Instacart Shopper: Earn money Reviews

by Css1716

I’ve been doing Instacart for almost a year. At first it was good. They have taken away the quality bonus. They have reduced they per batch pay. At this point half the orders are $7.00 for a full shop. That included driving(10-20miles) to the store shopping takes about 30-60 minutes. Then driving to the customer (varies but at least 10 minutes). You have to deal with traffic and the supermarket. This is work that you will have to depend on tips. In my opinion this is not a job you should have to depend on tips. Don’t forget all the wear and tear on you car, gas, TAXES. The customer will not know that you are only getting $7.00 Instacart does not tell the customer how much you will be getting only the total. Then if you sign up for hours they will send you on even further drives. You can turn down some of the bad batches but you are forced to take one or they will give the shopper an incident report. Today I had an order with 36 miles of driving just to get to the house and the customer was not home. I contacted support and after waiting for a 1/2 hour the customer arrived while I was on the phone with support and they had. Canceled the order and then had to reopen the order. I needed to be transferred to a manager to do this. They tell me to hold and then support just hangs up on me. Also at this point the have disconnected the 1-800 number for support. I could not even call them back. Talk about frustrating.

by WhotookthenameBluePilot-_-

I see a lot of reviews about bots and things like that and I’m starting to get concerned. I’ve only been working for Instacart for about a month now. I love shopping and delivering to customers but it’s starting to become difficult and confusing. In the terms and conditions it says something about the company not being responsible for delays because of InstacartShopper . I don’t think that’s fair because I could have a good phone and good service and still not be able to complete an order fast enough because InstacartShopper is messing up. And then if the customer is unhappy it’s my fault, not InstacartShopper . Another thing is the pay and how many batches are available. A friend of mine works on this too and she has had all her reviews be five stars and she gets loads of batches. I have a couple of FOUR star reviews and get barely and batches to none. Also when I’m having trouble with InstacartShopper the service people just take you in circles. They send an email that you can’t even answer to or a phone number that you can’t call again if the call fails. It just doesn’t make sense to me why these things aren’t priority. Or why they haven’t said anything about what they’re doing about the bots or how they’re trying to fix it. Or maybe they are the problem. Maybe there aren’t bots but it’s them taking the money for themselves... idk but this is all sketchy now and I might have to either take a break or stop completely and let people know to stay away from Instacart. Smh

by Ewerton Garcia

I have joined Instacart after being laid of my job. I have started doing batches just middle Jan of 2022. It seemed like a nice way for us to make some extra money to help pay for bills at the end of the month. You gotta work hard so you can take a good paycheck at the end of the week.
The unfair situation I have addressed a few times is when customer that shop on InstacartShopper add a considering amount of the tip so it could attract shoppers to shop for them, delivery their groceries at their home and after the delivery they go ahead and remove the tip entirely giving no reason. For batches where all items were delivered and no replacements were made. This behavior happen because Instacart let their customers remove the tip entirely within 24 hours of your delivery. Many customers put high delivery and ended up removing it just after the completion of the batch. I contacted Instacart help support about this and it is very hard to get some support from them. They only assist you after you chat with an auto robot chat system. I wish we would have a direct line as shoppers so we can be assisted and known we have been heard. After a long wait I was told that all they can do is ban the customer for me so I won’t shop for him anymore. But he will be able to continue on the Instacart platform as they didn’t even send him an warning about his behavior.
It is not fair and I wish we could have our back taken good care from Instacart.

by User261937

I don’t usually write reviews but I feel the need to write one for this application. First and foremost I think the concept is great and it is a great way to make some extra money. Having said that and being an Instacart Shopper, I find it very frustrating that InstacartShopper randomly decides to glitch while I am in the middle of an order. I check my connection and it says no problems, I put the WiFi on if needed, and it still gives me a hard time, resulting in me wasting 15-20 minutes in the market just standing there because I cannot contact the customer or even see the list of groceries, much less scan the items. And I know it isn’t only me because I see other shoppers around me waiting around starring at the phones with empty carts, looking just as frustrated as I am. Also, I cannot always see what my earnings for the last weeks are of current week. I didn’t even know this feature was a thing until a week after actively using InstacartShopper and it appeared for about 3 days, then disappeared. Now I cannot check past orders and see how much I made or if a customer adjusted a tip which is very frustrating. Once these are fixed I will change my rating but these are major flaws which gives the user A LOT of extra trouble during an order. Thankfully customers have been patient with me, but this could affect my earnings due to wasted time that isn’t my fault. Please fix, thank you.

