OMGosh! First, it is important to understand that Kroger uses a third-party vendor for deliveries, InstaCart. I placed a delivery order for 10 items. The InstaCart employee texted me to tell me that six of my items were out of stock. In the first place, why is Kroger offering items online that they clearly don't have in stock at the store I have indicated as my "home store"? They are the Kroger company, for heaven's sake. Do they not have inventory software in their system? Isn't that what bar codes are for? I placed the order only for those six items. I added the other four just to make the trip worth it for the delivery person. When I was advised that the six items I really wanted were not available, I told the man to cancel the order. That's where the nightmare began. The man said he could not cancel the order, that I would have to call Kroger to cancel it. So, I called the Kroger store and asked them to cancel it. They said they couldn't and that I should go back to the InstaCart website "where I placed the order" and cancel it there. I told them I had not placed the order through the InstaCart website, that I had placed it through the Kroger website. This information seemed to stun them. I had to speak to three people at my local Kroger before I was given another Kroger phone number to call, so I called them. That's when the nightmare got worse! I got an incredibly hateful woman who said she was "Kath." She was unkind from the first "Hello." I know people have hard days, but someone's bad day shouldn't include me. After talking with her for several minutes and being treated so ugly, I asked her for her employee identification or whatever method Kroger assigns for staff to be identifiable, she said there was no such identification. I know that is not true so I asked again. She purposefully acted, twice, like she misunderstood my purpose and kept telling me that when I call that number any number of people might answer the phone. What did that have to do with my question? I repeated my question, gosh, it must have been five or six times, and she finally said, "Fine. My id is 'Kath 123456.'" I said "Oh, my gosh. Now you are just lying. What kind of person are you"? Of course, she hung up on me. The entire delivery process at Kroger is inexcusably flawed. I have read and heard of SO many nightmare problems just as I have experienced on more than one occasion. They NEVER have what you want and trying to communicate with the InstaCart people is difficult. I learned from one InstaCart person that they are trained to substitute at all costs, because to cancel the items loses money. It is just awful. I just get in the car now and drive to Publix. Kroger - never again.
