Olio Reviews 

Used to be a oilio food Champion when it was first set up circa 2016

However @ that time, they hid the fact they charge supermarkets a fee for volunteers to collect surplud products. Be clear They are NOT a charity its also my view, their #DEI is not in place, & who knows what these fees are used for. Their CEOs are on some serious coin, the recycled food industry is worth millions & then there is the write offs for insurance purposes.
Managers & staff in leadership postitions are of a certain demograph .....
It is the view of some that any company profiteering from poverty should be avoided. Companies should consider only donating to Transparent ,FoodBanks Not Community Shops , Churches, & Fath organisation whom operate #Dignity Principles
TheEnd

Wonderful, how great that we're able to share what would be waste ,prolonging the life of something by giving it to someone or even for a few pounds, i love that someone can also salvage good food and not waste it .Love the no tolerance rule for inconsiderate no showers,had a few but the ones that do well make up for it

I mostly had good experience on the app, collected loads of food over the years and I am happy I could use it instead of it going to bin. There ware some occasional problems like, went somewhere to collect food just to waste time and get blocked and app not really allows to report it.

I am surprised people sometimes give 1 star because they can’t find what they need. It’s free app, that allows you to give away surplus of food and collect free food from others. There is non food section too.

I am really happy with the service oliomprovides for the supermakets and for us volunteers. It is straightforward and very well organised. Thank you olio!
Georgeta

I never knew apps like this existed until last week after I had been trying to work out how to donate or give extra large factory sealed bags of store bought frozen food that my family were not interested in having anymore. I had only bought them a month or so ago but the kids now want something different. I didn’t want the food to go to waste as not only that it cost good money to buy but the idea of binning it didn’t sit well with me.
So I thought of donating to food banks as the use by date was a year from now but I received mixed results. Then I came across Olio from one of my web searches and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it works for my local.
I immediately downloaded the app and uploaded pictures of what I have to give for free. In less than ten minutes I received a message and within an hour the food was collected. I am ever so grateful.

It’s such a great place to share what you might have extra. For me was very useful to share with people the wxtra clothing i have from my kids . No waste no charity, but normal people reusing what would have gone to waste. Great app

Incredibly rewarding way to share food within the community and stop food waste from big supermarkets . It has helped me educate my children and friends on how to view food and resources by using and eating what is available

Fantastic app that is intuitive and easy to use! This is an easy way to recycle and reuse items I no longer need and I love the AI feature for the description.
Definitely recommend!

It is a nice thing to do that think I am actually doing something good to save some foods…A small portion of the collection confirmed in app but was nothing to collect on arrival. Waste time and fuel in the end.

But overall I am really appreciated this app exists!

I love helping to save food from going into the bins. Reminds me of my parents saying there are starving children in the world when i was younger. I didnt realise it was true when i was a kid. Oh crikey. She they were so right.olio is a fab way to ensure someone gets to eat . Its easy to understand the collections once get used to the app. Well done oilio.

I love it for picking up bits to save me some money.

Not fit for purpose! When you try to request something you have to endure ads which sometimes are up to three….then instead of letting g you request you then have to watch some again….either a glitch or olio trying to make more revenue…so unless you can afford to pay the monthly fee don’t waste your time! Another ‘class’ system

Wasabi at Victoria Station in London frequently cancel food collections even though it is known that they have food left over.

It is believed that they do this so that their staff can take it home.

They give a reason that there is nothing left when in fact there is plenty.

Olio need to either speak to Wasabi about this practice of frequent Olio cancellations or remove this branch from the app or disable them from being able to offer collections.

I have collected free food when I needed it on Olio. I have also recycled some household items that has helped others.
It's well worth joining.
The forum contains comments, recipes and recycling ideas from other Olioers and I find it a compulsive read.
It's free so well worth joining.

I was told about Olio years ago but only just got involved more recently. They are fabulous. I cannot begin to calculate how much money they have saved me over time. Excellent for larger families/several mouths to feed. Plus they also have an extensive range of non-food offers. You can even post for the things YOU are looking for.

One negative is that some of the 'Personal' listers are inconsistent. For instance, they don't get back to you in a timely manner, despite what their profiles claim about prompt replies. I have requested items and then will hear a day or two later that my items are no longer available. This is no good. I have also requested items and have had to cancel the request because my message has gone unread.

Recently I made a request to someone who didn't provide their collection address, even when I asked. No way for me pick up the item, despite them saying that they would leave it, quote, 'out front'. And as of today they're still listing the same goods.

There seems to be no ready way on the app to report these difficulties, although there should be. These letdowns are the only reason Olio doesn't get 5 stars from me. Such negative episodes mar the Olio experience.

I'm an ecumenical reviewer and give credit or criticism where it is due. So I very highly recommend this operation, despite the matters I raised. Please check Olio out.

I was requesting items and agreed a pick up time at 10.40pm (person wrote up to 11pm to collect) as I was still requesting items I realised it had got to 10.40.pm I messaged to say sorry that I will arrive at 10.55 and said I hope that’s okay, after driving 5.5mes the person blocked me and cancelled all items which will probably now end up on landfill not only that she wasted 11 miles of my petrol and left me a low rating which will probably now block my account. I don’t steal I don’t commit crime I’m just trying to save money after losing my job and running 10/ 15 mins late and still getting there before her stated time meant she blocked me. So many Facebook type people on the community app online I suffer with severe mental health issues and I honestly felt really unwell after posting about a bad experience because the replies were evil they all started being bullies and it seemed like they were middle aged and women I’d even written that some days I only go out to collect olio after a bereavement and losing my job and having health issues, there are sick people in this world and most don’t give a toss about food waste only about personal gain, I hope olio get a legal case and for all the people they don’t check up on who leave food for people outside or In hot porches or definitely not in the fridge, I got ill from one person. Olio customer service does not care and only caters to their supporters because I think really it’s a business and the shops probably pay them for taking away what would be rubbish they would have to pay to dispose of

It's fantastic to join and help out it was my first night doing it and can't wait to do it all again come and join us meet friendly people help them u will be appreciated go on have a go it doesn't take long to join up wee need people to help out

Excellent way to help reduce food waste , poverty and support the locally needy citizens

The Lidl collections have been absolutely amazing! I want to give a massive thank you to the store manager, Laura, and her incredible staff in Luton Francis street Lidl collections have been absolutely amazing! I want to give a massive thank you to the manager, Laura, and her incredible staff. They are always so supportive, kind, and helpful during every pickup.
​I have a lot of people coming from shelters to collect this food. They are always so grateful and say thank you to me, but I always make sure to tell them: "It is Lidl and Olio who are making the real difference in people's lives!"
​Thank you both so much for this wonderful trial and partnership. It provides so much vital support, feeds people who truly need it, and ensures there is absolutely zero waste. Please keep it going!They are always so supportive, kind, and helpful during every pickup.
​I have a lot of people coming from shelters to collect this food. They are always so grateful and say thank you to me, but I always make sure to tell them: "It is Lidl and Olio who are making the real difference in people's lives!"
​Thank you both so much for this wonderful trial and partnership. It provides so much vital support, feeds people who truly need it, and ensures there is absolutely zero waste. Please keep it going!

How funny it is that in every reply they say “email olio @ ….” Because they never reply.

Im a FWH and been for a couple of weeks and Ive only collected rotten food and bread so far that has filled up my bin because who the hell is going to collect bread at 11pm.
Moreover I reported a user that collected a HUGE amount of food, including my slot, and then only shared 6 items. I never heard back. Big supermarkets slots are allocated to the same people and there is no chance given to other people.