by Abl0714

Don’t get me wrong, Instacart has been a blessing and a curse… it allows me to work on a flexible schedule being a single mom and is always a new adventure. Lately, since the update, work has been so difficult to find. I drive around all day for hours wasting gas trying to get an order. I’ve heard rumors that the new shoppers are getting a lot of the orders rather than us veterans. It makes me really sad that the instacart Team treats their workers this way and and perceive them as disposable. We put our lives on the line driving around all day which could result in an accident. We also don’t have any insurance besides taking a picture of the groceries after delivery. Many customers are committing fraud against Instacart and the shoppers are getting deactivated. I pray that they never do this to me… I’ve looked into other gigs to supplement my income. How foolish of me to depend on Instacart. When it’s good it’s good but lately it’s just been mostly bad and demoralizing. I really hope they can fix InstacartShopper and get it back to the way it used to be a couple months ago. The old saying, if it’s not broke don’t fix it certainly applies to the situation. Instacart, please start listening to everyone and their complaints. Don’t you care about the welfare of your shoppers and want quality service for everyone? Also, the multi store batch option is really going to be a hot mess in the summer, no pun intended!!!🤣

by Toriikat

Reviewing again in hopes that InstacartShopper update gets changed back after shoppers have voiced their concerns. I personally love instacart I’ve been doing it for a few years and it has its ups and downs. This new update has really made me have to look elsewhere for money. I understand this new version was meant to give new shoppers a chance at batches. But I think you’ll lose all your veteran shoppers in the making. It goes beyond just glitches in InstacartShopper itself. The option to pick the batch you wanted is what made instacart the best gig app out right now. Being able to see your options and choose the batch best suited for you made a good experience for the shopper but also the customer because you aren’t reluctantly picking a batch you don’t want. I feel with the newest update, I’m offered so many low paying batches or batches that are just way too far away. I was so much happier offering my service to customers when I chose the batch I want do and that was best suited to my situation at the moment. Now customers often can skate by on these low pay large item # batches because people have no other choice. It’s sad that this is how some people make a livable wage and they’re forced to accept crumbs for a service. This is a luxury for most customers so to see shoppers not being able to pay their bills because of this update saddens me. Hoping that it’ll change back to the list option soon.

by Sky011099

Let me start off by saying I enjoy working for Instacart. I've been doing it for six months and I really love doing it. I make good money for the type of work it is and I love the flexibility. However, there are a few major issues that need to change. For instance, the rating system is terrible. A customer can give a shopper a low rating for whatever reason, in fact they dont even HAVE to GIVE a reason, and once your ratings go down you lose first access to the high-paying batches. Also, the chat agents that are supposed to help us are terrible! 9 times out of 10 the agent doesn't give clear responses, sometimes they never answer at all, and they all give different answers! When Instacart works it's wonderful, but when it doesn't work it's absolutely terrible. Never in the middle. Also, people have been downloading software onto their phones to automatically grab the high-paying batches without letting other shoppers have a chance. Instacart claims they have tried fixing this issue and sometimes I notice the "bots" are gone but they always come back. There's a simple way to fix this, make a captcha feature for accepting a batch or some other type of 2-step anti-robot system. The people using this software are literally taking food out of people's mouths and taking money from their pockets. Things need to change!!!

by Dthorne87

I currently work for instacart and have been for almost a yr and I truly love what I’m doing for the community that I’ve made this my full time job. But just recently changes were made and I don’t feel they were changes for the good. I know one email can’t change much but hopefully as a community we can. My concern is the new on demand change for the Richmond va area. We use to have options when it came to working (hours or on demand) now we only have on demand and since this change has taken place I haven’t had much work come my way. I went from making $400 to barely $150 in a week. My area is strong for orders so that’s not a problem. I now have to watch my phone non stop and fight over orders because everyone is trying to work vs. having hours and letting the orders come as they may. I think this new change isn’t for the good for some people. I believe letting the community have options is better for some. I was able to select hrs when available and work OR work on demand before my shift or on my own time. I think we should be able to have some kind of option instead of none and that’s what we have now. No options. Please review this change and please bring back hours and give us back the option of working what’s best for us and not just having to work one thing. On demand isn’t for everyone nor is having hours but it works for everyone.

