InstacartReviews 2,492

I placed close to a $300.00 grocery order with Instacart about a week in advance. The day came for my delivery and the app showed me that someone was shopping for and even replacing items that were "not available" in the store. I waited over an hour after my groceries should have been delivered and no one came. I contacted customer service via phone and had an automated message tell me that call volumes are too high and that I would have to submit my complaint online. It took days to get a response. I checked my bank account and noticed the charge had not come out. I finally heard back from customer service via email over a week later and they stated that they were going to credit my Instacart account for the missing order or I could let them know that I wanted to be refunded. I let them know that I wanted a refund. I checked my bank account and the charge had come out of my account conveniently around when they had emailed me about a credit or a refund. The email had stated that if I requested a refund it would be issued to my account between 5 and 10 business days. I waited 5 days and there was still no refund. So I contacted customer support and asked when I would be getting my refund. They explained that they issued me a credit and it is available in my Instacart account (even though I had clearly stated previously and promptly that I would like a refund). So I replied stating again that I wanted a refund and that is all. Someone replied and said that they could not refund me due to it being a week after the scheduled purchase. I let them know that I would be disputing it with my bank. I did not receive a reply. I contacted my bank (M&T) and explained the everything to them. She gave me a case # and let me know that they would be contacting me via USPS regarding information they may need in support of the dispute. She went on to reimburse my bank account for the missing Instacart payment. I will go out of my way to make sure M&T Bank have everything they need to follow through with this dispute. This is terrible customer service on instacart's part. I feel as though I was manipulated into what they were hoping would be surrender. I am so upset and offended that the opposite of what they wanted is taking place. I refuse to use a $300.00 credit for a company that I don't believe does good business.

INSTACART is simply the worst company

INSTACART is simply the worst company I've ever dealt with. The overcharged and double billed me... twice. Then they refused to do the work to fix the issue... they expect you the customer to do the leg work. I had even emailed them the receipts for them to see it was their error. They refused to even do the work of comparing the receipts... they told me I had to do that for them. Then they intentionally took weeks replying to requests for assistance... then when they finally saw that they had made the errors in billing... said I had taken too long in requesting the refund... so they wouldn't refund my credit card... they would only refund my Instacart account to put it towards my next purchase. I explained to them that the inital request was within 2 weeks of the purchase, but their customer service agents intentionally kept ignoring my email requests for help on the matter. THEY SLOW WALKED resolution to my problem ON PURPOSE to hold MY MONEY HOSTAGE to make me buy again. DO NOT BUY ANYTHING THROUGH INSTACART! Also. They have no phone customer support so you are held hostage to their company policy of evading the customer and issuing refunds. This is their policy... not an accident. I sent daily email requests during those 2 weeks which they willfuly ignored. I will NEVER USE INSTACART AGAIN!

During this pandemic when we are homebound I really needed groceries for me and my toddler. I love shopping at sprouts and really needed an order from there. However Instacart does not allow prepaid cards of any type. Including Child Support Card's. They really need to review this policy. If there are available funds on a visa accredited card purchases should be allowed. Very disappointed in the service because it would have been a lifesaver right now. Literally.

Well. The 1 1/2 star rating on this service pretty much says it all.

Just tried to deliver $50 of groceries to my wife, as a surprise.

The "surprise" is that if you have a problem with this site - you are completely SCREWED!

The log in doesn't work (they didn't ask for a password... so how is this supposed to work?)

When you reset the password, the system just hangs. No action at all.

Of course, the first question on any other route in this system is "please log in." Hello... anyone home?

And when you call in, they tell you they cannot do anything, need to escalate the issue, and "someone will call you back."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHA

They think we all want PhD's in Instacart!

What a complete waste of time...

The crown jewel was the email "Prepare to be Amazed."

Yeah... I'm amazed all right... I'm amazed you are in business.

This is horrible... even for a Canadian company! Maybe TD bank can help improve the service up to Legendary.

What a joke.

Where to start, these so-called "shoppers" are THE worst! First off, they never have a thing, it can't be THIS many replacements for food. 2nd they youngish, 3rd I suspect especially towards the end of your order they don't have the rest of your items. They will refund everything and close the order. They take advantage of the fact that you cannot see what's all going on. I have tried Instacart 3xs, never again. I will stick with Prime as I have for years.

It is almost equal to cheating. They rip the customer utilize this pandemic situation.
This service is a rip off they mark up the prices by 25%.
I purchased grocery at Costco from $342 (including tax and exclude tips) order in that actual price is 284(include tax) was their mark up. Almost 60$ more for one order i did 3 order till now. I would have payed Walmart or Amazon prime paying 12.99 and get may other benefit along with the proper items. I don't how Costco allow these kind of fraud company.

