Have Lidl gone off their trollies?

The_Deep

If what I read on the PP blog is correct, then yes, they have

http://parking-prankster.blogspot.co.uk/search?updated-min=2014-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2015-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=50

Now, we all know that many of Lidl's customers are not the aware consumers who frequent MSE, so I expect that a lot of them will fall foul of Lidl's latest wheeze to boost profits, but at what cost to Lidl I have to ask.

Lidl is famous for its queues at check outs, overcharging at tills and mispriced and poorly labelled articles. It is also well known for advertising "special offers" it does not have. So how will making parking more onerous increase customer satisfaction?

Also according to their signs they appear to be offering parking on a contractural charge basis, I wonder if the invoices will be v.a.t. compliant.

HO87

At least we know that they are registered for VAT.

The money to be made from breach/contractual charge parking is becoming very widely known and it would be sensible to assume that we are going to see it being rolled out in all sorts of areas previously free of the scourge.

Whilst this may result in fewer car parks remaining in PPC hands the other side of the coin is that landowners/leaseholders will not be as restricted in obtaining RK details as PPC's.

The_Slithy_Tove

I notice that they have signs up which very clearly state "Charges Apply". Yet, my local Lidl's car park is zero rated for business rates. I have sent an email to the local authority to ask them to explain this, or whether they are missing an opportunity for applying business rates.

I bet Lidl don't pay business rates on any of their other car parks either, yet they are making money from them.

Castle

The_Deep wrote: »

If what I read on the PP blog is correct, then yes, they have

Now, we all know that many of Lidl's customers are not the aware consumers who frequent MSE, so I expect that a lot of them will fall foul of Lidl's latest wheeze to boost profits, but at what cost to Lidl I have to ask.

Lidl is famous for its queues at check outs, overcharging at tills and mispriced and poorly labelled articles. It is also well known for advertising "special offers" it does not have. So how will making parking more onerous increase customer satisfaction?

Also according to their signs they appear to be offering parking on a contractural charge basis, I wonder if the invoices will be v.a.t. compliant.

You could always ask for a VAT invoice at the check out!

dggar

For the past week or so there has been a "customer survey" carried out at my local Lidl.


They have been asking people for
A) their postcode.
whether they:- Walked to the Store,
Drove to the Store,
Travelled by Bus to the Store.


The claim was that is was to investigate the feasibility of having a bus stop at the store.


(There is a bus stop on a busy bus route about 400yds from the store)

The_Deep

Most of the customers I see shopping at The Oxford Road Lidl in Reading, (a rough area), arrive and depart by taxi, paid no doubt from their benefits.

bazster

Any business that treats its customers with contempt will ultimately pay the price. It might take a while but it'll cost them eventually.

If this discount food malarkey is growing as fast as we are told (God only knows why, I went into an Aldi once and I went into a Lidl once and I though they were both grim) then someone else will muscle in on the market but with a rather better attitude to their customers.

trubster

The_Deep wrote: »

Most of the customers I see shopping at The Oxford Road Lidl in Reading, (a rough area), arrive and depart by taxi, paid no doubt from their benefits.

I bet the taxi's will soon refuse to do jobs from there... obviously they cant afford £90 to breach the "No Return" condition.