by Anderson, SC

I have been with instacart nearly 2 years and I am a 5 star shopper. The past few months there has been a steady decrease in batches and an increase in updates. With every update there are additional issues. I am currently not able to see batches for hours at a time. I thought it was my phone so I went and purchased a new phone with its own telephone number that I use solely for instacart. The first few days were great then bam no batches again. I have spent countless hours with support to no avail. When I see batches I see those under $13 and loads of mileage. I have never had any issues with distance as long as the pay was worth the drive. I see batches for 50 to 70 items paying less than $10 for an in store batch. This is well below the surrounding areas as I shop there as well. I drove Monday to a neighboring city which is busier by far than where I Am at just to find InstacartShopper telling me to go back to where I drove from. I sat in front of a store yesterday while that app continues to tell me to go there and still nothing comes up. I make $150 or more a day and now I am lucky to make $60. I see loads of shoppers shopping when I am sitting there as I know most that shop this area. As shoppers we all talk to each other. There is no reason why I don’t see batches before others like I use to a few months ago. So please for all that is good fix these issues. This is sad, discouraging and poorly dealt with.

by Catahoulamomma

So every morning when I wake up I check instacart, but as of recently whenever I check InstacartShopper there is something new updated & it’s honestly just making life harder. The most recent being I can’t see how many shops are available until I “go online” which is so stupid. Then if I don’t want to see anymore I’d slide the “go offline”. I think they’re trying to make it like door dash but it’s just pointless. If I wanted to see orders obviously I’d click InstacartShopper , & if I didn’t want to see anymore... I’d obviously leave InstacartShopper . Why make these stupid buttons. They also changed where the location of the towns are to above the address instead of after the street name like a normal address. Also unnecessary & annoying. There were plenty more, but besides these stupid updates I LOVE InstacartShopper. It’s super easy to navigate (unlock door dash) & really fun & the people who place the orders are always really nice. I also wish there was an option to set my location because recently I’ve been seeing several towns I’ve never even heard of. Which makes me think they’re 30+ miles away (who the heck is going to drive that far for one order). I just want to see the ones in my general area. Again though, the most frustrating thing for me as been these stupid little changes. It’s so unnecessary & really just making it more annoying to use InstacartShopper .

by Trouble, With A Capital T

When I am shopping for someone and the item isn’t there I’ve checked the shelves and check the shelves and I say I can’t find it, and the screen comes up for me to check again because somebody got it 4 hours before I was there kind of makes me think you’re telling me I’m stupid and look again. I don’t like it when that happens. Often there’s an item called for and I look and I look, and when I bend over and look down under, there it is the last one way back in the corner and I get that item. I didn’t bend over and look because you told me somebody found one for hours ago, I bend over and look because I am a very persistent Shopper. And if I find that item later, in the store on an end cap I go back and I put down that I found it and get it for them. It just makes me angry when a machine tells me I’m stupid like a little child to go look again. If you look at the length of some of my shops you’ll know that I don’t just zip through and not find stuff. I have a lots of shops that are well under the time in which I should have shopped them, and gotten everything on their list. Then there are ones where there are refunded items because they weren’t available and in those cases usually my time is quite long. I’ve had shops were I spent 15 minutes trying to find somebody to help me, just show me where this was supposed to be before I give up on an item. Thank you for your time and listening to my RANT!

by Rocket Jess

I have been an instacart shopper for several months and I loved it! It was easy for me to shop and navigate InstacartShopper . Yes, there are issues with bots and seeing bigger batches pop up and disappear right away, but I was still able to get several big batches on my own if I drove to different areas. My customers were always very appreciative of the fact that they can add items they may have forgot to order which is a PLUS!!

I would have given 5 stars but I was deactivated on May 21 because my 12 year old God daughter took a picture of herself when I was taking her to grab lunch between batches. Which in Instacart defense, was the correct thing to do. HOWEVER, after explaining what happened and even taking a picture of her with her food I have yet to here back from Trust & Security. I have been getting the run around from everyone. The email they sent notifying me of the deactivation does not accept replies. The help@instacart email is no longer valid and directs me to contact support via InstacartShopper , InstacartShopper directs me to reply to the email or call, when I call the number is invalid!! It’s absolutely ridiculous!! I was a 5 star shopper!! And to be treated like I no longer matter because they have more shopper is unfair. Hopefully I can get this resolved soon! Whatever you do! Don’t let a kid play with your phone if you’re working forInstacart. 😔

