Do you have a pet? Of course, you do, and so do we. If you don’t know about Chewy, then you’re in for a treat. But chances are that you’ve heard somewhere or the other about Chewy. This popular online pet retailer for everything related to all kinds of pets, right from dogs, cats, and fish to even birds, reptiles, and more. And whether you have a pet or not, you’ve likely heard about their legendary customer service – yes, it’s all true. What’s impressive is the foundation that the website’s customer service rests on, part of which is the buyer-friendly Chewy Autoship program.
Basically, it allows us to save 30% (up to USD 20) on our first auto-ship order and then 5-10% on specific brands for recurring orders subsequently. What’s more, the website has even compiled a list of brands for easy savings. If that isn’t enough, shipping is free for orders over USD 49 or at a flat rate of USD 4.95. Overall, this convenient and well-designed scheduling service allows us to conveniently access, browse, order, and adjust all our favorite pet accessories and necessities for great value. Thus, Chewy’s auto shipping is essentially based on our pets’ eating habits, making it very convenient and easy to feed them.
What Is Autoship On Chewy?
Whether your chosen flaying or four-legged companion is a dog, cat, bird, horse, or even a gecko, Chewy’s got the goods. In fact, there’s even a category dedicated exclusively to bees! While the retailer does have its own brands, it majorly sells products and wares from well-known companies and brands. So, if you’re already familiar with your brand and need, you can simply directly shop for essentials. Does your pet have medical needs? Chewy Pharmacy has you covered there too. While the offerings are limited to horses, cats, and dogs, there’s a wide array of products within those categories.
So, what is Chewy’s nifty auto-shipping feature? It’s a program that allows us to schedule regular deliveries of pet supplies. Think of it as a subscription but with no strings attached. So, our pets never have to stop needing to drink, eat, be groomed, or generally be spoiled. It essentially minimized our effort and any annoyance of keeping up with our pets’ daily or weekly product needs while also providing the flexibility to adjust any changes in their eating, drinking, or health needs. We get 50% off on our first order after signing up and 5% off on all future deliveries, notwithstanding the time period.
The program is important because Chewy currently doesn’t have any secondary membership options that allow for deals or discounts. While there are specific sales on seasonal products and occasional promos, the Autoship program is the best ongoing offer one can get.
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How Does Autoship Work On Chewy?
1
Signing Up for Autoship
We needed to set up a Chewy account first. On the main page, there’s a “Sign In” at the top right corner, next to which is a drop-down arrow. The second option when we clicked on that was the “Create an Account” button. On the next page, we needed to enter our full name, e-mail address, and password to create an account. As we said earlier, it doesn’t cost anything, time or money, to set up a Chewy account, as we needed one to order anything from the website anyway.
Once we were in, it was all smooth sailing from there. Whichever products qualify for Autoship already have an “Autoship” button underneath the “Buy once” button. As we mentioned earlier, you can save on repeat deliveries, which is also mentioned there. The minute we clicked on the Autoship button, the website prompted us to “Add Pet,” asking who the item was for. Not only did they ask for the pet type, but they also asked for the pet’s name, breed (up to two types), weight, birthday, and sex. Plus, they even asked if our pet was currently on any medications, had any allergies, or had any health conditions.
After we entered the details, the product page updated with our pet’s name, weight range, and price for 1/3/6/12-month supplies of the products. Moreover, they also specify which products require pet and vet information to verify the prescriptions before shipping. Plus, we didn’t even have to set up our delivery information until we were ready to check out.
After we’d chosen everything, we clicked on the “Start Autoship” button where we had to choose the delivery frequency, which ranged from every week to every eight months. That was a huge range of options, which we loved.
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Adjusting an Order with Autoship
We could even make changes to our Autoship orders on the Manage Autoship page, which you can access from the account drop-down arrow at the top right of the page. In fact, we could make changes up to 48 hours before our next scheduled order, which was pretty generous when it came to retailers. To delay our order, we needed to select “Skip Shipment,” which was especially useful when we weren’t sure how often we needed to reorder a bag of treats or food. Additionally, we could also leap ahead of our scheduled delivery date by selecting “Order Now,” with Chewy not penalizing us for buying more. Finally, we could always adjust the frequency of the deliveries under the “Change” option in the Manage Autoship’s “Frequency” section.
Meanwhile, check out the best travel-sized cat foods Chewy.com offers and the best Chewy.com canned cat foods for travel.
