Peapod Corporation

I placed a Peapod order Tuesday for groceries that I needed delivered Friday for a dinner party I was hosting Saturday. After waiting for the entire two hour delivery window, I called to check the status of the delivery and was told that it would be 30 minutes late. After 45 more minutes, I received a phone call that my groceries would not be delivered at all because the delivery truck had been towed. When I explained that I needed the items to be delivered in time for me to prepare for the large dinner party I was hosting, I was told there was nothing they could do and I was transferred to customer service, where I was placed on hold for 45 minutes. They told me that they could not fulfill my order Friday night or Saturday. Since I don’t own a car, I had to rent a car in order to transport the amount of groceries needed for the dinner party. I also had to drastically modify my menu because I didn’t have enough time to prepare what I had originally planned. I don’t really see the point in using a service like this that you cannot depend on. I will never use Peapod again and would not recommend it to others.

I can’t be sure how I even lived without Peapod. The drivers are great and my order arrives on time every time. Beats going to the grocery store any day.

The first time I ordered from Peapod the delivery was over an hour late. I figured I would try it one more time and it’s late again. Only order from Peapod if you have hours and hour and hours to wait for them.
Peapod you’ve lost my business.

I recently moved to Chicago and my job leaves me little time to wander the aisles of the grocery store. After about a week of no food in my refrigerator, I decided to try pea pod. I was skeptical because of the mixed reviews on Unilocal,but my aunt and uncle who live in the city had used the service for a long time and only had positive reviews.
Pros:
–In my experience the delivery was on time, at 4:30pm for my 4−6pm window. The text-​messaging alert system was prompt and told me when I was next in line as well as when my delivery driver had arrived.
— The deliverer was courteous and very helpful. He even took extra time to make sure he set my eggs on my counter as opposed to on the table with everything else. (No eggs broken!)
— I just recently got my delivery, but food product seems of good quality
Cons:
— It’s definitely a bit more expensive than my Mariano’s a few blocks away, but you have to pay for the convenience somewhere
Overall I would recommend the service. From my initial experience it is extremely convenient, prompt, and the employee I interacted with was very polite.

Delivery windows, I have no complaints. My last order had 2 dozen eggs which 5 eggs total between the 2 dozen were broken. NOT cracked but broken, to where the eggs were scrambled and floating in the bottom of the plastic bag. It was obvious that whom ever packed my order couldn’t care less if I received ‘in tact’ eggs or not. Also I won’t buy beef from them. It’s usually tough and tasteless, (even the ground beef), and I suspect that most of the beef is ‘select’ grade, select grade being the lowest grade you can buy. Most grocery stores sell choice, (middle of the 3 grades which are prime, choice and select) ‘angus’ beef.

I’ve used this service for about 6 years now, and now that other, better grocery options have opened within better walking distance from me, I have significantly reduced my reliance on this services. See the cons below for why.
The pros:
I don’t have a car and live in Chicago, so this makes stocking up easier.
The delivery drivers have always been courteous and professional.
If you time your orders around the sales of items you need to stock up on, the prices are as good as any grocery store.
They do have organic options for most items.
The cons:
Deliveries have been late (by up to an hour) on 75% of my orders.
In all of those deliveries, the alerts indicate that I was slated at the very tale end of the window, and this matters not if I chose a two hour window or longer (for today, I chose the 4:30 — 10:00 p.m. window to save a bit of money and am again receiving a notice that my delivery is expected by 9:45 p.m. I am certain it will be late).
The customer service (which is severely lacking) closes at 10 p.m., so I cannot even tell them to just cancel a delivery expected to arrive well after that. I have to work most mornings and can’t afford to stay up until 11 or later to receive a grocery order. Give me a cancel option if you can’t staff your drivers appropriately!
Every time you call customer service, they claim there is an «operational issue» on late orders. Peapod is likely driving employees to do more and more work in less and less time just like every other corporation (hearing about the labor conditions was a driving force in my choosing to use local options).
While I’ve received a couple items that were a day or two away from expiration only once or twice, the prices are fine, and the drivers are great, I am turning away from using this service because of their inability to meet their delivery windows. It causes more inconvenience at this point to stay up an hour past that window.

I love not having to do my own shopping! Call it lazy, but I call it allocating my time wisely.
Both times I’ve used Peapod have been good experiences. You can order what you wish, schedule your delivery time and enjoy!
Easy breezy. One thing I don’t like, having to wait a day or two until their availability opens up to have my food delivered. First order I received same day, second order not so lucky. Who wants to wait when you have a nice steak and some vodka on the way!!!
The delivery gang is awesome, so I will definitely be ordering again when I’m not in the mood to shop myself.

Since this experience PeaPod has gotten better all around. We only use it when life gets too busy to actually go buy food. Always great service and they stick to the delivery times unlike most places. We are never really disappointed.