by Adri0614

I’ve been using instacart for two months now and really love the flexibility, helping people, etc. however there are improvements that could be made, such as InstacartShopper putting emphasis on the customer to have their phone by them when us shopper are on their order, we need to be able to have direct communication with them for replacements, shortages, etc.
Second, I really wish they would make a feature for customers to pick a shopper they’ve previously had, to do their future orders for them. I’ve had customers who tell me they wish I could shop for them every time, or they’re customers that I really like (they respond quick, nice, polite) and the customers likes me for that same reason, so making a tool for them to have previous shoppers keep getting their orders would make the customer a lot happier as well as the shopper. Plus the familiarity of knowing what the customer likes and where they live would be nice too.
Third, I wish Instacart wouldn’t allow customers to request us to go up to their apartment, or have to go Inside their house to drop off groceries. They need to come get the groceries themselves. There’s a loophole when they can add a note on their batch details.

by Dylan S K ❤️

This is such a fun job. I didn’t think I’d like it but wow was I wrong. It’s been great to give back and do shopping for people that cannot or just the everyday busy single or busy parent. And also all the pet mammas and daddies. So blessed to have a friend tell me about this. And it’s a great job for a retired shopaholic but avid foodie lol. App is pretty easy to use! More training would be nice, but not necessary. Great training video for the alcohol delivery! over all I understand it and appreciate cares help today with a cancel order. Also aisle numbers for Hyvee needs to be added. I loved at Lunds it told me exactly what isles. InstacartShopper makes this a great new career for anyone tech savvy or knows how to use instacart as a consumer. Would love to grow with instacart and find out more development or customer care personal positions!! :) I have 5 years in hospitality management and this new developing industry I love! thank you so much this really help me get out of a toxic abusive controlling relationship and become as Kelly clarkson would say MISS INDEPENDENT ! Love having safe access to all my earnings. blessing and everyone stay safe and continue this amazing career that’s more than a delivery. It’s an experience blessing and convince for all involved.

by Alexis20205

This is a great way to make money, but everything has it’s pros and cons. InstacartShopper crashes and glitches sometimes, you’ll have to wait for it to start back working. There are customers that will leave false reviews and report missing items (even when you delivered their order). Customers will also leave a bad rating because of things you have no control over. (Store not having the items in stock, no replacements available etc.) Instacart allow the customers false reviews affect your rating. As a shopper, you can report the reviews as fraud but it still is not going to help get your rating back. You will have to complete more orders to get a 5 star rating back. I am mentioning your ratings a lot because that will determine your batches. The higher the rating, the more access you will have to good paying batches. If you have 4.87 you still will see batches but not as quickly as everyone else with a 5 star rating. You will get lower paying batches basically. Instacart is a great way to make money but I honestly feel like they need to work on InstacartShopper more. I still have glitches every other order and the customers are still reporting false narratives that I can’t control.

by Sergio Cuervo

I was doing Instacart during 3-4 years but Since Instacart activated everyone due Covid-19 and the batches show up to everyone at the same time. (It doesn’t matter the rating thing). The people who make bots are taking the bread from my kids mouth. Deactivate accounts it doesn’t work. (They ask for a 100$ fee to create a new one). Even some old shoppers have more than one account (you’ve to filter the people using the SSN, Address, etc). and don’t let create accounts with fakes SSN like lyft (many people create accounts on lyft using passport numbers). Many people don’t care if the IRS call them to clarify that situation.

You’ve to return to the pickup hours (only one session per account). Delete the fake accounts. Put more controls to avoid more fake accounts. And assign batch directly to the shoppers. (Reduce the time to accept the batch and penalties by don’t take it, first a suspension and then deactivate). if the people and the bots makers. Knows they can create fake accounts and use the batches without any undefined penalty, they keep doing that.

