KMS
BJ's / Instacart Unreliable
Subject: Failure to Provide Paid Grocery Delivery Service – Senior Consumer Reliance I am a paying member of BJ’s Wholesale Club and have also purchased their “Select Service” delivery option, for a combined annual cost of approximately $110. These services are marketed as providing reliable home grocery delivery. I am a senior citizen and do not drive. I rely on this service as my primary means of obtaining groceries and essential household items. Despite paying for both membership and delivery access, I have repeatedly been unable to place or complete orders due to widespread item unavailability. On multiple occasions, items across my cart are marked “unavailable,” preventing order fulfillment entirely or rendering the service functionally unusable. This is not an isolated incident but an ongoing pattern. The issue is not limited to substitutions or minor inconveniences; rather, the system frequently fails at the point of order completion, meaning I cannot obtain groceries at all through the service I am paying for. BJ’s utilizes Instacart as its fulfillment provider. However, from a consumer standpoint, BJ’s is the entity charging membership and service fees and representing that grocery delivery is available. The separation between BJ’s and Instacart is not transparent to the consumer and does not reduce the impact of the service failure. As a result, I have paid for a service that I cannot reliably use, while also being placed in a position where access to food is disrupted. As a non-driving senior, I cannot reasonably avoid this harm once I have committed to the service. I believe this may constitute an unfair or deceptive business practice, in that consumers are charged for a service that is not consistently deliverable in practice.



