I only use this app because I don’t have a car and sometimes i need things that I can’t myself the day of. EVERY SINGLE TIME there is an issue with my order ie. shopper never comes, poor replacements/substitutes that are not equivalent substitutes, order comes with everything but the item I need and is just the extras. The app should have the option for customers to purchase items directly from the store first to mitigate any wasted time and money purchasing items only to find out they’re out of stock at that particular store, and shoppers should be educated on what proper substitutes are/items should not be substituted if there are no substitutes given. I purchased a hair color remover for semi permanent hair color and woke up to find *permanent hair color remover on my porch which I cannot use. So now I’m out $25 and have to go out of my way to make a return at a store I don’t frequent. This app is only useful for grocery shopping every other non grocery item I have purchased has been a terrible experience of back and forth between out of stock items and wrong substitutes which is a waste of time and money when you need something fast. Additionally they like to take on $5+ to your order without telling you, and you’ll only notice if you check your bank statements how much they are really charging you. Doordash is at least better with customer service

I love shopping for Instacart. It’s a great way to make money quickly however, this app/ company is VERY customer driven. Your shopper rating determines your earning potential and it’s not fair at all. Customers can lie and say items are missing from their order or that the order is missing all together and you as a shopper receive a lowered rating. Customers can also give bad reviews and rate 1 star for things out of your control. The lower your rating the lower your earning potential. The lower your rating the more likely you are to get the batch’s NO ONE wants like the low or no tip orders. Disputing the claims don’t do anything to help even when you take your pictures and attempt to text the customer when items aren’t in stock and the customer doesn’t respond. It’s very easy to have your ratings drop and harder to get them back up. The lower your rating goes the more likely you are to have your account deactivated. Instacart needs to fix this and make it harder for the ratings to drop. Anything below a 5 star review drops the rating as well so you HAVE to get 5 stars everytime. But I guess until enough of us shoppers get on them about this it will continue to happen bc hey the demand for this huh job is high so they don’t care if they lose a shopper however many shoppers care if they lose this gig job. Anyway just wanted to give anyone out there a heads up on the inside workings of this app to make a sound judgement and be aware.

My little town has recently been added as an Instacart delivery destination. For this, I’m immensely grateful. I’ve found the app easy to use, costs reasonable and shopping/delivery services wonderful. However, I am using Apple to sign in - which causes a lot of glitches (e.g. I can’t access any support or assistance without using Google, Facebook or my personal phone number). I am no longer willing to share these directly with any vendor, nor with Instacart. Related to this, though I’m totally open to signing up for a year of Instacart membership, I’m not willing to do this unless I can manage this subscription from within IOS subscription services. I no longer grant *anyone* the ability to charge my credit cards on a recurring basis. If I can’t manage it within IOS settings, I won’t sign up. It’s very unclear how Instacart plans to let me access and control my membership, so I signed up for a trial to find out. Since I see nothing related to Instacart in my IOS subscriptions, I have to assume the expectation is that they’ll plan to hit my credit card or method of payment when I order a delivery (ApplePay). I wish this were otherwise, as I do love Instacart as an important and much-needed service in my life.