You’ve to do something with the bots and fake accounts. The reputation it’s on the game. You’ll get full of people that doesn’t matter the quality. Only do more and more batches.

by Tee Tee 0227

I just applied last week. Everything went smoothly until I picked my interview date. InstacartShopper showed that I was locked in for 2pm on 10/12 and that I should be on the lookout for an email with the interview location. I became concerned on Tuesday morning when I still hadn’t received an email with the interview location. I opened InstacartShopper and all it shows is the interview confirmed screen. I figured the managers were busy and didn’t get the email out. Today after getting an email telling me to upload my driver’s license and a selfie, I went into InstacartShopper . Of course, all I can access is the confirmation screen or the “support” files. I browsed around looking for a way to speak with a person. I eventually reached a person. I would have been better off using Google for help. The rep claimed info was missing from my profile...info that is required or InstacartShopper won’t allow you to proceed. I told her what was happening. She suggested that I cancel and reschedule. I told her I thought that was a bad idea because I’m only allowed to reschedule once and if InstacartShopper glitches again, it makes me look like a slacker. She basically told me that’s my only option. I canceled and rescheduled. Based on other reviews about the crappy app and “support”, I’m not even a little bit optimistic that InstacartShopper is going to act right.

by Insanezane24

I Absolutely love the switch to On-Demand Sunday’s I have church and family time and we go to church at 8:00am and church is an hour long so if i wanted to have a slight chance of getting hours I would have to leave church 10 min early and go outside and some how I would still end up on a waiting list so not to mention how embarrassing it was walking out early because I don’t bring my phone in with me. So I personally love the change to on demand wake up get ready open InstacartShopper and immediately head to work and than when I’m done, I’m done no consequences I just go home. So thank you Instacart I fully support your decision and if anyone wants to throw a fit it’s very obvious that they can thank all the inconsistent people signing up for hours and than either bailing an hour or 2 befor there shift or bailing and not even saying anything. That may not be a big deal to anyone else but that’s money Instacart is loosing because I guarantee it’s a minimum of a half an hour by the time someone accepts the hours and gets out the door and in a position to accept an order and that’s 30 minutes of unsatisfied customers trying to make an order or what should have been delivered at 4:30 to make dinner at 5:00 is now not showing up u til 5:00 messing up there schedule possibly convincing them that they shouldn’t use Instacart. But anyways.. Good job Team Instacart is all I have to say I really like what you all have done!

by Shaylene C.Y

Instacart has changed a lot sense I first started out with them. First you only can see the store your going to now you see on a map and the house/houses if multiple orders/Deliveries at once. You now get paid for mileage, you can now “Cash-out” same day instead of waiting 3 days after Sunday to get paid. But you still have to Waite for your tips. You can also see the city layouts “zones”, and now you can be on a Waite-list to be notified when hours are available. You’ll need UNLIMITED Data in Oder to shop! At first it was hard I didn’t know how to do everything but after a couple times you get the hang of things. You’ll know where items are but not at first. InstacartShopper works great for the most part, you have to keep updating it but it will notify you about that. The pay is good! Especially holidays, NY/NYE was amazing! $400+ in 3 days of just working 4/6 hours all days, Insane. Make sure your car is always cleared out, and it’s ok to have a small car I have a fiat! That’s small! And have a non gas Hog car, that will save you a lot! When you have to drive a distance to drop off. This can become your part time job if your consistent on choosing your hours. Which is also great, it’s flexible, but only if hours are available.

by Jai.Lanae

I recently moved to another state and was very heartbreaking it was taking me a while to get back into law enforcement! I was really down and I tried doing Uber and Grubhub; to help with contributing financially to help my husband and provide for three children. During this pandemic, I wasn’t making anything at all to help at home except to provide gas. I had to sign up for blocks and with children there was no telling when I could work! I would just put I was available And was lucky if they sent me any orders over a 3 hour period of sitting around! It sucked. I signed up for instacart, hoping things would pick up. I was approved so quickly and within days I was able to head out and work. After I finished an order there were so many more waiting and when I say I am so happy with what you guys are providing for people in need, on both ends, its unbelievable! I make enough to supplement my husbands income, pay bills and even help my family with what Corona is doing in our nation! I wasn’t paid to leave this review, I just really wanted to thank instacart for what you have provided that allows me to help my family! I can work when I want, can log off when I don’t and don’t have to worry about consequences! With my babies out of school and daycares closed, I control my own schedule and don’t have to fret about needing baby sitters!!!! I love it!

