Instacart
reviews and complaints

Worst delivery service in the Western Hemisphere! Always getting orders wrong. Sending someone elses order. Not getting the orders correct. You order steak they bring you spam. Dumbest most strung out looking drivers in the world. Most of them look like recently hired crackheads. This last order they texted and said the order was delivered. Never arrived! My guess is the driver is in some alley somewhere eating my dinner. WILL NEVER USE THIS SCAM ARTIST ORGANIZATION AGAIN! I would rather order from a company in Antarctica before using these crooks!

I ordered from Costco via Instacart and order was billed, said delivered, and never delivered. I called and was on hold for over 1 hour. They said the wait time was 59 minutes and I waited past that time. Still no answer.
This was a 200.00 order for food for seniors and we want a resolution. Will contact Costco and complain. But no food!
We received a bill and a photo of the delivery person. He said it was delivered at 1:34 and it was never delivered. We emailed Instacart through their app and they did a universal response saying they would get back to me. That was 2 hours ago. I will never order from Costco Instacart again

The actual cost of goods from the store was 53.28 and Instacart charged me $74.77 for only the groceries. That's a 40% increase to utilize their "service". I ordered a 3 pound bag of potatoes which retailed for $3.99, they substituted it for 5 potatoes and charged me $19.95...REALLY? $20 for 5 russet potatoes? And when I called and discussed they told me they add charges to each item but that fraudulent price gouging.

I gave them the option of refunding the price difference and getting paid for their services or I would cancel the credit card charge and they would get nothing. I also offered to give them $1000 of free advertising, of course it won't be good advertising and I told them I would also contact the store to inform them of the issue. Instacart held firm, they add charges to each item and would not refund the difference.

I have also contacted the store to let them know of the issue, and informed them that I will not frequent a store that chooses to do business and associate with a company that steals from their customers.

Lesson learned - I will never use Instacart again. Hopefully Instacart will see this as a learning opportunity...but based similar comments I see from others on this website, I don't have much confidence that will happen.

My groceries were not delivered today, too. Called Instacart and placed on hold with just music and have used the chat and no one responds there, too. I also emailed and only got the automated reply saying they will be back in touch as soon as possible. I have been using the service for about 10 months without any problems. Exceptionally upset since the reason why I use the service is because I do not own a car and liked the convenience of having my groceries delivered.

Paid $50 for groceries from Mariano's in Oak Lawn, Il. that were never delivered. My shopper Temidayo said he had finished shopping my order but could not deliver to me. Order [protected]. Contacted complaint dept. four times but have not received any reply. I would like my money back or my food. The shopper even asked me to approve some options for items to be changed. I spoke with him on the phone twice. Then he texted me that he was not coming. NO FURTHER EXPLANATION.

3/18/20
Ordered $43 worth of groceries, the shopper shows up with $14 worth of groceries. I attempt to call customer service to get the charge corrected, and wait on hold for over an hour. Next day attempt to resolve through chat, no response on chat for over an hour, as a matter of fact i'm still waiting for them to respond now. Sent an email on 3/18/20, received automated email response stating they would contact me. Still no response. There has been a temporary hold of $70 placed on my debit card for $14 worth of groceries and no one is trying to correct the issue. DO NOT USE THIS SERVICE.

Fransine (that is how it was spelled) was supposed to deliver groceries between 2:00-3:00. We first started communicating around 1:00 (I do not have a time signature for our first interchange). I do have a signature at 1:18. After negotiation about a few items, she disappears after 1:35. The app is not reliable in "live mode". There were actually times when I got a knock on my door before the app indicated that the shopper completed shopping. It wasn't until 3:16 that I told here, after several attempts to communicate, that I had to leave. She said her app crashed and then she blocked me. The only message I got was to contact "support, " I want my money back.

I ordered for the first time many items the main reason I ordered at all, being Polar Sparkling Orange Dry, in 8 oz. cans - the quantity being 10 - 6 can packs. The check out screen showed that they were not available but offered Schwepps I think a 12 pack of 12 oz. cans which I did not want because it was just a flavored club soda and not actual orange soda. When I went in to change the order I could not get in even though it was before the time limit so I had to place a separate 2nd order for the orange dry in 1 liter bottles, which I had seen when I was placing the original order. I ordered only five bottles just to try and see if it was as good as what was in the small cans. I was forced to put in my address and credit card information AGAIN even though it still appeared with the last 4 digits of the card number. I don't know why it didn't keep my information but after 8 times I got the message and the order went through. I had been trying to either tack it onto the first order or get them delivered by the same person at the same time. Instead I had two people delivering to me which cost me added charges like the tip and that service charge. I have to say that the experience was partly my fault due to the fact that I was in a hurry needing to get to a meeting and I raved about this kind of service being available and free delivery and the short time to get something delivered. I did place a complaint about 2 cans each being missing rom 2 separate 6-packs and not being in the bag and not getting a response to be corrected either by sending the two cans or adjusting the price of two cans. I hope I didn't make a horrible mistake by trying to use a service that I desperately need.
Please help me? Cindy

