card for the purchase. I tried reaching out to them but they are adamant to not fix the problem. I asked them to refund my credit card and charge my EBT card as it was supposed to be done, but they refused it. They say the system doesn't allow what is the most ridiculous excuse since every system can be overridden. I also offer to return all my purchase that are not expired and are safely stored and get a refund, but is was rejected too. The customer service is horrible. It is impossible to get hold of someone that has the power and ability to give solutions or options instead of saying I can't do nothing for you. After several calls and texts I was able to reach a man who declared being the higher management of the company located in Georgia. He affirm to be the only person responsible for the claims of all US and Canada even though he had no idea how to solve my problem. He just repeated over and over again that he couldn't and wouldn't to anything, like a record machine. I was angry and frustrated. He didn't show any respect. He answer the phone in a very noise place where I could hear people talking in the background. I could barely hear what he was saying and he had the audacity to tell me that was my phone that had a bad connection. I asked him several times to transfer me to some higher level personal and he refused. He said he was the higher management level and if I wanted to talk to someone superior to him I would have to call again and hang up the phone. I am very disappointed with this company. If this person represents your company as management, I am very sorry for you. It gives you a bad reputation. I hope this reach a higher executive who can make it right so nobody else go through the same thing I am going through now. The only thing I asked was for the charges to be transferred to my EBT card which is my primary card on this company website.

Today, 8/24/22, I placed a routine order from Wegmans through Instacart and it was a disaster! First of all, it took nearly three hours to get my items delivered when the ads promised speedy delivery. Worse, five items I ordered were missing, forcing me to ask for refunds!

This was the worst shopper I've had; I may scrap the service, although they've done well with most of my orders. I use it especially with heavy items such as milk and juice. But my juices were missing today and there was no excuse.

Been a member for over a year with nothing but issues with the wrong things being delivered and or the wrong price being charged. Instacart also marks up the prices of the items far above what it is sold in the store. I provided documented proof that items were not what i ordered. On my last delivery the driver showed up over 2 hours late and some of the food had spoiled. In addition, some of the food wasn't what i ordered. I been trying to get refund for over 2 weeks. DO NOT USE THIS SERVICE UNLESS YOU WANT TO RECEIVE ITMES YOU DIDNT ORDER

I had a driver name chest did he that was supposed to make a delivery for me on August 16. I ordered two bottles of wine in that order and the driver tells me she didn’t have her ID to get the wine but she didn’t tell me this until she was almost at my residence. I called Instacart to notify them. Then the driver comes back to scan my ID but still brought know wine. I was still charged for the product so I called Instacart back and they issued me a credit for the wine. I go to redeem the credit and the app is still trying to charge my card. So I called Instacart back to find out how to redeem the credit only to find out that the credit can only be used for groceries. So Instacart decides to issue me a refund in the amount less than what I actually paid for the wine for. And now I have to wait 5 to 10 business days to be reimbursed for less than the amount that I actually paid

I ordered from instacart and they do not pay your holding funds back. They hold your funds and tell you to call your back and never issue your money back. If ask to speak to a supervisor, they'll tell you to wait 3-5 days and when that time is up. They don't issue the money back and supervisors will not take your call or call back regarding your money. Reps will tell you they have to listen at your call and never come back to the phone.

They will charge your debit card half of the items in cart when everything can go on your ebt card. They can charge the card again for weigh items they choose not to. There is a error when you add all ebt to ebt. Its obvious what their doing. Beware of and look at how much is added to ebt card. All items was ebt. There is no way weigh items or prices can't be adjusted to ebt card. Its very sneaky. Walmart has the option to do that. Also they charge fee's and delivery fee's if people have a ebt card what makes them think people can pay extra fee's and tips. The delivery fee should be enough. If your poor, disabled, elderly go with amazon grocery or ask a neighbor to take you to the store. These delivery services is only for people who can afford it. Food prices already high. Not many stores accept ebt online either. They thought oh let's milk the poor by making them think this is convenient and helpful.

Instacart shows ps5 being available at one free Meyer 3 towns over from me. Today, august 7, 2022. I order, I pay. The shopper starts shopping.

They refund the order saying it’s out of stock. I call the store, they say they haven’t had one on in months and have no idea why instacart would show it as available. As of this writing, instacart STILL has this ps 5 listed as available. FRAUDS

I assist a disabled friend with medical, chores, shopping, and other tasks whenever I can. She called me this morning, very upset, to report INSTACART locked her out of her account without explanation other than they "suspect" fraudulent activity. She needed to order her special diet food for the weekend and couldn't.

They told her in order to reactivate the account she would have to upload a copy of her photo ID and credit card for proof of who she was. She explained she had no way to do that as she doesn't own a cell phone and no means to get a picture of those items onto her computer. She offered her phone number and email on file to contact her to prove who she was. They said they would have someone call her back to verify her identity over the phone. They never called. That's when she called me. I called them and explained the same situation and was assured someone would call her back. By 4:00 p.m. no one called back, so I called again as I wanted her to get her order in before it was too late. This time I was told, the only way to resolve the account is to upload that information. Despite my pleas that there is no way for her to do that, and that time was running out for the weekend order, I was told that is all that could be done. I told them they lost 2 customers today... my friend AND me.

I checked around and found an alternate means for delivery for her weekend food. I will now look for another permanent delivery service. I'm incensed that the ONLY option for my disabled friend that Instacart could offer, was to just not eat. I will be blogging about this company's insensitivity and I will write to their headquarters to let them know how badly they dropped the ball. Perhaps they will rethink this ridiculous policy of forcing people to upload private, sensitive material to their servers when they could do what EVERY other online service does, dual authentication through a cell phone OR email.