by Rmatt85

Had an order disappear because I waited for an hour in the drive way for a customer. Customer service says I won’t be paid for it because it doesn’t show up on their end. (Even though there is no way for me to “delete” the order) Somehow they can’t even see the $110 charge on my payment card I used for the groceries at Aldi. They refuse to pay me for doing the assignment. They refuse to reimburse me for my time waiting in the drive way. They refuse to pay me for the hour-plus I’ve been on hold with them. Completely useless customer service agents. After being on the phone for 45+ minutes (the second phone call), I got disconnected. Despite the woman promising me she would call me back if we got disconnected, I had to call them. I’ve now been on hold this call (3rd time) for 22 minutes and counting and haven’t talked to anyone. Shame on this company and the way they take advantage of their contractors who are just trying to make some money to get by. If you’re okay with working for them for FREE occasionally, then by all means, sign up. Otherwise, I’d avoid Instacart like the plague. (It’s really not worth it anyway... pay is crap due to the infrequent assignments you get and how difficult it is to even secure hours)

by Bored Funny

I thought this was a great idea. I signed up and waited to get on board. I went out and spent $40 to get a worthwhile hot/cold bag to use for groceries and then.... nothing. Every area around me is on a wait list. There's no telling how many shoppers there are "scheduled" before the rest have to wait and customer service won't tell you either. This will leave you possibly driving far away to sit in a wait list with a few people only to leave with empty pockets. The system is exclusive to established "shoppers" with no way for new people to get early access without having 90+ shopped hours or 30 on weekends. That means you must sit around on wait lists for many many hours to maybe just maybe get one or two hours towards that goal if you happen to get a shop. Personally I don't want to drive 50 miles away and sit in my car where there isn't hardly anyone waiting and probably no requests either. That coupled with the fact that you'll never know how many shoppers are scheduled in front of the waiting list. This is ridiculous. Find something else and save your time and cash too if you're like me and want to do your best and purchase an expensive grocery saving bag. Good luck and screw you Instacart for being shitheads. 🖕🏻🤙🏻

by TB Tazzy

Every low rating is true. The business model behind the Memphis market is not worth it at all when you look at it. In Memphis, there’s only on-demand batches. There’s a lot of things wrong with this. Main issue I have , besides customer service ONLY being good for removing you from batches, is the rating system. It’s never up to date which is very critical when it comes to your opportunity of making decent money. If your rating drops below 4.95, you might as well find something else to do with your life. It’ll take hours sometimes to get a batch, but to make matters worst it’s batches that are low in payout and more than likely have something that someone has already peeped that it’s probably not worth it. I’ve been a shopper for more than five months and I used to tell everyone that it’s better than the most, but after much experience I’m okay with not getting any more batches. Keep in mind that I’ve done over 300 batches and had a few glory days. Overall it’s not worth you putting much hope or faith in it at all. It’s more of a plan F vs a plan A or B. There’s still sooooo much more negatives that could be share but I’ll direct you just to read the other bad reviews. THEY ARE NOT LYING!!! As for the good,... Hey, you’re making money....sometimes. 😒

by Miss Lyric

They keep deleting or removing my review. That’s okay. I’ll keep writing a new one every time. They call us independent contractors yet they penalize us for canceling hours last minute. You’ll probably never get a shift in or around LA because there’s over 100 people on the waitlist. I used to make an extra $500 a week around my full time job. Now I make $50 if I’m lucky. They started this new “on demand” crap for people who aren’t able to get hours but imagine If there’s 100+ people on the waitlist how often do you think you’ll get an order just sitting around? Half of their customers don’t tip, live in apartments with no elevators and ask you to bring up 4+ gallons or cases of water. Instacart literally send you orders for $15 to drove 18+ miles in traffic to a location where there’s no other stores so you have to drive 18+ miles back to the location of the store so you can possibly get another order. I used to suggest this to all my friends. However I don’t and would never again until they fix their policies. It’s trash. Stop responding to all your “nice feedback” reviews and get to the serious issues. We have made you guys a lot of money putting ware and tear on our cars and bodies while you guys sit up there behind a screen to reap the benefits. I don’t even use you guys as a service anymore. Your customer service is trash and so is the way you treat your loyal shoppers.

by Nobleman90

InstacartShopper freezes, often times won’t work with or without WiFi, saying that it cannot connect to network, despite using multiple different WiFi’s. Call the contact us phone number displayed on their website and you will find that number to be out of service, and will direct you to contact a service representative through InstacartShopper ... which would be convenient if InstacartShopper worked in the first place.
Contacting a service representative via the email address provided online is not any help either seeing as you get a different representative for every response, asking you the same questions and giving the same suggestions, or even providing solutions to completely different problems that were not asked about. Regardless of contacting them 6 times, clearly stating the issue with InstacartShopper , and providing screen shots, they have been unable to help me in any way. Nor have they been able to provide me with a working phone number to call to speak with a representative, despite asking for one multiple times. Overall very disappointed in the service provided for InstacartShopper

by Psyphr

Yesterday I was momentarily impressed when I shopped a batch at a small Safeway in Arcata; InstacartShopper had the items arranged by aisle! However, the feeling did not last for long...

