Ocado exec simply MUST be a Datalounger!
Read the harrowing tale found in the Financial Times comment section below:
‘My wife was trying for almost a week to log onto the Ocado platform.
She was faced with either the system being down, crashing, or virtual queues of thousands (and wait times of over an hour) then more wait times.
Finally, yesterday, Friday, my wife got a message saying that she had priority access.
Once again there were long virtual queues and having to log-in repeatedly.
Finally, success! Order placed.
But what's this? No delivery slots. So much for so called priority access.
My wife sent a complaint to customer support and back came the automated anodyne response.
That was when I began to get mildly irritated.
Ocado prides itself on its technology. That is what its P/E is predicated upon. I spent over 25 years working in the financial information business where clients do not accept system outages or delays (not that these don't happen), but all grown-up players have built in resilience to cater not just with normal peaks but peaks beyond black swan events. You also must plan to react to events.
Ocado is a platform which should be more resilient.
Anyhow I sent an e-mail to the Chairman and CEO of Ocado pointing all the above. Please note that my criticisms were to with resilience.
OK, perhaps my comments were a trifle jocular. For example I made a joking reference to what would have happened in my old shop if the system(s) performed like the Ocado platform in recent weeks - "'would be having heads on pikes, public floggings, the guillotine if it ever got this bad.' Note this was what would have happened in my old shop [if the performance was as bad as Ocado's (and it never was).
This morning, we received an e-mail from the Ocado Executive Office, cancelling our account.
"Dear Mr and Mrs *,
Thank you both for your emails into Ocado and Tim Steiner who has asked that I, as a member of his team, take ownership of this issue and reply accordingly.
I would like to apologise for the problems you have faced in trying to use our systems, I fully appreciate these have been testing times. We have been working around the clock to adapt our award winning service to feed the nation as best and responsibly as we can with the unprecedented demand we face.
Having reviewed all communications there were suggestions that I find unacceptable, including but not limited to 'would be having heads on pikes, public floggings, the guillotine if it ever got this bad.'
We are working extremely hard to accommodate such demand whilst implementing measures to take care of the nations vulnerable. Your words are neither constructive or supportive to the challenge not just Ocado, but the nation face. It is clear we do not meet your requirements so for this reason the decision has been taken to close your Ocado account with immediate effect, this will also be extended to any other accounts that may relate to you directly in any way.
I do hope you are able to find a suitable supermarket or online delivery service to suit your requirements."
