Expensive bargains from Aldi

[Danny Jo]

I was very pleased with Aldi a fortnight ago when I purchased from them a wet suit for around £30 and compass binoculars for £50. Thinking that £50 for German-made compass binoculars might be too good to be true, I opened them in the car park and gave them a good workout. Among the objects I looked at was a sign detailing car parking restrictions, but I failed to notice (a) that a charge of £70 would be levied on parking for more than 90 minutes and (b) that I had exceeded that time (by just under 14 minutes).

I suppose that I should be grateful for Aldi's car park management company's generous discount of £30 for early payment. Even so my "bargains" have cost me 50% more than I thought I was paying.

The experience has also cost Aldi one previously loyal customer.

 

[Hugh Foulis]

Havent come across Aldi using car park management before but Tesco do it round here. Kind of understandable beause its about 10 mins walk to the football ground but for genuine shoppers I find it galling. I would be explaining to Aldi and giving them a chance to respond though if the response is 'rules are rules' I would then be a very disgruntled ex customer. Is the stuff any good?

HF

 

[Danny Jo]

[ QUOTE ]
I would be explaining to Aldi and giving them a chance to respond

[/ QUOTE ] Been there, done that. I went in person and asked the nice girl at the till for help. She said "Have you got a receipt", so I gave her the receipt, totalling a little over £100. She indicated that she didn't expect a problem, but would have to speak to the manager. Two minutes later she returned and said that the manager couldn't do anything about it because the parking was operated by another company.

I have looked for a customer service number for Aldi UK, but failed to find either a telephone number or an email address. The early payment reduction runs out on Thursday, so there is clearly insufficient time for correspondence by mail.

I appreciate their desire to deter non-shoppers from using their car park, and it could be argued that taking the binoculars out of their box is not part of the shopping process, but I did not set a foot outside their premises during the time my car was in the park. Being charged £40 for 14 minutes over the 90 is not something one can forget easily.

Are the purchases any good? I was impressed by the optical performance of the binoculars (7 x 40). I've not used compass binoculars before, and find it quite difficult to keep the vertical line on the viewed object at the same time as reading the bearing. The wet suit is still in its bag.

Edit: Hey, wait a minute, haven't I just used my 500 posting opportunity for a common or garden whinge? I hate whingers!

 

[sarabande]

Aldi contract out their parking to a company called Parking Eye.

I have been trying to get in touch with the Aldi PR people, but it's the very devil tracking down a phone number.

There's a website devoted to complaints about them
http://www.cambridgeonline.co.uk/reviews/14448/

 

[Danny Jo]

[ QUOTE ]
I have been trying to get in touch with the Aldi PR people, but it's the very devil tracking down a phone number.


[/ QUOTE ] Please post again or PM me if you do. I'd like at least to give them a chance to respond. Perhaps it's just that the Bangor manager is having a bad hair day.

 

[Heckler]

phone the daily post up, they are v good at chasing things like this up!
Stu

 

[Danny Jo]

Thanks for the suggestion - I've emailed the newsdesk.

 

[BrendanS]

According to this
http://www.which.co.uk/files/application...-445-117052.doc


Their PR people are Kavanagh Communications

Contact: Kate Aldred at Kavanagh Communications 01483 238847

 

[savageseadog]

/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[sarabande]

BrendanS scores again ! Nice work B.

 

[Moonshining]

[ QUOTE ]
I was very pleased with Aldi a fortnight ago when I purchased from them a wet suit for around £30 and compass binoculars for £50. Thinking that £50 for German-made compass binoculars might be too good to be true, I opened them in the car park and gave them a good workout. Among the objects I looked at was a sign detailing car parking restrictions, but I failed to notice (a) that a charge of £70 would be levied on parking for more than 90 minutes and (b) that I had exceeded that time (by just under 14 minutes).

I suppose that I should be grateful for Aldi's car park management company's generous discount of £30 for early payment. Even so my "bargains" have cost me 50% more than I thought I was paying.

The experience has also cost Aldi one previously loyal customer.

[/ QUOTE ]

I got one of those. The parking company are on very shakey ground legally. The ticket is made to look the same as a fixed penalty ticket, but The "offence" stated on the ticket is likely to be trespass.

If that's the case, ignore it, then when the debt collection company sends you a threatening letter, send them a reply in a registered letter saying that you weren't the driver and you'll see them in court.

You won't hear from them again.

 

[Danny Jo]

Seconded. Kavanagh communications have a very healthy-looking team http://www.kavanaghcommunications.com/crew.php , so I've sent them an email drawing attention to this thread.

What are the odds that this thread is pulled by 1700 tomorrow?

 

[Sneds]

I agree. tell them to stuff off! What "offence" have you commited?
I would also go to the store and express your disgust with the manager (not him/her personally of course).
I for one will not enter our local Aldi until this has been sorted out!
Anyone got Aldi's MD's e-mail address? Then we can all mail him to express our disgust!

 

[Danny Jo]

[ QUOTE ]
The parking company are on very shakey ground legally. The ticket is made to look the same as a fixed penalty ticket, but The "offence" stated on the ticket is likely to be trespass.

[/ QUOTE ] You may be right, although the notice doesn't claim to be a penalty, just a charge for using the car park. The part of the notice that is on questionable legal grounds, in my view, is the statement "On the specified date, you were the registered owner, keeper or hirer of the vehicle in question. As such, you are responsible to ensure that the terms and conditions for parking, as set down and clearly displayed in the car park, are complied with."

However, I paid, because (a) in the strict legal sense it is a fair cop. I was the driver, had seen the notice (albeit not read it properly) and had exceeded the stated time (albeit by only 14 minutes); and because (b) I don't want to faff around trying to get my name removed from assorted computerised registers of bad debts.

 

[Richard10002]

Do Aldi operate a return for a full refund if not happy policy. If so, I would return the goods as a matter of principle.

I would also write to the Chairman of Aldi, or whoever the UK head honcho is and tell him/her what has happened, and that his staff fobbed you off with the old chestnut of "we dont manage the car park" - IT IS HIS EFFING CAR PARK, however and whoever he choses to manage it. Explain that you werent attending a football match... you spent your 104 minutes spending the best part of £100 in his store, (and, if the returns policy works, you have now had your money back off him), that you have been a regular customer of Aldi for years, and that you will not be setting foot in any of his stores again.

copy the letter to Watchdog, local and National papers, and any other consumer body that you can think of, cc the original so he knows what you have done. You could always email the papers etc. to save a load of time.

If he doesnt get you sorted, he deserves to lose customers - I spend well over 90 minutes doing a reasonable shop in any supermarket, so their policy is a joke, and a money maker for the managers - they could make it 90 minutes between x time and y time on match days, and 3 hours at other times.

 

[Searush]

The binos are good, I got a pair & they are excellent. Once you adjust the seperate eyepieces for focus, they ar in focus from about 10' to infinity. Giving them back just compounds your losses.

90mins seems a long time to shop in Aldi but I have never noticed any limits in our local store. I have used bangor from time to time, I will be pretty careful now if I ever use it again.

 

[photodog]

Well that is quite good of Aldi isnt it, trying to curb our consumer society like that..... You can shop, but not too much!!!

/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[pvb]

MD details...

If it helps, Aldi UK's MD is Paul Foley, Aldi Stores Ltd, Holly Lane, Atherstone, Warwickshire CV9 2SQ, phone 01827 711800, fax 01827 711833.

 

[halcyon]

Re: MD details...

Had the same at Staples while shopping there the other week, manager had it cancelled, not happy, as the chap seamed happy sticking notices on customers cars.

Brian

 

[Major Catastrophe]

Aldi Bangor?