Instacart Reviews 

I received a mystery charge from Instacart. There is no recourse for a refund or to actually get help from anyone. Absolutely abysmal customer service. I'd like my $20.14 back.

Disappointing customer service, even with a paid membership

I’m an Instacart+ member, but my recent restaurant order still came with $3.99 in delivery fees and $6.39 in service fees. My order totaled approximately $42, yet the fries arrived cold and soggy, and a drink included with the meal was missing.

When I contacted customer service, the first representative offered only $5 in store credit and ended the chat while I was explaining the food-quality issue. I had to contact a second representative, who offered another $2 in credit but refused to refund my original payment method.

I paid for an item I never received, and I shouldn’t have to place another order just to use store credit as compensation. This isn’t the first time I’ve experienced problems with an Instacart order.

For a paid membership, I expected better service, more transparent fees, and a fairer resolution when an order arrives incomplete. Very disappointing.

I have been A regular customer of yours for a long time and have used the heck out of the Service. I have never had a serious issue until yesterday. I was visiting my elderly father in another state and put in an order for some lunch for us. I inadvertently forgot to change the delivery address and immediately realized it was incorrect. Immediately I canceled this. One could clearly see the timestamps. I actually had to wait for the entry to stop processing before I could enter the cancellation, but I did it immediately, When I was able to do so. I reached out to customer service who at first told me they could do nothing because the food had already been prepared, but then realized that I had immediately canceled as soon as I entered. I requested a refund for this because the cancellation was immediate, and no preparation had began. Thier rep told me that since I canceled it on the app that they could not reverse that charge. He said to call in the customer service when I needed to cancel a charge immediately like that. However, a phone call to them would’ve been a delay and I’m quite certain that they would’ve been processing the order by the time that that was accomplished. Because of this, the unfairness of it, I will be getting a membership from DoorDash when this one expires.

We've used Instacart for Costco grocery deliveries since the days of the Covid crisis. We have delivery instructions in our profile. Every so often... like today... we have a shopper who doesn't read the instructions and screws up the delivery. When we called Instacart to suggest that they ask their shoppers to be sure to read delivery instructions, Instacart told US to notify the shopper every time we place an order! Why are WE supposed to do THEIR job? If shoppers don't bother to read the notes in the profiles, then why does Instacart still use them as shoppers? If their shoppers can read the list of items ordered, then they can also read the delivery instructions!

Be careful using their website platform. It completely bypassed the standard itemized shopping cart screen and forced an immediate Apple Pay checkout without displaying the final price, delivery costs, or hidden digital fees. As soon as the payment processed, they completely removed and blocked any option to cancel the order. When you try to call their helpline to reverse it, the phone number locks you into a broken loop forcing you to sign up for external apps just to talk to a person. It is a total trap designed to lock your money in before you can even see the total bill.

Instacart you need to address these issues. Publix customer for thirty years and have been using Instacart for 6 months. 5o% of my deliveries are 2hrs later than stated in app. Yesterday 8 items not delivered at all, but were paid for. No photograph taken of my delivery and most importantly my chat option was not available to notify delivery person that I had missing items. Why would Instacart have no way to communicate with your delivery person right after delivery? That's ridiculous!!!! 2 Instacart corporate customer service numbers were not working properly!!! Most of your associates do not even follow delivery directions for address that are stated in your app. Not pleased with my customer service from instacart at all. Correct your service or your competitors will. Joe Musulman

On October 9, 2026, I placed two separate Instacart orders—one from Walmart and one from Sprouts. My Walmart order was delivered without any problem. Unfortunately, my Sprouts order was delivered to the wrong house by the shopper, Mia.

What makes this especially frustrating is that I am disabled and rely on grocery delivery because I cannot simply get in the car and go to the store myself. Because of Instacart’s mistake, I now have to place another order and pay for groceries again while waiting 5–10 days for my refund.

When I contacted customer service, I was extremely disappointed with the response. There was very little concern for the inconvenience this caused. They gave me only two options: accept an Instacart credit or wait for a refund. Neither option actually solves the immediate problem.

