New customers only. *Receive 50% off 12-Month anytime delivery pass! Offer valid from January 16, 2023 to February 12, 2023. I have used the service around 5 times now and have been really happy with the customer service, plenty of delivery times available and good produce. Good for those who may be on the fence. Could make a new account for those who have existing delivery pass possibly?
Last edited by aasoror on Jan 20th, 2023 5:53 am, edited 4 times in total.
Reason:link cleanup
Does this give you unlimited free deliveries or it just let's you pick delivery times that are already fully booked or both? Surprised the promotion and sales pages don't have more information given that it is restricted to new customers who have never used voila.
So does that mean voila delivery is not usually a flat rate unless you buy the pass? How much savings is it on average? I see there is a mid week delivery pass for free mid week deliveries so how much do those cost? Thanks!
I've personally used this service a number of times while the pandemic was still in 'full on' mode, and I was pleasantly surprised. The meats and produce was excellent, lasting longer in the fridge than stuff from the store. Selection was also quite good. When I looked into why, it's because the service shipped directly from the distribution center so the food was fresher than in the store, and since it shipped from the distribution center the selection was better and more reliable than at any one store. I didn't have as good of an experience with Loblaws equivalent, which at least at the time used a third party service to shop at the nearest retail location.
I'm the kind of person that likes to go to the store, but I liked this service and would use it again. It's not the cheapest option for groceries though, it's a lot cheaper to shop at an ethnic store for a lot of staples, produce and meats (like 2/3 the price vs Sobeys/Loblaws/Metro/Longos etc.).
I have a different experience, but it might be because I'm in Quebec and not GTA.
I like the service in theory, but I'm not pleased so far.
Products are more expensive. I expected that, but you should bear in mind it's not close to what you'd have in a regular store circular.
What bothers me the most is they show me products that I put in cart and they then tell me they are not available at checkout. For me that's infuriating, especially when I wanted to make a small order (35$ min).
My expectation was to replace my weekly trip to the grocery store and the service doesn't really let me do that if I'm not ready to pay double on some items and miss their own special offers.
Edit: to be fair, the products I received were fresh and delivered on time though. I think I would really like the service if it was improved a bit.
quazy wrote: ↑
Does this give you unlimited free deliveries or it just let's you pick delivery times that are already fully booked or both? Surprised the promotion and sales pages don't have more information given that it is restricted to new customers who have never used voila.
So does that mean voila delivery is not usually a flat rate unless you buy the pass? How much savings is it on average? I see there is a mid week delivery pass for free mid week deliveries so how much do those cost? Thanks!
Just gives you access to delivery in any available timeslot (maybe it's full for non delivery pass customers?) But there's no special access to timeslots that are not available.
Delivery fee is fixed, but depends when you're getting delivery. I believe mornings/evenings are more than midday, for example, and fri-sun is more than mon-thurs. I believe this is/was how Loblaws prices click and collect as well.
edit: Voila is more expensive, for sure, but we've had a really good experience over the past ~2 years with it. Produce is top notch and the meats are good.. any issues we've had we send a quick email with pictures and they usually refund it immediately if it's not up to spec. In comparison, we've had less than ideal experiences with Loblaws pickup/delivery as it's all picked from a store by someone who doesn't really care about what you get and/or is what in-person shoppers have picked over. Voila is automated from a central location, apparently.
So, I'd order it like so: Voila > visiting the store > Loblaws delivery/pickup, with the first to swapping places depending on budget. That's my experience, at least, for people to consider.
Looks like this offer works for anyone who doesn't have a delivery pass right now, even if they've had one in the past. Good deal since you can use your $ off promo codes and get the delivery fee waived + get free samples (without the delivery pass, you can only use a free delivery promo code or a dollar off promo code since they system don't let you use multiple codes in one order).
Good price, for ppl who like the convenience. The unlimited weekday pass is normally around $100 or so, so this is cheaper than that.
Otherwise it's $8 flat per delivery. So this $60 price for unlimited anyday deliveries works out to $5 per month. Therefore if you shop on Voila at least once a month, it's better than paying $8 a delivery.
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pob444 wrote: ↑
Products are more expensive. I expected that, but you should bear in mind it's not close to what you'd have in a regular store circular.
Really? When it launched in Ontario it followed Sobeys pricing and flyers. When did that change?