I ordered a cake, 2 steaks, chicken and lettuce for my sons birthday. The delivery guy instead delivers 4 boxes of poptarts and hummus. My daugher-in-law knew what I ordered and told him this is not right. He then gave them 2 steaks and the lettuce. No cake. No chicken yet charged for it all. I contacted instacart via chat and got no place with the first person I chatted with. After seeing I was charged $72.05 for the entire order I contacted instacart via chat again (plus $3 tip my son gave him. I uploaded the receipt for $22.06 that my son screenshot for me. Instacart then credited me only $35.42. Still cost me $36.63 plus the $3 tip for total of 39.63 when the bill was only $22.06. I never would have ordered and paid their insane fees if I knew he wouldn't get his birthday cake and half the order. This is outright robbery. This is the first time I used instacart and the last. I agreed to pay those fees only to get all items, especially the cake.

INSTACART beware - don't use them. A service that shops at grocery stores and deliveries. I have got overcharged for sales tax on 4 different orders. I pay the store sales tax of 5.250% and then Instacart adds sales tax again of 10%. I talked to two agents and they will not take off the added sales tax because they said I agreed to it when I placed the order. The last order they overcharged $22.20 in sales tax! The shoppers were goood but Instacart.com adds a delivery fee, a service fee, a tip for shopper and double sales tax.

I ordered from Safeway through Instacart. Next day Instacart delivered all incorrect items then I asked the delivery man to take the items back to Safeway. You know what he said to me? This delivery man said he was no longer responsible after dropping off the items. Then I received an email from Michael at Instacart Care. He asked me to personally go to Safeway and asked for an exchange or refund! STAY AWAY AND DO NOT ORDER ANYTHING FROM INSTACART. THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY IRRESPONSIBLE AND UNPROFESSIONAL.

We've used Instacart three times during the COVID-19 lockdown, ordering groceries from Ralphs (a Kroger brand), which in turn used Instacart for deliveries. While the shoppers have been very nice, have selected good items, and have texted us when any problems arose (such as an item being out of stock), Instacart has been anything but transparent when it comes to billing. The first two times we used Instacart, we got NO RECEIPT, and none was available on line. I called Kroger and got a list of the things we purchased, but it excluded the tip. Worse, the total on the list Roger sent to me was significantly different from what was charged to my AmEx card. In addition, there were several small charges on my card; the Kroger representative said those charges were for replacement items, and when I protested that I was also charge for the items they replaced, she assured me that I would eventually get a refund for those items. Guess what? That NEVER HAPPENED! The nex instance of using Instacart each resulted in a single charge to the credit card, but again we got no receipt; the shopper texted me that the was required to take a photo of it and send it to Instacart, and that Instacart would send it to me. Again, that never happened. The third time a texted the shopper and asked for the receipt from Ralphs, and it was in one of the bags I received. The total on the store receipt was $86.67, which induced a $9.95 delivery charge but not the $13.00 tip we had included when we ordered. That make a total of $99.67, but the AmEx charge was $106.13. We tried calling Kroger again to get an explanation, and they sent us an e-mail showing that a tip of $13.84 was added to the $86.67 in purchases for a total of $100.51 (we authorized a 15% tip, so I have no idea how they figured that the tip should be $13.84), again different from the AmEx charge. Bottom line, the shoppers are good, they deserve good tips, and I don't mind paying for the delivery but I hate the apparent overcharging by Instacart, and I especially dislike not being able to get a straight answer from them. No more! We'll risk getting sick before using Instacart ever again.

They waited till 15 minutes before I would have had to leave for curbside pickup to tell me my order would not be ready. I waited over a week after placing the order to pick up $300 worth of groceries that did not happen. I had a 45 min ride. My time was 6pm to 7pm. Was I suppose to wait all night? I canceled. Wegmans can do better than them. They are not reliable at all.

From customers tips not getting to the shopper, to orders not getting to the customer due to their site messing up, hours on hold on both ends to try to resolve an issue only to haveing the chat ( you cant call them you have to use the in chat app) just ended. Instacart the company is making out like bandits in the wake of the covid virus. Tips mysteriously disappearing for a shoppers account even when the customer is a personal friend of the shopper and shows them that they paid the tip on their end, to customers begin his with hidden fees that jack up the prices. Shoppers getting baited to refer people with promises of large referral payments that never appear, just like their weekly payouts that some people literally had to get local news investigators involved to get their pay. Instacart is just one of the new wave of gig economy companies set to take as much money from people as they can.

So I pay $99 (or $149) year for membership, then pay $5.99 - $7.99 depending on time for delivery (waived for orders over $35.00), then 10% Service Charge (optional but none of that goes to the employee who is delivering), plus 10-15% in tips (optional again but why wouldn't you?) and wait... on the top of that they charge marked up prices on certain items (15% flat on everything you order from COSTCO or WholeFoods etc.) So if I pay $3.99 normally for eggs at Albersons, they charged me $5. Xx. On an average if I spend $200/per COSTCO visit then I'll end up paying $230.00 for bringing it out to the parking lot. If you spend $500-$800 on groceries per month then add about $8. Xx for membership and even if you don't count optional charges including tips and still pay on an average 10%-15% markup price on some items or on entire order? Do the math. Is it worth paying that much to just save few minutes and travel to the grocery store? Not for a guy like me.