In my opinion, making this right would have meant taking responsibility for the failed delivery and getting my groceries to me at no additional cost. Instacart could have contacted the shopper, corrected the order, or sent a replacement delivery. Instead, they placed the burden of fixing their mistake entirely on me.

I paid Instacart for the convenience of having groceries delivered to my home. I did not pay to have my groceries delivered to someone else’s house, spend additional money to reorder them, and then wait more than a week to get my money back.

This experience was unacceptable, and customer service's lack of concern made an already frustrating situation even worse.

Instacart SUCKS. My boyfriend and I have the monthly plan. Tell me why we were charged for the annual?!?!? We double checked our membership and sure enough, monthly plan, monthly payments. So, why did a $100+ charge from instacart for an annual plan come out of his bank account? Ridiculous. We are stressing out. When I tried to get help, an AI "assistant" was the only way to "talk" and proceeded to only recommend I double check the plan and payment method, as if I wouldn't have done that in the first place. Why does this business think they can do something like this? Some people live paycheck to paycheck and having a huge charge like $100 come out of nowhere when it was never supposed to can make or break an individual's life. DO BETTER.

I signed up with Instacart to deliver my groceries, as I am disabled on crutches, can' drive in this condition, and too hard to carry heavy bags on crutches on city buses. After a free 30 day trial period, we could. hoose to be billed by the month or buy the year, so of course I chose by the month. They screwed up every single delivery they made. They were always many hours later than they promised. I'm ask for a receipt, but. ever once got a receipt! Some times they would bill me for everything I ordered, but only deliver a fraction of the things I ordered, and leave off the most important items! The last order, one of the items I ordered was Genova Yellow Fin Tuna in Olive oil (they said they had plenty of it), and if that wasn't available, then Genova Yellow Fin Tuna in Olive oil with Tuscan herbs, or no Tuna at all! The grocery store was offering two cans for $5.00 so I ordered two. Instead, they sent me 2bcans of Genova Yellow Fin Tuna but in Cheyanne Pepper, with a sodium count of nearly 400! And instead of charging me $5.00 as advertised, they charged me almost $10.00!!! I can't do hot spices medically, nor can I medically do high sodium. I remained the many times about this, demanding a refund, but they never responded.Just Crickets chirping! They were once again 3.5 hours late. So I wrote them back that night, and again the next day, letting them know they were fired, so don't even THINK about billing me for even one month, or any amount, plus I still demanded the refund of $10 over charge for wrong item. I wrote them 4 & 5 days before the end of theb30 day trial period. They never refunded the $10, and four days later they billed me for an entire YEAR. Having to hit them with a merchant Charge Back! Run from this fraudulent scum bags!!!

This is the worst company. Do not order anything from them.l placed my order at 1:30I never got my order.l paid 307 dallors.And 25 delivery fee.l never got my order.They Are So wrong .They need to be Under investigation. I didn't get kind of explanation for this.Shut it down

I placed an order through instacart at a nice restaurant in Greenville. The order was never delivered to me, but I was charged for it. I could not get Instacart give me a refund.
I finally called the restaurant and they said they never got an order for me.
I’m sorry, but that sounds like a scam and I can’t get anybody to do anything about it. Instacart says I have to get Uber to fit to look at it because I use Uber platform and Uber won’t do anything either.

I placed an order which included a case of water in it. When I received my order, there wasn't a case of water. When I looked at the photo the shopper took after delivery, there was never any case of water in the photo but yet, I paid for a case of water. I don't think this is one of those times that an order got messed up somehow. She just thought she'll help herself to items out of other people pockets. I ended up getting my money back, took my tip back and gave her a one star. I also pointed out to Instacart that the photo she snapped never had a case of water in it. A 24 case of water is not something you forget to deliver. Watch out for these type of shoppers.

Service fees have gotten out of hand. $12 for one order. Free delivery is offset by high fees. I will not be renewing my membership. I’ll buy direct from the grocery store or get deliveries from Walmart.

Instacart does not even deserve 1 star . I ordered over 200$ in food from Costco an to be delivered by Instacart but Instacart says they must review my account an it’s been two days now . An all I want is my money back . But I don’t think that is goin to happen so I see a class action lawsuit against Instacart . Instacart sucks .