3
Canceling Autoship
Not that we ever wanted to cancel our Autoship membership, but canceling it is easy as well. On the “Manage Autoship” page, there’s a “Cancel This Autoship” button. However, just make sure that you cancel up to 48 hours before the next scheduled order. Moreover, the website will even send reminders three days before they begin processing and shipping scheduled orders, which is a blessing. The best bit? There are no penalities or fees for canceling an Autoship order, and neither does it impact any future orders through the website.
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Why Use Chewy’s auto-shipping feature?
While the flexibility of scheduling orders alone is reason enough to get on board with it, the website goes a step further with a whole lot of other advantages. We’ve outlined them below.
1
Autoship Discount
When we made our first Autoship order, we got 35% off (up to USD 20 of savings). Now that was a big blast of savings, which is what got our attention in the first place. However, what got us hooked was the continued savings after that. We even got 5% off of select brands for every Autoship order after that. While it’ll feel like a seemingly small slice, the savings added up as we were talking about something we ordered monthly – or, in the case of medicines, even weekly. Plus, it made a difference for products that cost a pretty penny. Thus, Chewy’s 5% perk was well worth taking advantage of, as any discount was a good discount on what we had to continually buy.
2
Connect with a Vet
One of the biggest perks of the Autoship feature, besides continual savings, was the fact that it gave us free access to the “Connect with a Vet” program. It was exactly how it sounded; it was a service that allowed us pet parents to speak directly to licensed vets. What’s more, we could either talk to the veterinarian on the phone or online, and either via a video call or instant chat. For those who don’t have Autoship set up, the live video costs USD 20, and the instant chat costs around USD 15.
Please note that Chewy vets can’t treat conditions or prescribe medications. They could, however, help us diagnose the urgency of a situation with our pets and advise us on how to react and what the next steps we could follow. We could schedule video appointments up to two weeks in advance, but sometimes, we found that same-day appointments were also available. And since they were around 20 minutes long, we were able to speak at length directly with our assigned veterinarian.
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Autoship Customer Service
One of the biggest reasons for Chewy having made such waves in the world of pet retailers is its masterful customer service. In fact, the 24/7 availability is just the tip of the iceberg, as we could chat live with a representative or email them anytime with our concerns. In fact, the representatives were real folks, not bots, and were available 365 days a year. However, what bowled us over was their actual genuine concern and generosity with customers for every little problem, including and especially when pets pass away.
There’s a particular story about a customer contacting Chewy to return an unopened bag of dog food after their dog passed away. In response, Chewy not only sent a full refund but also had flowers delivered to their house with a signed gift note. Plus, they asked the customer to donate the bag of unopened food to a shelter. We were truly blown away.
4
Autoship Returns
As is evident from the story above, returning stuff with Chewy is a piece of cake, thanks to the website’s excellent customer service and care that extended beyond mere communication. Basically, their return policy is that if we weren’t 100% unconditionally satisfied with our Chewy pet supplies, we could return them within 365 days of buying them. While this isn’t applicable to prescription medications, it applies literally to everything else. All we needed to do was send them a message via their Message Us page.
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How Much Can I Save with Chewy’s auto-shipping?
What caught our eye first was the no-fee membership with Autoship. When we signed up for the first time, Autoship showed us how much we’d save on our first order, which was a whopping 35%, with a maximum cap of USD 20 in savings. So, the idea is to order big, so we could save big as well. However, what really set the ball rolling was the consistent 5% discount on all future orders, which would remain 5% no matter the size or the frequency of ordering. In fact, we found the discount to be 5-10% in some cases, which included a wide variety of pet foods and items. These even included prescription medications for our pets.
“Chewy’s auto-shipping feature was a blessing for me – and Fido. We’ve never been happier!”
WOW Travel
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How Long Does It Take to Receive an Autoship Delivery?
Most pet lovers, including us, have received most supply and food orders between one-three days after having placed the order. Prescription medicines might take longer as they require approval.
Is Shipping Free With Autoship?
If the order value is more than USD 49, then yes, your order ships for free. All other orders ship for a flat rate of USD 4.95.
Can I order prescription medicines with Autoship?
Yes, for valid prescriptions or remaining refills, we could order via Autoship. For expiring prescriptions or absence of prescriptions, the team reaches out to your pet’s vet for approval.
Some images on this article are copyrighted by Chewy.