Today was the first day I delivered alcohol from Costco (Costco just started delivering alcohol). Of course, it was a total nightmare. It turns out someone ordered a ton of alcohol for their underage friends on campus. When I arrived there was no one over 21 and the person who placed the order lives in another city?! Then I followed the prompts in InstacartShopper to refund all the items and ended up at a link to call the “customer happiness” department. The phone number was no longer in service and I was directed to use the chat “feature” in InstacartShopper . Good luck finding that. Anyway, I could not escape the loop even to deliver my next order. So, I spent 30 minutes parked on the side of the street trying to find the chat option and dealing with a customer service agent that was not fluent in English. Went back to the store to deal with a rude manager (yes, I’m talking about you Dru) who insisted they don’t accept alcohol returns. Instacart insisted they did. I was caught in the middle. $30 was not worth 5 hours of my time and 80 miles of driving!! I suspect the panhandler outside Costco had a better day than I. So today was also the last day I work with Instacart.

by Emaleigh34

I’ve been doing instacart for almost 2 years now. I recently stopped doing it due to have mingled a baby. Now that I’m home full time with him I e decided to go back to doing it. Now they have “on-demand zones” (my area) so you can’t pick hours. I’ve updated my app and everything and the last week I e been sitting with InstacartShopper open and all it says is “no batches available”. I’ve spent $40 on their bags and now they are useless. I’ve contacted the help desk and they finally tell me that I’m new and have to pick up hours....when I’ve been doing this for almost 2 years and I’m unable to pick up hours due to being in an “on-demand only zone” so their customer support doesn’t even understand how it works. Since I haven’t been able to get any orders I couldn’t tell you how the rest of InstacartShopper works but if this is any indication of how it works it’s probably crappy. Before the update that added the on demand zones I would have for sure given this a 10 if I could have but now I can’t. Please listen to the people who actually work InstacartShopper on a daily and bring back picking up your own hours so we don’t have to sit around for a week to get an order. PLEASE!!

by Sailorxliz

InstacartShopper is functional, yes but there are a lot of issues. The catalog isn't updated, there's been a persistent water issue affecting payment amounts for months requiring shoppers to call in during a shop (decreasing their speed at times) in order to get proper payment. The aisles aren't usually right, and for a company that boasts 'transparency' there are a lot of confusing elements. I also believe IC should have a 'business' delivery for individuals with larger trucks & charge businesses a delivery fee as currently shoppers will get 40 cases of water, 40 gallons of milk etc to a buisness that's using the service just because it's cheaper than using a commercial service, forcing us "independent contractors" to either take the order or risk losing access to jobs due to "unacknowledgement" which often times is batches not being accepted due to low pay. We're frequently offered orders that equal out to pennies per hour after considering gas to the store & customer, not even considering the time it takes. I know all of these issues aren't on InstacartShopper devs, but some things would be nice to be forwarded as whenever I chat to shopper happiness it seems like I'm speaking into a void.

by Alejandrra

I’ve been doing Instacart for about a month or 2 and I have definitely made a good amount of money but they really need to work on and change a few things. One- The incident reports are a joke. I don’t understand why you have to cancel your hours before the 6 hour mark or you end up getting an reliability incident which stays on your account for 30 DAYS!!!! Seriously?! that makes no sense you are penalized the whole month for ONE shift you missed. You can literally have reasons behind a reliability incident and it will not matter. Two- the amount of money that you make sometimes does not match all of the work you would have to do just to complete the batch (driving, carrying cases of beverages, delivering, etc), Three- it would be nice to see the customers instructions before accepting the batch (I had an order on a military base that costed me a lot of time just from trying to enter through the main base), Four- when you are doing on demand shops it’s like they don’t factor in the driving time (you could be 20 mins away from an on demand batch and by the time you get to the store and shop you’re literally pressed for time because of how long it took to drive. I could seriously go on and on but I have no problem going to Shipt. I heard they’re 10x better than Instacart.

