Kitchen

[WORKING GAL]

Our local Aldi store has an ongoing issue with not having items that are listed in their weekly ad.  I tried contacting their corporate website and was able to do a live chat.  I explained the issue twice and was told she would connect me to a secure site to ask the question and would charge me $5.00 which supposedly is refundable to see if she could help me.  Can you believe this?  You cannot contact any of their stores by phone (no phone #).  I will not give them any money even if it is refundable just to get an answer to my question of their poor stock availability.  Anyone else have stock issues with Aldi?

[Teddixat]

@WORKING GAL   not questioning your experience but charging you $5 to discuss an issue on a secure website sounds strange,   I don't know where you live, but we have many Aldi's in SoCal.  There are a very different kind of grocery store and their availability of certain items does vary from store to store.

[shoesnbags]

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@WORKING GAL wrote:

Our local Aldi store has an ongoing issue with not having items that are listed in their weekly ad.  I tried contacting their corporate website and was able to do a live chat.  I explained the issue twice and was told she would connect me to a secure site to ask the question and would charge me $5.00 which supposedly is refundable to see if she could help me.  Can you believe this?  You cannot contact any of their stores by phone (no phone #).  I will not give them any money even if it is refundable just to get an answer to my question of their poor stock availability.  Anyone else have stock issues with Aldi?

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@WORKING GAL 

That sounds really hinky.  Are you sure that you were actually talking to Aldi? I ask that because there is an issue with dupes for large corporate websites that come up when you Google them. 

A couple of years ago my husband's employee Googled for a number and thought she was speaking to Quickbooks (business accounting) customer help line.  It was a scam listing on Google and they talked her into letting them into the computer remotely to "fix" the real problem we were having.  It was a big mess to deal with because these crooks now had access to financial data for the company. 

It doesn't seem as if a legitimate company would expect you to pay $5 to have a question answered. And how would they charge you?  By having you give them your CC number?  Red flag.

[WORKING GAL]

@Teddixat- 'I am in Simi Valley and we have 2 Aldi stores.  We shop there weekly and am well aware of their policies.  they do not offer rain checks as other stores do.  You cannot contact them by phone and all the mgr. says is that it didn't come in.  Charging $5.00 for customer service sounded very strange to me also when I did a live chat with corporate.  This is an ongoing issue with different products frequently.  We like the store and will continue to shop but in my opinion their customer service policies are not in line with other stores.  I will not give them any $ for their poor stock availability.  

[WORKING GAL]

@shoesnbags- I was on the Aldi corporate website which featured their logo and I believe it was legit.  Maaybe in germany they do things like that but not here in the U.S.

[Kachina624]

@WORKING GAL.  Here's what happened in Texas years ago.  Walgreen's was famous for advertising nice "specials" in the Sunday ad supplements, but when you got to the store as soon as it opened, the item was not there.  They did, however, have similar items at higher prices.

Seems the state attorney general's office had many such complaints so they filed suit against them and won in court.  All the AG offices have a consumer fraud division, and this was the classic bait and switch scheme.

My advice would be for you to take your complaint to your state's  AG officel. If Aldis ever lands in NM, I'll make sure to avoid them like the plague.

They win the Razzie for poor CS for 2023.

[elated]

The store I go to is always stocked. In fact, one time I couldn't find lemons at Kroger or Walmart and found them at Aldi. When I told the cashier, he said they had plenty on hand. I think Aldi is less expensive than most grocery stores because they are limited in items. I can't believe how much I get for my money. 

In fact , Aldi is buying Winn-Dixie and Harvey's supermarkets.  They must be doing well.

[Tori3569]

We've had an Aldi here in NYC for over 10 years now.  My Dad used to love going there, but we don't go there much now.  

The limited availability has always been a thing for them and nothing new as far as I know. Their weekly ads highlight the Aldi Finds.  They explain the limited time for these Aldi Finds on their website.  Here's a screenshot.  

[jannabelle1]

I've found items from time to time that are in Aldi's weekly ads but not available when I get to the store. I don't get upset at them for it because I know they get limited amounts of some items. I still almost always find what I need and save a lot of money. The issue of the $5 charge to talk to someone is definitely strange and I don't understand that....I'd probably chalk it up to some new and young employee who didn't know what the heck he was talking about and let it go. Would I get so upset that I'd contact our state's AG? No ... Aldi's is not known to bait and switch....that would be a pretty serious charge and you would definitely need some good information to back up that claim!

[4kitties]

That $5.00 charge sounds very strange.  I have never had to call Aldi, so I have no experience with their customer service in that manner.

But I do shop there weekly and I love my store.  It is immaculately clean, well stocked and the employees are very nice.  Now if you are looking for their merchandise, they do not have a big supply of that.  The non grocery items they sell in the middle of the store can go quickly.  If there is ever something I truly want I make sure to be there on Wednesday morning, before they run out.