I used viola prior to the summer , however the prices at sobeys / viola have gone a bit too high that it didn’t make sense anymore for me. I was able to buy a full grocery for myself and husband for roughly 150 a week and it was easily getting up to 200/250 … we went back to doing Walmart pickups … prices for what we buy is significantly cheaper .. and there is no fee for pickups at Walmart as long as it is booked at least a number of hours ahead of time.
pob444 wrote: ↑
I have a different experience, but it might be because I'm in Quebec and not GTA.
I like the service in theory, but I'm not pleased so far.
Products are more expensive. I expected that, but you should bear in mind it's not close to what you'd have in a regular store circular.
What bothers me the most is they show me products that I put in cart and they then tell me they are not available at checkout. For me that's infuriating, especially when I wanted to make a small order (35$ min).
My expectation was to replace my weekly trip to the grocery store and the service doesn't really let me do that if I'm not ready to pay double on some items and miss their own special offers.
Edit: to be fair, the products I received were fresh and delivered on time though. I think I would really like the service if it was improved a bit.
Sobeys/Farm Boy is expensive to begin with, but the couple times I used Voila I only bought things that weren't more expensive and ended up saving money. I'd use them again to stock reasonably priced pantry items. That said, I agree that it won't and can't replace our weekly grocery store trip because the Sobeys price point in general is higher than I'm willing to pay.
My biggest complaint was actually that everything comes in plastic bags. We had a relatively small order that I would have fit in 2 reusable bags delivered in 10 plastic bags.
Dynatos wrote: ↑
My biggest complaint was actually that everything comes in plastic bags. We had a relatively small order that I would have fit in 2 reusable bags delivered in 10 plastic bags.
Doesn't change anything, but with your next delivery you just leave the bags on the porch and the driver will take them for "recycling".
hvc wrote: ↑
Just gives you access to delivery in any available timeslot (maybe it's full for non delivery pass customers?) But there's no special access to timeslots that are not available.
Delivery fee is fixed, but depends when you're getting delivery. I believe mornings/evenings are more than midday, for example, and fri-sun is more than mon-thurs. I believe this is/was how Loblaws prices click and collect as well.
edit: Voila is more expensive, for sure, but we've had a really good experience over the past ~2 years with it. Produce is top notch and the meats are good.. any issues we've had we send a quick email with pictures and they usually refund it immediately if it's not up to spec. In comparison, we've had less than ideal experiences with Loblaws pickup/delivery as it's all picked from a store by someone who doesn't really care about what you get and/or is what in-person shoppers have picked over. Voila is automated from a central location, apparently.
So, I'd order it like so: Voila > visiting the store > Loblaws delivery/pickup, with the first to swapping places depending on budget. That's my experience, at least, for people to consider.
I'd agree that Voila is way better than Loblaw brand(s)/Walmart pickup.
I had too many bad experiences with RCSS and Walmart pickup that I stopped using them pretty quickly. Their apps were so terrible that building an order took longer than walking through the store, if I allowed substitutions they'd end up substituting for something more money, if I didn't allow substitutions I'd have an incomplete order, I got items that were about to expire more than once (4L of milk expiring the next day. yup).
I'd always need to make a second trip a as a result, so it was actually wasting time.
Dynatos wrote: ↑
if I allowed substitutions they'd end up substituting for something more money
In my experience, Walmart does not charge more when they substitute even if the substitution is more expensive. I've been very happy with their service. They even send me a $10 voucher as an apology if a certain number of items in my order was out of stock.
Also, if something in the order is about to expire or damaged, you can request a refund online painlessly, and Walmart will refund that amount with no hassle.
I do prefer building my Walmart orders on my PC though, not through the app.
Sobeys on the other hand, when I have to go there, I feel as if the prices are a joke. They are WAY higher than the prices I'm used to in Walmart or No Frills. I genuinely don't understand why people shop there!
Last edited by tivo_box on Jan 20th, 2023 11:05 am, edited 1 time in total.
Shame that loblaws doesn't offer any type of discount for grocery delivery if you are PC insiders subscriber. Alternatively, some grocery stores are on doordash/uber so if you have the eats pass/dashpass with them you can get groceries thru them, but I'm sure its way more expensive. I personally havent had any bad experience with the PC express pickup,
I get more offers for Voila than I do the other pickups, just haven't actually tried them yet. Will probably try them this weekend.
I like to touch my apples, bananas, oranges, veggies, etc before I buy them. Maybe this service is good for restaurant owners or rich folks or folks who don't drive.
Over priced "warehouse in the middle of nowhere" prices, no flyer prices....stick with Metro and local prices/store/employees that pack your stuff. Don't support this.