Instacart’s customer service has been terrible. I’ve been a customer for years, but over the past six months, my account has been flagged for fraud about ten times. Every time, I submit my card information and ID, they verify my identity and reactivate my account. Then I try to use it again, and they freeze it all over again.

I requested a refund for my membership because I cannot use a service that keeps locking me out. I was told they could refund me once my account was reopened. It reopened, but they still haven’t refunded me. Instead, they keep telling me I have 152 days left on my membership, while I’ve been unable to use the service for approximately 150 days because of these repeated freezes.

Whether it’s $50 or 50 cents, I want my money back. I paid for a membership I haven’t been able to use, and repeatedly verifying my identity has not fixed the problem. I’m prepared to file a civil suit seeking reimbursement for my membership and court costs. Instacart needs to honor the refund I was told I could receive.Wish it was a half star because they don’t disperse the one star I gave

I think this is a good way to earn some instant money, but the pay can be pretty low considering how far you sometimes have to drive. I went 8–13 miles there and back for an order and barely received a tip, making only about $11. I really think there should be some type of gas or mileage compensation, especially when we’re driving long distances.

Shopping for someone within a time limit can already be challenging, exhausting, and time-consuming. Then, having to drive and deliver the order afterward feels like doing two jobs for very little pay. We get no gas money or additional compensation, yet we’re expected to shop, drive, and provide good customer service. Some customers even complain about the service without leaving a tip.

I’ll definitely keep using the app because I enjoy being able to make money instantly, and hopefully the pay will improve over time. However, the compensation should better reflect the time, effort, mileage, and gas we’re putting into each delivery. Honestly, sometimes it feels like we’re doing all of this for free. Lucky anyone is willing to do it for such little pay.

Instacart doesn't rate in my book as a legitimate service. All that they have provided me with is the disservice of not delivering 2 large orders and charging me for them anyway. What a truly horrible experience it has been after my heart attack. These son of a bitches refuse to refund my money. I'm going to pursue things with my bank and in court if necessary because Instacart currently owes me $500. This is just completely unacceptable!

I been with instacart for 7 years. At first, they cared about the customer. Be honest without us there will be no Instacart. But I had the last straw.
First,
What i noticed is they make you pay for a time they promise but then you never get it at the time you paid for.
Next,
They up mark all foods about 50 cents to 1$. And you pay all extra fees. Long distance fee, heavy item fee( the shopper doesn't get this), service fee, delivery and tip.

Finally,
They allow shoppers to take multiple orders so the time they said you will get your groceries always late. The excuse they give you is due to traffic, amount people in the store. I was told to get my items by 4:15 and received it by 4:45pm. The shopper too longer gave me rotten veggies because she didnt check amd I didnt even get an item. I wasn't not able to make dinner because of this. I reached out to customer service they stated that its basically with the time frame, which it wasnt. I even had one shopper steal my groceries. She delivered me an onion instead of chicken breast.

If you deal with this company expect to pay 20 to 30$ more than if you would have went to the store. They pay the shoppers pennies, and some the shoppers dont care and dont communicate. Lastly, customer service doesnt care.

This has to be the worst delivery company to exist. you pick a time slot for when you would like your delivery then the app keeps extending the delivery time and when you try to cancel, they want to charge you 15 dollars, saying that it's still within the time window when in fact it's only in the time window because they keep extending it. i'm canceling my account.

I will never use them again. I ordered several varieties of coffee. One of the specialty coffees was out of stock so, when I got the notice, I approved the replacement. Then, a larger canister of coffee was also out of stock and I received a notice with a replacement offer. I rejected the offer and requested a refund.
When my order arrived, the coffee that I had rejected (and have no use for) was in the bag. The shopper IGNORED my instructions, which were sent immediately after I received the notice, and sent the rejected coffee anyway.
After going back and forth with instacart's "customer disservice", they kept trying to blame this on some "settings" that they said I had on. They refused to take responsibility for their shopper's actions, instead continuously blaming it on me.