I live in a high rise and actually I’m half a block from a Jewel, but even then, with a bad back, two bad knees and my own shopping cart, sometimes it’s still too much to lug heavy items.
I tend to use PeaPod every couple of months to restock non food and heavy items. I will get a 12 pack of toilet paper, napkins, cleaning supplies, 4 big jugs of cat litter, cat food and plenty of pop. Then I’m all set. Never had a bad experience yet. It’s also great when you’re sick.

This place sucks! They treat the employees like dogs, the management lies and does not ever inform the workers what is expected. For bad food order here.

Don’t do it! Peapod used to be very reliable, but the last SEVERAL orders have been incomplete with at least one moldy/​spoiled item, and the delivery was very late (which I don’t mind, especially in bad weather, but when the roads are clear, and they don’t call to let me know they’re going to miss the huge 7:30a-1p window by over an hour, that’s irritating). Customer service cannot do better than to reimburse for these mishaps (they used to try to work with you if they left bags on the truck to redeliver them), so if you’ve had back surgery and are physically unable to go to the store (like me), you are out of luck unless you want to put in another order with a $ 60 minimum. What a waste of time and money … won’t be going back!

There should really be an option to give no stars. This was one of the worst orders that I had ever gotten from them. My window for delivery was between 6 PM and 8 PM Saturday. I then received a phone call close to 8 PM that night saying that they were running behind, and that someone would be there closer to 9 PM. not only did they show up past 9 PM, but they showed up at 10:30 PM. Please keep in mind that I have a four-​month-​old daughter. A delivery guys showing up at my house at 10:30 PM is completely unacceptable. I’ve been sent two emails to inform Peapod about the issue, and they had not responded to me. I made an attemptto call this morning, and I was simply told that they don’t guarantee the time windows that you book. Why on earth would you have a time window for me to book, and then you are not able to show up at that time. I was not only not issued a refund, but I was offered to waive the delivery fee that was already free in the first place. Needless to say I have no intentionsof ordering from Peapod ever again because they had every opportunity to rectify the situation by giving me a full refund and refused to do so.

Ok product selection and their prices are on par with Jewel.
However, their customer service is terrible. Bar if you have issues, which you probably will. You can’t just run product back to the corner grocer for a return.
Also, they have a goofy coupon policy that banks value against future purchases, what?
The full experience:
My wife won a gift card for this service, so we decided to place an order and try it out. The card was worth 100 dollars. After selecting the products, the order came out top about 135.36 before discounts. After discounts, before gift cards, the order was 100.36.
You would think that we owed 36 cents, right? So did we. Peapod put a hold on my checking account for the whole amount, the $ 135.36, even after redeeming the 100 dollar gift card. This caused me to overdraft my checking account, because I was not aware of their error.
Hey, things happen. I wasn’t happy, but this is where their customer service had a chance to shine! My wife called and explained their error.
Their response? Whoops. Have a nice day. I was out of luck on the over forty dollars on overdraft fees. No offer to make things right. Thank God for overdraft protection, or this could have been a lot worse.
Not the right way to treat a new customer who you just screwed over.
Delivery was on time and I received my groceries that I payed over 40 percent too much for in good condition.
Ratings:
Price 2 stars
Delivery 3 stars
Packaging 4 stars
Customer service ZERO stars
Overall value 2 stars

I am so thankful for Peapod. They have a great selection, 5 star service, easy computer app, and they deliver to West Humboldt Park, thank god.
We have been using Peapod since the mid 2000s, and have the same driver the entire time.
There is a $ 6ish delivery fee, plus tip– and it is worth every penny!
My only complaint is that you have to plan ahead when scheduling a delivery– it’s not same day like instacart.

Living in downtown Chicago and having not yet brought out any cars to IL, shopping can present some logistical challenges. So, we thought Peapod might be a viable option.
Yes & No… I’ll get the no out of the way. Very few organic options and those they have are grossly overpriced. Worse still is that, I’ve received product so unripened that it has spoiled prior to ripening.
It’s no surprise though because this is not a personal shopping service, it’s a warehouse and distribution model that can’t take the time to choose for our homes the quality we’d select in store. Consequently, we now only use Peapod for large/​heavy items that are difficult to put in a cab to get home.
As for the delivery fee; It’s obvious there is a correlation between the sliding scale and and their desired margin… but, we already pay a premium for most items and paying $ 9.95 to deliver a $ 60 order represents a bump of 16% to the cost. In my case, that’s 20% more than the cost of a cab ride home from Whole Foods.
So, the Yes is that Peapod will continue to get my orders for cleaning supplies, cases of water and toilet paper… but nothing more.