We ordered groceries from Costco. They were supposed to be delivered between 12:00 and 1:00 pm. They cam 1 1/2 hours later at 2:30 pm. The grocery bill was $93.35 the total charge was $140:00. I do not understand how the delivery charge can be $46.65, 33% of our bill. Totally outrageous, we will not be utilizing instacart again. I sure it won't matter to instacart but it does matter to my wife and I.

placed my 1st order - acct was put on ‘hold' preventing me from logging in.
to get reactivated, they req'd:
pic of my license
selfie of me holding my license
pic of last 4 digits of credit card
pic of my name on credit card
i called cust svc for a supvr. - was denied.
kept receiv'g emails for pics of my identity.
i sent email to delete my account.

(This incident took place in Raleigh, NC)

I recently ordered groceries from Instacart.com, as I have on many occasions. I've had an issue or two with my deliveries one or two times, but never anything major, so I always leave a tip when I place my order. The shopper who delivered my families groceries actually picked up everything that I asked for, but failed to notify me, or anyone in my household, that she was at our house with our groceries. Aside from being extremely late (which I could've dealt with, ) she didn't bother ringing the doorbell to let us know she was outside with our groceries. She instead leaves the groceries, which weren't all in bags, outside on the ground, in the rain. I have no idea how long the groceries had been outside, but obviously long enough for them to become wet by the rain.

I contacted Instacart.com to let them know about the issue and to have the tip refunded. I have the groceries so I'm not looking for a refund for that, but I see no point in tipping/rewarding this shopper after this incident, and I wanted to rescind my tip. I received an email telling me how to change my tip. I attempted to do this and was unsuccessful. I then contacted Instacart.com again and received no reply. I contacted Instacart.com a third time and asked them to close out my account and left a detailed explanation of why. I received an email stating that the account had been closed (which is not true) and then another email saying that I was given a $5 credit towards my next order, as well as an additional email stating that I would be receiving a $5 refund. I have not received a refund as of yet and it has now been well over a week. Refund or not, this shopper should be made well aware that what she did is not acceptable. Instead she has an undeserved tip.

I have no interest in using this service EVER again, and I will be sure to make this known to all of my friends, family, and acquaintances. I would like Instacart.com to completely delete my account and stop contacting me.

Thank you!

After having purchased the annual subscription, I have had repeated difgiculties, and now Customer Service has become tone deaf.
After trying to place my weekly grocery order
for over am hour, I was unsuccessful. The next day, I received an email suggesti g that I complete my order. I tried to ahain, but it failed. So I finally accessed my account which has a duplicate with matching info. And started again to place my order. When I received it, I had been charged the weekly fees which I had prepaid via subscription. I asked for a refund, and to have the accounts reduced to one.
Customer Service blamed me and refused a refund.

Driver did not follow instruction, was early for her window, and took my groceries instead of delivering them like she's supposed to. In no part of my instructions did it state to take my groceries in the event I'm not home or not answering the door. She left me the most open ended unprofessional voicemail and once again DID NOT ring door bell as instructed. I think she should be evaluated for competence. The first person i spoke to did not resolve my issue once i called to address the matter, so i called back again and a wonderful man resolved the issue with no problem at all. He was very helpful.

Instacart is holding up my account for review with no communication or time to resolution.

I am a senior and suffer from disabilities and am not able to shop freely. I have come to depend on Instacart's service for my daily food and health supplies. Their action has made my existence much more difficult, which demands more of my energy and abilities.

For Instacart not to provide an alternate or an expeditious resolution to the issue is reprehensible. I'm not sure what the remedy to this intolerable situation but I hope it is corrected soon.

I shopped with instacart once sometimes twice a week and to be treated to this mess is beyond disappointing...just so they know they are holding a disabled senior citizen hostage for an unsolved reason.

Judging from the list of unresolved issues the company isn't very interested is good customer relations regardless of what they say.

Woody Myles
11424 Ohio Ave
Apt #2
Los Angeles CA 90025
[protected]
[protected]@msn.com

Thank you,
WM

i even went to costco and complained to them, they even called you people and got the same thing or, something else like fraud or some crap.Im disabled and need to have the service, i dont know what the heck is going on but i expect it to be fixed pronto.The person i talked to 3 times gave me a bunch of bs is this the way you want to run your co.my name is Richard Entrekin costco no [protected] e-mail [protected]@yahoo.com.i expect an answer asap, as i spend 4-500.00 a month in costco, and im sure they dont want to loose me as a customer, been with them since 1989.thanks for your time.

