A great option for busy families

I have been waiting for Voila to start at my local Safeway and I was so excited to be invited to review the service. I’ve had an extremely busy December and very last minute needed some groceries and thanks to Voila I was able to schedule a pick up the night before, pick what I needed online, and around my own schedule and not need to enter the store. When I arrived to pick up my order I texted and had a response almost immediately and someone came out in five minutes, and apologized for the wait which kind of made me chuckle given that it had only been a few minutes. I had ordered meat and they took it out of a bag to show me and ask if it met my expectations before packaging it away, I found that to be some next level service in comparison to many other online shopping options where you don’t always get a say in the products that end up in your cart. One thing I did notice however is that the price that I was charged for this meat was actually higher than the price that it was in the store and then a new sticker had been put on the front of the package, that was a bit of a put off for me and if I am on a tight budget that is some thing that I may pay attention to in the future as a few dollars can make or break some families every week. Overall this is a great service for families that don’t want to have to go into the grocery store, who are looking to curb impulse shopping, or just prefer to have someone do their shopping for them and bring it out. Overall I would absolutely recommend the service again and I’m likely to use it at my own Safeway‘s in the future.

Fantastic Customer Service

I was offered a $25 off $100 discount code for trying out Voilà.

Using the website was easy and quick. I was also able to pick a day and time that suited me best.

When I picked up my groceries I was informed that they had made some substitutions, which I was fine with. It wasn’t until I got home that I realized that some items had not been substituted but rather omitted from my order.

This brought my total amount to under $100 and my $25 discount code was taken off my bill.

I called the 1-800 number and spoke to Andrea, who is wonderful. She was pleasant to talk to and rectified my problem very quickly; I was refunded the $25.

Overall I was very happy with the service I received from Voilà and I would use it again.

quick and easy

picking up the groceries was a snap just log in pick your groceries and viola you pick a time and go pick up when you get there was so easy just call and they say be out in a minute and then they packed my car said thanks and off home super easy super fast and let me and my kids have a bit more time in the day .

Convenient groceries

I’m so happy Sobeys finally has an online ordering option. It was easy to use and convenient. I understand the handling fee, though I did find it a little steep.

Simplify your Shopping

Disclosure: I received a discount off my order in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are 100% mine.

Sobey’s has introduced a new shopping experience for me “Voilà By Sobeys Curbside Pickup”. Pre-pandemic I would not have considered ordering my groceries online, but the pandemic has changed everything, including how I shop.

The first step is to create a free account on the Voilà by Sobey’s website. From there you begin your shopping experience. You will need to select your preferred location and Book a time for pick-up. There is a small service fee for the earlier times during the day and the times between 7:00-9:00 are free. The time slots are set for 1 hour times slots. I like that there is a window of time in case I am delayed at one of the children’s activities. There is a time limit to place your order so be sure either create a list, or complete your orders in time.

There are a few options to make your shopping experience easier. You can make a list and add to it throughout the week and place your order from it when you are ready. There is also an option to add an item to your favourites and quickly identify the items you purchase week to week. If you have an item added to your Favourites it will also show you when you last purchased the item.

The search feature isn’t as simple as I feel it should be. For instance, when I was looking for ground turkey the day I placed my order none appeared in the results, even though I knew they had some in stock as I went in to compare prices earlier that day. Today when I searched for the same item, using the same key words, it showed up in the results. There are also categories on the side to search as well as a the ability to filter items.

Product sale prices are reflected in the search results, although it appears that some deals are missing. Again, back to the ground turkey, in store if I purchase 2 the price is $5.00 but regardless of how many I purchase online the price remains at $6.00. Perhaps the price will change after the checkout process is completed.

Placing the order was easy, we simply followed the steps on the checkout. We were able to add our discount code during the process and apply it to our order. Your total isn’t finalized until the store ‘picks’ your order as produce items (and perhaps others) could possibly be different than estimated. We received an email notification when our items were picked.

We had to contact customer service and it was very prompt and helpful and quickly corrected our problem.

Pick-up was easy, although initially we went to the wrong spot. The groceries were neatly packed in brown bags.

Overall, I am satisfied with the process. It will be useful if there are restrictions set in place again because of the pandemic, but for my family we will most likely continue shopping in store as we like to choose our own produce and meat products. For someone who is shopping for someone else or struggles going into stores “Voilà By Sobeys” would be an excellent option.

Convenient and fast

Grateful to have this service provided at Sobeys now, as it's the closest grocery store to my home. I would drive further away for the convenience of curbside pickup but now I won't have to!

Convenient

I tried out the new Voila curbside pickup service at Safeway. It's convenient and easy. The clerk that dropped off my groceries was pretty nice. Explained that they weren't able to substitute one item so instead gave the smaller bottle of it for me free instead. There was an issue of them accidentally substituting a more expensive item which they usually don't do so there was an email the next day telling me that there won't be an extra charge and refund will be given back to me. There is a pick up fee for the daytime but there are two hours in the evening where they provide free of charge. If you have kids and want to avoid the charge it might be an inconvenience since it is right almost during the kids' bedtimes.

Wonderful service

I really how excited about it & how very easy to use the website for the Voilà shopping & then to go to pick it up
but I will still use that service again

Easy to use but needs more options on app

Safeway review

The voila app is so easy to use. It has options that other online grocery apps don’t have like adding all my favourites to my grocery order with just one tap. And it’s easy to remove or add/adjust items. But …

For example with Granny Smith apples the app selects a 3 count so if you want 6 then you only have to tap twice. This is convenient if you want your apples in a multiple of 3. But I usually buy 7 so we have one a day for the week. So this is convenient that I don’t have the tap the button for every single apple but it’s also limiting. And there is no spot to make a note saying “please add one more apple”

I usually need to make adjustments on my online orders or make notes on certain items. Certain items I don’t want substitutions and I can’t find any spots to say no substitution on a single item or the whole order. I also like to make a Thank You note on my orders and there is no spot of this.

My groceries were packed in paper bags and even offered to unload the paper bag into my containers but it was raining and I didn’t want the employees to be getting even more wet transferring. And paper bags are so much easier to recycle than plastic.

Overall I enjoyed using the Voila app but it needs to have more options added for me to be able to use it for more that just special items that maybe I can’t get anywhere else.

My Safeway that I picked up at had excellent quality of produce and the substitutions that I received works out great. I really like that I could text the phone number with what stall I was parked in and what my order number was and they just came out. Very effective and time saving.

I received a discount on my order for this honest review.

Very easy process

I used this service for the first time and it was pretty good, I didn't have any substitutions and the fruits and vegetables that were picked are the same that I would pick for myself. It was ready on time and was a simple pick up process. The only thing I didn't like and wish I would have known is the Air Miles offers that are offered in store (in the flyer) or through their My Offers program do not apply to these purchases. Only the 1 air mile per $20 unfortunately. I also didn't like the bags, they charge you for bags automatically - they did ask me if I wanted to switch the items from the paper bags to my reusable bags, but it was freezing outside and busy so I felt obligated to take the bags. I also think I would have been charged regardless. Other than that it was a good experience.