Valet Service for your groceries with Acme Markets online!
Written: Mar 10 '08 (Updated Apr 01 '08)
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| Full Review |
For $4.95, Acme markets/Albertsons will pick, pack, load your groceries into your car! For $9.95, Acme/Albertson's will pick, pack, and drive your groceries to your home. Simply go to www.albertsons.com to avoid the drudgery of grocery shopping.
That's all I needed to sell me on the valuable service. Great in theory, but is it a smooth operation?
Here’s the drill:
Register online (basic questions/quick)
Select products; there are three options
1) by aisle
2) A-Z
3) Search
This is the most time consuming part of shopping online. The aisles will coincide with what you’d find at your local market. A-Z is good for things like specific fruits, vegetables etc, search option is tricky. Too general like milk will result in hundreds of items, including those with milk as an ingredient. Too specific may result in zero results. I find that I have to go general and then refine.
DRAWBACK:
Very little information available for details of item. If you know exactly what you want, great! If you’re counting on checking things like calorie/nutrition or even item description, you will be disappointed. It’s simply not there. There are plenty of occasions, when images are not even available. Unit prices however are there for price comparison shoppers.(More about shopping later in the review)
After items are loaded into your cart, checkout.
Unless you register with Albertson’s/Acme’s Supercard, you will be asked for this information each time you checkout. I already had a Supercard and it was entered as part of my registration process. You can skip this step each time you checkout, but why not take advantage of the benefits? You’ll be entitled to some special values. Once you have a card and enter it in your account info, this step will be omitted.
Next step is delivery preference (2 options from which to choose):
Home Delivery for a $9.95 fee:
PRO: all you need to do is carry it in from your doorstep, and put it away
CON: $9.95 fee, you need to block out 1 ½ hours to be available for delivery
Generally, at least in my area, if products are ordered by late morning delivery is usually available as early as 24 hours later. Time of year (holidays) will affect the availability of delivery.
Store Pickup for a $4.95 fee:
PRO: Drive to your local Acme/Albertsons, walk to customer service for pickup, drive home, and put the goods away
CON: Sometimes you have to wait a while at customer service. Orders are rarely carried out and loaded into my car. (I learned to call first and schedule a pick up within a half hour --- the website does not offer this advice)
Selecting either option, you will be presented with a grid of available dates and times to choose. Store pickup allows more flexibility to work with a busy schedule since you’ll have until 10:00 pm for pickup. I don’t like home delivery because I have to block out 90 minutes of time to wait for a delivery, and often I’m making the selection 1-2 days in advance. If there’s a change in my schedule, this can be tricky.
Last Step/Payment
The website accepts Visa, Mastercard, Discover, or American Express. At this step, you will also have to opportunity to note your Substitution instructions.
After order placement, you’ll receive a confirmation by email of the items you picked and prices paid. An additional email will be sent to you confirming the actual details of the PICKED order and the amount your credit card was charged. If store pick up was chosen, it will also provide a time for which the order is expected at your local store.
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Additional information about shopping online experience:
Your product menu will be loaded depending on your local area, affecting product availability.
Inventory is extensive
Time consuming to pick items
Price/Unit price detailed
Volume/Weight/Size/Unit Info provided
Product details is non existent
Easy to navigate
Substitution Policy (Set up in your account. My preference is set to NO SUBS, and at checkout there’s an option to further define your substitution requests. I stick with NO SUB and note exceptions at checkout for milk, butter, eggs)
When you choose an item, you can
1)add to your cart
2) add to your list
Several lists can be maintained and saved for future use (highly recommend for time savings) I have separate lists like KIDS, THANKSGIVING/CHRISTMAS, EASTER, etc
Grocery carts can be named and saved too. This is really very helpful for your next shopping trip.
Shopping cart is easy to update. Add, subtract, delete.
Order information is saved for future reference even if you don’t save lists.
Caution: Read unit of measure carefully, I thought I was buying 1lb of MacIntosh Apples, but I actually purchased 1 apple!
ORDER FULFILLMENT
My experience is rarely 100%. I anticipate this though and am not too bothered by the fill rate. Happens when you shop yourself too. And, because you receive a confirmation of picked items, you’ll know what is missing from the order. I give them a “B” here.
ACCURACY
I’m giving a “B-” here. I’ve had plenty of problems here. Minor, and easy to remedy at the store, or by contacting customer service at 1-877-932-7948. The best way to handle this is to verify your order when you pick it up. However, I find that the employees are quick to avoid this, and honestly so I am. Generally I don’t find errors until I get home. I’ve encountered:
Billing issues (buy one, get one)
Product errors (unauthorized substitutions, or wrong product)
CUSTOMER SERVICE
Earns an “A/A-“ Contacting customer service at 1-877-932-7948 is easy, convenient, and always results in a successful end. Customer Service at your local store will depend upon the individual employee. The guidelines are there and should be in place to maximize your experience. I’ve encountered some issues at the local store with employees who are unfamiliar with the internet process.
LOCAL PICKUP
It’s the option I choose for convenience, but in the beginning, there were a number of problems I encountered:
There’s no indication on the website that a pickup needs to be scheduled, however, at least in my store, it’s necessary or you may be waiting for 20 minutes before someone retrieves your order.
RARELY, will the employee take the cart to my car and load it for me. No big deal for me, and I never ask for it, unless it’s offered. The employees don’t seem to know they’re supposed to do this.
Sometimes, even if it’s scheduled, I wind up waiting because refrigerated/frozen goods remain in an appropriate area until you arrive. Grade: “B-“
CONDITION OF GROCERIES
Grade: A+ here! Fresh items like fruits and vegetables seem to be picked from the cream of the crop. Frozen, refrigerator items remain in whatever state is required.
Overall, I continue to shop for groceries online to do the bulk of my weekly shopping. It doesn’t completely omit the need for me to do some actual, non-cyber shopping, but I’m okay with that. I don’t mind running in for an item or 2, but I HATE doing an entire shop. The service is WELL WORTH $4.95 to me.
Although I prefer pickup, I have had at least three home deliveries. The driver each time was very friendly and polite, and the orders were rec'd within the designated window of time.
If you're a coupon clipper/user, you'll miss being able to apply yours. But, there are always online weekly specials/values.
Give it a try, and if the first order leaves you with much to be desired, contact Customer Service. They may even give you incentive, in the form of an online discount for another try.
Recommended:
Yes
Type of Products Delivered: Food
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Epinions.com ID:
mql1208
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Location: Northeastern suburbia
Reviews written: 299
Trusted by: 141 members
About Me:
So much for my NY Giants comeback! Still alive in my suicide pool.
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