We have used Peapod monthly for more than 5 years. We have always been happy to pay the delivery fee if it meant not having to haul 5 bags of groceries down a city block.
Last month, an ingredient that I needed for dinner that night was out of stock so I had to run out to the store to pick it up at 7pm. Inconvenient but understandable.
Today, our order arrived and the delivery guy said «I don’t know what happened but they were out of a bunch of items in your order.» I asked how many and he said «like half of it.» We counted it up and 20 items were out of stock with no replacements sent. Fabric softener, baking soda, granola bars, tea, vinegar, canned chilis, canned tuna fish, tomato paste, dry pasta… Nothing earth shattering, kind of the basics.
The driver from today was a nice guy and totally agreed when I told him that receiving half of an order negates the whole reason for using Peapod. He suggested I call customer service and «give them hell.» Apparently his last delivery was also half full and he is embarrassed.
The driver left, I called Peapod’s customer service and waited 5 minutes to get someone. The woman on the phone said there were mechanical issues in my area which lead to problems but offered no further explanation or apologies. I asked her to refund the delivery fee which she agreed to. When I told her I now had to go to the store, she offered to try to set up a re-​delivery in 2 – 3 days. No thanks. I told her that she can share with the powers-​that-​be that I don’t care about mechanical issues, they offer a convenience delivery service in a major metropolitan area. I also threw in that putting their delivery drivers in embarrassing situations with no explanation or customer support is a bad way to practice business. Her attitude makes me think my feedback won’t be passed on. Two unhappy Peapod employees in one day– lucky me!
If I ordered a pizza for delivery and got half a pie, I would call the restaurant. Apparently Peapod doesn’t expect or welcome such inquiries. This is not what I was hoping to do on a Sunday afternoon. Boo on you Peapod! I’m going to watch TV and forget we were ever friends!

Awful. Needed to change the delivery address associated with account. Changed zip code and the website deleted a full shopping cart. Called tech support. Expected wait time 25 minutes…
Someone needs to compete against Peapod and drive them out of business.

I cannot say enough about how great this service is! I was going to run to Jewel to get a turkey with a coupon — but then had second thoughts because I wanted a fresh bird so I could dry salt brine it (try it sometime — best EVER according to all my guests)! Also — the thought of schlepping all the fixins to my apartment off the bus was not appealing.
Then I thought «I wonder what it would cost to get all the stuff at Peapod?» I hadn’t ordered since January and now I realize I wish I had. Someone on a review said something about the produce not being the best — but the produce that has been delivered to me has been BETTER than what I find at the fresh market — believe it or not. These green beans that were delivered are fragrant, vibrant and some of the best I’ve ever seen. They compare to the ones that used to come out of my grandfather’s garden — so that is really something.
Anyway — I get online and see that their prices are right in line with Jewel! They even t take coupons, which I just discovered. The way it works is that you give the coupons in an envelope with your order number on it and they are applied to the next order. Fine with me, because I will be ordering again!
So off I go – I got every single thing I wanted. I’m a big fan of store brands, and they also carry them — which can be quite a savings over time.
The delivery charge is typically $ 7 – 10 — and I got a $ 2 discount because I went with a «green» time they had listed. That put me down to $ 5 for the delivery. I tip the guy $ 5 usually — so for $ 10 someone shopped, bagged and schlepped 6 bags of groceries to my door, right into my kitchen! It costs $ 4.50 round trip on the bus to get to the store I would have gone to – (there is a fresh market near here, but it’s ½ mile and even with a cart, heavy items are a nuisance). Therefore, considering that — I basically spent $ 5 to have this service! But really — it’s free. Because it would take me a couple of hours by the time I get to the store, choose the stuff, stand in line and then bus it back again. Two hours of my time is certainly worth more than $ 5! In fact, since it is a holiday — it would most likely take even longer!
Like I said, I just cannot say enough GREAT things about this service!

See the Peapod advertises that they deliver everywhere even Alaska or North Pole.
However they do not deliver to certain neighborhoods in Chicago at all. Check with them twice about coming to Chatham or Brainerd, but they do not service the zip codes of 60 619 or 60 620.
This is false advertising on their part and has been going on for some time. Discrimination?

I hate to go grocery shopping. Hate it. I wander up and down the aisles, not finding what I want, buying all kinds of crap I shouldn’t buy and then finally giving up and going home without the milk I which necessitated the trip.
Then, a card came in the mail which answered all my problems — Peapod would do my shopping, bring it to my condo and schlep it up the stairs. For real!
I love Peapod, the delivery guys are super polite and if there is ever the slightest problem they make it right. The stuff is fresh, hasn’t been all picked over and if they don’t have what you want, just write them an email and they will start stocking it. It’s fabulous.
I sit down at my computer when I am calm and order all kinds of healthy food, organic milk and produce. It all arrives — all the healthy food you have ordered. This is really my only issue; would it kill these people to read my mind and perhaps throw in the occasional bag of cookies? A morsel or two of chocolate?
For hassle free shopping, great choices and fabulous food, try Peapod — it’s Peapodastic!