by Nenahanne

I have been a shopper for over 5 months, on the whole very satisfied. My biggest complaint is lack of batches but due to the way batches are distributed, not a lack of batches. You can sign up for the hours you want to work, or you can wait list for hours you might want or just be on demand. When on hours you commit yourself to take batches during that time frame. However, the system does not seem to work that way. I have been on hours and my neighbor 5 houses down will be on demand and get a batch and I will not. I think the system should always give batches first to shoppers on hours, next on waitlist and then on demand. When you get to select hours you have to commit to at least 30 hours available per week in order to earn the right to early access to pick up hours. So those shoppers are committed and want to work. I think Instacart should reward those loyal shoppers by giving them batches when they are available. By the way this has happened to me on a regular basis. I love the job, the people, the tips, but I need to earn a certain income or else I will be forced to leave Instacart for another job. Please make the system fair. Nenah G.

by Lbotowey

I just started doing Instacart 2 months ago. Before I signed up I read “work as little or as much as you want. Make Your own schedule”. I have to say that is slightly misleading. What they don’t tell you is if you don’t work 30 hours a week or 25 Saturday and Sunday hours in 3 weekends you will not be able to pick up any hours until Wednesday and they post them on Sunday. So by Wednesday there are no hours left to pick. But my biggest complaint is if you are lucky enough to actually have hours, a lot of times you sit staring at your phone waiting for a call. Like right now I have been on for almost two hours and haven’t received one call even tho I am in a red area of the map. However, my daughter is getting on demand notices left and right sitting right next to me. I thought they were supposed to offer the shops to people who have hours first then put them out for on demand after. It wasn’t like this my first month but it’s getting worse and worse. So if you’re looking to make any decent amount of money, I don’t think Instacart is the way to go unfortunately.

by Reneeb101232

I just started about 2 weeks ago. This past Friday and Saturday I made over $200 with 10 orders in about 6 hours altogether so about $30 an hour. For me $200 is great I’m not going to complain about having that extra money... however I would never use this as a full time job because as other reviews say you will find it very unpredictable especially Sunday-Thursday. Driving is also unpredictable it’s one of the reasons I gave it 4 Stars they don’t tell you where you will deliver until you hit start delivery but I’ve been lucky to have most of mine within about 6-10 miles between my house, store, and delivery location. Shopping problems consist with packing and barcode updates this is definitely a flaw but not something to get around if you know where everything should be. I hate shopping pick N Save but ALDI is the easiest and it’s never taken me more than 45 minutes to complete a complicated trip. And never more than a hour altogether.

Gas I put in $30 on Friday and have almost 3/4 of a tank and after 10 deliveries I still have about half a tank and 2 deliveries where a bit of a drive FYI I drive a v6 Buick Rendezvous.

by PrudenceGinger

Thank you Instacart for giving me a way in life to learn and earn outside my slave and grind 40hrs a week job. Thank you for having caring support available to speak with when I call the 1-888- number . I really do appreciate them all for taking their time to help me show a problem . Thank you for having a help section where there is so much informational topics to read. I've learned enough to know that customers it's all about them. Our customers choose us. It's my duty to everything possible to fill their lists. After all they are ultimately the ones paying us.. Yes in the beginning things where not always smooth. If I whined and cried about it though in InstacartShopper review I'm sure I wouldn't be where I am now my earnings are good. Most of all though thank you for taking care of your serious shoppers who take care of our customers. Customers should always come first not some newbie cry babies earnings.

by Squarison

This platform is great for people looking for a flexible side hustle. As a student, this is a perfect job, as setting my own hours and being able to freely adjust them when needed. Although the pay structure is by delivery, meaning that it tends to either be feast or famine, the fact is that, if you work efficiently, you can make a decent amount of money on a slow day, with upwards of roughly 20-25 per hour on good days. What InstacartShopper lacks in consistency it makes up for in flexibility. Beyond pay and hours, this service puts less miles on your car, with most of your time spent shopping instead of driving. Customer service is readily available and quote helpful, which is a definite plus. Also, shoppers keep 100 percent of all tips, and let me tell you, people tip WELL on InstacartShopper. My tips account for nearly half of my earnings. On top of all that, the instacart customer base is friendly and understanding, even when you have to replace or refund certain items. I wouldn’t really recommend working full time on instacart, since pay can be inconsistent, but it is a quality side gig that will help bring in some good money.