Receiving a reply from customer.services@lidl.co.uk

tinyburton

Having had issue with Lidl's latest round of 'so called' discounts, I thought it time I wrote with complaint...

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Dear sir/madam,

I simply write to you with complaint regarding the recent price alteration to your garlic and herb 1.6kg chicken.

I have shopped at the local Lidl store in Langley Moor, Durham since moving to the area over two years ago. I favour the chicken there as apposed to those on sale in the equally distanced Tesco store, purely because of their pricing.

The 1.6kg garlic and herb chicken in Lidl, for as long as time began, has been priced at £3.99 however two weeks ago the pricing leaped to £4.49 which I thought pushed the pricing to that of the tesco store. Then today upon my visit I found a cheeky price reduction sign informing me of a wonderful 'offer' for those said same garlic and herb 1.6kg chickens - now apparently priced at £3.99 - as though to be some sort of reduction.

Which of course makes me wonder about all those other reductions - if they really are reductions at all. You've created a once content Lidl shopper into a skeptical shopper.

I really do choose to shop at Lidl because of the simplicity of pricing and not that of those silly games tesco plays with pricing and 'two for one' offers etc.

If you've employed the redundant previous CEO of tesco please pop him back on the shelf!

Yours an unhappy customer
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Now I thought it a fairly good email, which might promote a reply addressing the issue, but sadly not...

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Dear Mr Burton


Re: Price Increase

We refer to your correspondence regarding the increase in our chicken price.

We would like to thank you for taking the time to contact us, as all customer correspondence allows us to improve and develop our business.

Our buyers endeavour to offer our customers competitive prices. A number of factors affect our pricing strategies, which then consequently affect our retail prices.

We pride ourselves in offering high quality goods at competitive prices and can assure you that we are constantly reviewing our prices to ensure that they are in line with market trends and customer demands.

We hope that this information has been of assistance and trust that you will remain a much-valued Lidl customer.

Yours sincerely,
For and on behalf of Lidl UK GmbH
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Come Lidl... Lets have a proper response!

marliepanda

Prices do go up and down (yes usually up) and that is allowed.

It comes down to whether it is a genuine price. As they have, by your own reports, been for sale at £4.49 for at least 2 weeks I think they could probably be ok in claiming it is a genuine price, as it is only 50p more than the other price.

If they put the sign up to £7.99 and were claiming they were £3.99 half price, then there would be an issue as that would not be a 'genuine' price as they would not expect to sell them at £7.99

geordie_joe

marliepanda wrote: »

Prices do go up and down (yes usually up) and that is allowed.

It comes down to whether it is a genuine price. As they have, by your own reports, been for sale at £4.49 for at least 2 weeks I think they could probably be ok in claiming it is a genuine price, as it is only 50p more than the other price.

If they put the sign up to £7.99 and were claiming they were £3.99 half price, then there would be an issue as that would not be a 'genuine' price as they would not expect to sell them at £7.99

I think you completely missed the point there!

RuthnJasper

What do you expect from these retailers such as Lidl and Aldi? I regularly shop at Lidl but, in order to keep their prices low, they have to make savings in other areas and customer service is a likely area for reduced spends.

At least you received an acknowledgement. (And, no, I don't work for Lidl or any affiliated company).

dacouch

RuthnJasper wrote: »

What do you expect from these retailers such as Lidl and Aldi? I regularly shop at Lidl but, in order to keep their prices low, they have to make savings in other areas and customer service is a likely area for reduced spends.

At least you received an acknowledgement. (And, no, I don't work for Lidl or any affiliated company).

They make a lot of their savings in not paying UK corporation tax

peachyprice

You do realise that the garlic & herb chicken contains added water, so you're not actually getting the same amount of chicken as a plain one?

marliepanda

geordie_joe wrote: »

I think you completely missed the point there!

Nope, its a non response to a non issue.

Hence why I asked what exactly did they want the response to say?

RuthnJasper

dacouch wrote: »

They make a lot of their savings in not paying UK corporation tax

Seriously?! Gits. that's not on.

tinyburton

I simply want to be able to buy foods from a market/store where there non of these silly pricing games. They had no need to raise the price and then make out to reduce it under a banner. I no longer buy that chicken and have returned to my local tesco where it is now less than lidl. So in affect they have lost a customer.

Money-Saving-King

Bit of a non complaint really. Aldi & Lidl are obviously very good at what they do. They're not going to change because one person doesn't like something. Not sure what the op is expecting to happen really. As I said they're successful so hardly need the op's advice on how to run themselves. I think the response was a nicely worded email basically saying they plan to take no action on the op's complaint.

RuthnJasper

tinyburton wrote: »

I simply want to be able to buy foods from a market/store where there non of these silly pricing games. They had no need to raise the price and then make out to reduce it under a banner. I no longer buy that chicken and have returned to my local tesco where it is now less than lidl. So in affect they have lost a customer.

Fair enough. Usually the best way to deal with it is by using your feet (for walking, not kicking eight bells out of the Lidl manager ) so, in this situation you've probably done the right thing.