I used Instacart for the 1st time in August. Just used again in Sept...BOTH times you have OVERCHARGED me. You should be able to tell what you owe by totaling your paper groc store rcpt plus the 1.99 fee. For Aug I was overchrged $5.40 in Sept overchrg $6.57. I live on Social Security and this $11.97 you have overchrged me is FRAUD, DISHONEST and ILLEGAL. FoodLion using Instacart is a new svce to our area - but I assure you I will NEVER use another businesses services who uses Instacart. I trust that Instacart will reimburse my credit card this $11.97 that is rightfully mine. How in God's creation have you grown to be such a large company when you treat customers this way. Truth in advertising my butt...

Last evening, I'd made an order via Instacart's ABC Fine Wine and Spirits sub-branch. The delivery was scheduled between 5:45 pm and 6:25 pm. I'm currently located in Collier County, Naples Florida. However, there was no immediate danger from any severe weather from the oncoming Hurricane (Not scheduled to hit until late Sunday, early Monday) so that's not really a viable excuse. My initial delivery window was then rescheduled between 6 30 and 7 pm. I waited until a quarter after 7 for any update on the status of preperation, let alone delivery and I got NOTHING. Not even a message saying unfortunately your order is unable to be delivered today. This is the first time I've had this issue with their ABC sub-branch and I'm now reluctant to even keep my account open. Instacart, please get your [censored] together.

I ordered Wegmans grocery shopping via Instacart for the first time ( and this will be the last time). I placed an order at 8:44am for two hour delivery window. But my order status was remained "order received" until 9:50am and shopper didnot even receive the shopping order until 10: 15 am, which is 30 min before my given delivery time.
I spoke with store and the shopper to find out what's going on because instacart call center put me on hold more than 30min and email inquiry was not responded.
Wegmans said they did not receive my order until 9:45am, and the shopper was given instructions to shop ASAP without expected delivery window. My delivery time was delayed twice. And did not receive a delivery until almost 3.5hrs after my original delivery time.
Cleary there are dysfunctional system between instacart and the store. And without fixing such system, instacart still show as if they can accommodate delivery window of 2hrs after receiving order. Since with current system, it is not physically possible to delivery such services, it can be considered that instacart is conducting false adversement, which is against the consumer rights.

Copy of message sent to instacart:

This order was never received. I was promised by customer service that the money you took from my account would be automatically refunded. Instantly. It was not! I will have to escalate this issue. I demand you refund my money after all the suffering and back and forth I experienced yesterday. You are now playing with my hard earned money.

Then you promised it would ve refunded in 72 hours. It was not! All this for a horrible all day experience with a service never furnished and a company apparently held by the seems.

My user review in 12 websites will read: "Hands down the worse experience I have ever had with an online service provider. Customer service was not even the problem. The problem is Instacart. The application glitches (according to one of the CS) and I was linked to 9 shoppers but none of them needed up taking my order. AN ORDER THAT WAS CHARGED BY THIS COMPANY AND WAS NEVER REFUNDED!

You people have some nerve! Not only did you fail completely to furnish something as basic as an order (I even gave 4 hours more to deliver it!) but you also took an inflated amount of money and promised to return it immediately. That was 6 days ago.

This information is also being forwarded to the BBB and the third party financial institution that oversees illicit behavior. R

A copy of a request by instacart for more information.

Dear Miss,

Here is a list, yes a list, of what went wrong:

1. Order due to be delivered according to your contact at 10:55. At 11:15 checked the tracker to watch the already late delivery go from 17 minutes arrival time estimated to over a hour till estimated delivery time.

2. Called the help line to see what the issue was regarding the order going away from the delivery address. The gentleman answering the call was unable to access my account by the phone number he requested. Each time the phone number was communicated he would mix up the numbers in a extreme manner. I had to say each number one at a time and keep correcting him until he got it correct before being able to move onto the next number. My job is dealing with barely speaking and non-English speaking patients to give them proper medical care. Your team member's lack of communication skills was unacceptable.

3. Requested a manger who then put the call on hold. Before doing so stated he would be right back. After more than 12 minutes on hold the call was terminated.

4. Once I informed the third person I attempted to clear up the issue with I would be calling the local police department the delivery arrived five minutes later.

5. We were told the reason for the turn around was due to GPS issues. The driver and no representative from Instacart communicated the GPS issue in any form. No call, text, or email. We watched as the estimated delivery time increased for 17 minutes to over a hour away.

I would like to terminate the agreement due to your company not fulfilling their part of the contract with this incident and other incidents. These include items paid for and not delivered from previous orders.

Good day,
Mrs. Cappuccino

Sent from my iPhone