Your “Australia’s BEST supermarket” survey should include a rating on the quality of products sold by the supermarket. For example, the “Best value for money” survey results should include a product quality rating.
The principal reason for this suggestion is because I’ve seen ALDI staff, at several ALDI stores, placing products in their freezer by dropping the contents of a delivery box of products into the ALDI cabinet-type of freezer. I’ve seen many damaged product boxes in the freezer and found damaged contents in boxes of products I’ve bought. I’ve taken photos of the damaged product box and damaged content for evidence of this statement.
ALDI will claim the product boxes and content are damaged by the customer taking them home. In my case, that is false. I handle and transport all products very carefully. None of the damage is caused by me.
ALDI staff’s rationale is probably that they are placing frozen products in the freezer, therefore there’s no risk of damaging the product box’s content. That’s not true. For example, the chocolate surface on ice cream blocks is smashed.
It is so easy for ALDI staff to safely fill the cabinet-type freezer by manually placing the delivery box content into the freezer. It will only add a minute of time to the task.
I noticed the same with Aldi frozen chips.
Lately all the chips are just small bits and pieces.
A full bag would only contain about a third of usable chips, the rest are broken and or just so small as to render them useless.
We’ve had zero problems with returns for exchange or credit locally.
Aldi does have a site with mailing addresses, as well as a help centre which can be used to lodge a store specific complaint. Access by following the relevant links on. https://www.aldi.com.au/contact-us/
I think that this could be said for any major grocery store. Not all staff in all of the stores in all of the supermarket chains are diligent in carrying out their duties; and the Aldi staff are more ‘under the pump’ than staff from other chains due to Aldi’s time and performance measures.
Personally, I don’t think that the cracked chocolate exterior of an ice cream is worth the bother, but if you consider the food spoilt and inedible, return it to Aldi. They are very good about giving refunds.
No, it can’t be said “for any major grocery store”. At Aldi, it is a combination of:
the type of freezer Aldi use, i.e. what I called a “cabinet-type” freezer which is a container with access at the top of the freezer; and
Aldi staff choosing to place products in the “cabinet-type” freezer at their ease, i.e. tipping out the delivery box of products into the freezer, irrespective of the obvious risk that products will be damaged.
No other supermarket I’ve ever shopped at over several decades, in Australia and overseas, has had the “cabinet-type” of freezer. They all use a cupboard-type of freezer, which has access on the side of the container. Even Aldi has the cupboard-type freezers above the cabinet-type. Placing products in a cupboard-type of freezer from the delivery box can only be done by hand.
Aldi executives can choose to inform staff that filling the cabinet-type of freezer must be by hand, not dropping products in. That will reduce, or even eliminate, product damage, without any increased business cost. And, that will possibly increase business income, due to increased customer purchases, when it is publicly-known that the quality of Aldi products has increased.
If the problem you highlighted is pervasive that might be true. If the problem is at a [very] small number of Aldi stores it would have no meaningful affect on reputation.
I am not a routine Aldi shopper but patronise them occasionally and have never been disappointed with the quality of anything in it’s market position of 99% house branded products at good prices. We have had the odd product problem and it has been refunded without drama and the lasting reflection is ‘they took care of it’ not ‘the product was abused’ or ‘the staff caused it’. ‘They took care of it’ is possibly the strongest action to establish and maintain customer loyalty?
These types of cabinet freezers were installed in all the major supermarkets where I live, and have only relatively recently been upgraded to the upright type. I think at my last visit to a suburban Woolies, they still had one row of the old style freezers.
Totally agree. Never an issue and I have returned anything that was to Aldi, Coles and Woolworths. No problems returning at any. Up to the store managers to see what their staff are doing.