Accepted a batch of an order to shop at Raley’s market on July 28 2022 when I arrived to the market the app’s keep spinning and I could not proceed to shopping, I know something’s wrong by looking at the signal bars of the internet connection on the phone and it was fine the only thing causing the app spinning is human errors. This time I knew what’s happening then I remove the batch and canceling the order. The admin of the day is the one who caused this problem. I bet whoever administered that day willing to open his/her mouth for incident.

On 7/26/22 I placed an order with BJ's wholesale who use InstaCart as their delivery service. Order was placed at 12 pm EST and around 4 pm I received a test that the order was on its way. After 8 pm, I called Instacart and was notified that the order was canceled by the delivery personnel. I asked what was the reason and the customer service rep stated that as per their system, the delivery personnel did not give a reason for cancelation. After going back and forth several times I asked to speak with a supervisor who apologized and asked that I place the order again without having receive a full refund. Then on 7/27 I placed the same order with additional items, and the driver called me and told me his car was to small so he will not deliver the items. I asked can he call instacart so that they can send another driver with a larger vehicle and the driver mumbled on the phone for approximately 10 minutes and then hung up. I placed a call to Instacart and they informed me that the driver should have never canceled but he did and I have to place the order again even after not receiving a refund. Then I was told the driver from the previous day canceled the order because he could not get in contact with me, which was a lie, because I was informed tat he never gave a reason. Instacart drivers are not responsible and Instacart as a company doesn't care if you do not have the ability to get your food or not. They have poor customer service and horrible policies in regards to refunds.

I tried to activate my GrubHub+ when I became a member of Instacart+. This NEVER worked. I have called several times to Instacart who then has me call Grubhub several times. NO ONE in either company knows what they are doing. I thought I had Grubhub+ and I did not and was paying for my Grubhub orders. My Instacart Profile shows that I have Grubhub+ but it does not show when I log into Grubhub! Been doing this back and forth for almost a year and i have an email from "George" on how to activate my Grubhub from June of this year!

Trust and safety team does not even reply at all after they decided to deactivate my account for some duplicate account reason

How come a driver license and the picture verification can be wrong. I never had a account before when I apply my background check got some issues. when it got clear this April and now instacart deactivate my account saying that it’s duplicate.

And look the representatives said to me in the chat I am attaching that also take a look

They glad to have me so they can deactivate me

I’m a handi cap person We had an instacart delivery They came in a dirty old car dropped grocery’s off at the wrong house while I was on the phone with her she said come and get the grocery’s I dropped them off already I told her I can’t I’m disabled , she didn’t care with an attitude, saying No here they are and sent me a pic ,,,, I figured it out it wasn’t the same person on her instacart picture profile, a totally different person ! the registered person on instacart is getting other people to do her instacart for her

Not a good business

3:38 on 7/13/2022

recieved a message on of my items was out of stock and inquiring if I wanted a refund.

before I could even begin to type in a reply I get a second message that item was refunded.

what follows is a word for word verbatum message between me an Shopper Kendra:

me: get regular wheat instead

Kendra: ok

me: Be awfully nice if you gave me a chance to answer before refunding

Kendra: That's the way I shop some people never respond

I have no problem replacing anything

me: I am not some people

Kendra: I don't know you

we are not going back and forth

I will replace your bread

me: gues you really want a tip huh

Kendra: I'm not about to kiss your [censored] for no money

you don't even tip good

ME: Good because that's what your pitching to get

Kendra: you can keep it

no replacement for bread

Me: That's fine I will cancel the whole order

and send all these cute screenshots to instacart

Kendra: do that

Good

I screen record EVERYTHING too

I will report you on my end also

SHOPPER proceeds to refund all items previously shopped

me: Bet they are going to love yo see profanity on your end

Kendra: On my way! To work

I'm sure you're the problem

Y'all try and bait customers for three to four dollars

After 16 months of being a frequent loyal customer, they are now refusing to refund their own mistakes basically saying I’m committing fraud when I get refunded for mistakes the shoppers make (wrong items, missing items, damaged items). Be wary of them. This is not a good way to conduct business. I sent picture of latest damaged item but denied. This occurred today at 11 am or so. Picture of email below.

I have had issue with many orders with this service but continued to use it due to Covid . Wrong Items , Missing Items, Outdated Item , Veg going bad you name it . They are also misleading about refrigerating your order if they have a batch, they expect the shopper to have hot/cold bags that's your ref people and some do not even have them so that rotisserie chicken or other cold product might be building up enough bacteria to get you sick .

I have never asked for refund unless it was something that was going right to the trash and how dare they question my integrity . Shoppers are suppose to come alone but many times that is not the case and sometimes its not even the correct person to match the photo . This company is terrible

Do not use! They will charge you and estimated amount and supposed to release when order amount goes through… three times they have held both! I was due to see a mlb game and woke up to -13 in my bank and was unable to go or access my money. My bank is always extremely fast with deposits or refunds and they kept blaming the bank taking no responsibility! I was a long time frequent customer told them only way i’d stay if they gave me compensation with free 1/2 year membership they declined to keep me so now i’ll use walmart and shipt. Never have issues with them

How can it be in 2022 a company should have a team that hides behind a Email. Takes over 72 hours to respond and won’t have the decency to pick up a phone or have a number to call in to actually speak to a human! For 5 weeks I’ve been locked out of my account for something that was for a sure a glitch on there end! I’ve emailed and called countless times and was promised would be escelated and I would get a call and 5 weeks later and at the same place where I started! There Customer service is the worst ! Never dealt with such a horrible company!