After returning home from Morroco at the beginning of May I was confined for a period of 14 days to avoid being a vector for the new coronavirus. My daughter supplied me with a first list of groceries but after a few days, I decided that I should try to shop for my grocery online. I tried shopping with iga.net and metro.ca. I insist on the verb ‘tried’ as I failed miserably. I waited a few days to write this piece as I was too upset and I did not want my rage to infect the web. Here then is my experience with IGA.net and METRO.ca so I can get it out of my system.
I had already shopped on the IGA site a few years ago so I attempted to renew the exercice. Unfortunately, the site was redireted to « iga.queue-it.net » where a message informed me that I was in a queue and that the estimated time was more than one hour! Here is a screen shot of the message in question.
I then proceeded to metro.ca where I was not redirected to a queue except that I was asked to select a timeframe for delivery in my area (based on my area code) but there was no availability for delivery in my area!
I decided to try and fool the system by entering various alternative area codes close to mine and was lucky enough to stumble on a store within a few kilometers from my home. Shopping on this site is nothing like amazon or ebay. The navigation is extremely slow and getting the results of a search can take between 3 to five minutes. So after about an hour of adding items to my shopping cart I proceeded to the checkout and the payment failed. I tried several times but I could not paid for my groceries.
By then, I had noticed that the page I had opened with IGA was progressing and the time to get a session was less than an hour… So I decided to wait it out. After the long wait, the navigation on the site was even worse than on Metro. I managed to create a new shopping list in about an error but when I tried to checkout, the application crashed and returned an http 500 error! This is a very general error message that usually means the application fails to repond to your request.
First I go this error.
The I got this error which means is essence that the site is not working!
The next day, I tried IGA again and was surprised to see that their site was on maintenance. Guess they realized things were not optimal and they tried something to improve their site.
I then proceeded to Les fermes Lufa, an enterprise specialized in growing food on roof tops that is associated with several local producers and has a wide variety of quality products. The concept is that you make an order once a week and pick up your order in a depot close to your home. The shopping experience was much smoother than IGA or Metro but almost as frustrating as I was could not become a member of they clients due to the fact that “In light of the current situation, we’ve had an exceptionally high number of people join us and have had to implement a waitlist.” So I’m on a wait list for some unknown timeframe.
So in conclusion, I decided to wait it out, exploit my overworked daughter and order from local restaurants that have implemented a delivery system.
Small hint to IGA and Metro, there are thousands of individuals out of work with talent to spare to fix you web sites. Get your act together!
