What's hot and what's not at Aldi/Lidl/Netto Article Discussion Area

Former_Spice

PigSick wrote: »

I have now been working for Aldi for a number of months and I can honestly say I have never worked for a firm that treats it's staff so badly as Aldi. We regularly work 10 -12 hour shifts with only a 15 minute break IF we're lucky. AND we are expected to start 15 mins before our shift starts and stay behind, sometimes for up to an hour UNPAID, to clean the shop at the end of the night. The bare min of staff are employed thats why the ques are so long at the till and if you look at your weekly shopping bill there will be a number of subtotals on it because the till is on a timer and the only way to stop it is to press the subtotal!! That's also the reason why your stuff gets thrown through the till and you're ezpected to catch it the other end. If you're caught taking a well earned breather at any time your given something to do, none of the staff know each other because no one has time to talk to anyone else let a alone form a sense of "team".

No, before anyone asks we can't do anything about it only "approach our employers" about the breaks, like yeah we're gonna do that in this economic climate.

So folks next time you're shopping for bargains please choose a supermarket that looks after it's staff rather than treating them like slaves from the dark ages! Yes they are a European employer but bet the Germans don't work these sort of hours without their breaks.

Spend a little S**g your employees up the jacksy a lot!

Have you considered joining a union?

http://www.usdaw.org.uk/about/

No need to put yourself in managements sites. You could contact them to ask about represention so that you have your legal rights to breaks and to not work on an unpaid basis which is outragous.

Schamansky

mike.bloor wrote: »

On Aldi I would offer a word of caution. I have been an Aldi shopper for 30 years and it is certainly value for money. But they are moving up-market. Their target customer is increasingly M&S and Sainsbury and the prices are beginning to reflect this.

Spot on! Aldi's prices have been rising quite drastically over the last 12 months. But, justice be done, no worse than everybody else's.

mike.bloor wrote: »

The quality is usually superb ... especially their Tevion range of electronics -German Made with everything that implies

Trust me, it's China made and just imported via a German wholesaler/importer in Hamburg. Most Tevion products work fine, but there is the odd lemon here and there.

lesbro

Please note that the Cranberry juice sold in Lidle contains more actual juice than any other brand I have seen so far, and its the cheapest.

Craig86_2

I'm a former Lidl employee and can't stress enough how badly they treat their staff. In retrospect I really wish I had tried to take legal action against them, but to late now unfortunatly.

* 14 hour shifts with no breaks
* Threatened with dismisal for going to the hospital (with a serious injury) on company time.
* Expected to work deliveries as normal with multiple torn ligaments...
* Held a knife point 4 times (personally) in the space of a year... nothing done to heighten security.
* Promoted to duty manager, assosiated pay rise never shows up despite my district manager "sorting it out" every pay day for six months, as it stands they owe me in the region of a month and a halfs worth of unpaid wages...
* store opened with 15 staff, a year and a half latter there were seven of us, of which two were also full time students. Complete staff turnover within two years.

"Dont care for workers rights?
Don't require periodic breaks?
Don't need to be paid for all hours worked?
Like being on call 27/7?
Don'tmind 2 hours sleep a night?
Enjoy being humiliated in a fast paced environment?

Then join the team today!"

niksho

New LIDL opening in Glasgow with lots of offers (Victoria Road) Pollokshields/Govanhill area.

sundon_park

The piece on Aldi / Lidl / Netto omits one of the main benefits of using these supermarkets.
They carry fewer brands for each type of item, often just one. This gives little choice but the quality of the brands offered is often good, sometimes the best available anywhere, irrespective of price (e.g. tinned tomatoes in Lidl).
A major benefit from the reducd choice is that you can get round the whole store of 3-5 isles, depending on branch, and complete your shopping in far less time than it takes to get round the big names with 20-30 isles. If you have some difficulty with walking you get a bonus with less distance to walk!:j
Having less choice also saves time and bother making desisions, a benefit to some shoppers. If this means you find you don't like an item you got, you can just remember to to get another brand elswhere in future.:T

Mrs_Potts_2

BEWARE WHEN BUYING ELECTRICAL ITEMS FROM THESE CHEAP STORES, IN PARTICULAR NETTO!!!!!!!I purchased a few Christmas presents from Netto on 5th Dec 2008, Karaoke machine, Wireless interactive games system and remote control helicopter to be precise. The karaoke machine stopped being a karaoke machine on 8th Dec 2009 and became a regular cd player, the wireless interactive games system on 6th dec and the helicopter on the 23rd dec!!! On speaking to the Head Office Customer Services Manager she was quite short with me and said it's just over the 12 month guarantee I know but you'll have to pay for the repair, we won't refund you. None of these items were particularly cheaper than regular stores, Toys R Us also do a karaoke machine for the same price as I paid. The moral of the story is, these stores may claim to be cheaper than the big supermarkets but is the quality really there? I don't think so.

PigSick_2

Hi Mrs,

I no longer work for them, along with the many others that worked there at the time who had a brain in their heads!

I too have had stuff that is not fit for purpose, broke within days of purchasing or had bits missing but must admit that our returns/refund policy was a very good one - or seemed to be. 30 Day month back guarantee so long as you had the receipt and origional packaging and 3 yrs manufacturers warranty. Sometimes even if the item had been used a while the origional purchase price would be refunded or a replacement item supplied at the managers descretion. Not had any experience with Lidl but never really experienced many complaints against the Aldi refund policy whilst I worked there.

PigSick_2

Tell me about it! We started with 10 staff then after about 9 months were down to 2 per shift, one on the shop floor, one on the till and expected to fill the shelves inbetween serving customers. Then they wondered why things were disapearing out of the door on a regular basis duh! We were also expected to keep up our till speed despite being on the till for a total 10 hours with no breaks. The manager gets on the till for about an hour and his till speed is massive and is used as a comparrison of the person on the till 10 hours! IF we did get a break chances are we would be called back onto the tills during that break because there was just not enough staff.

Never again!

Worse place I have ever worked!

FrugalFriend

Whilst I sympathise with those who have had bad experiences, while working for discount stores, this thread has gone seriously off-topic.