Thoughts on Lidl?

Doc_N

VfM4meplse wrote: »

Opposite in mine: Aldi staff are consistently pleasant. Lidl is more hit-and-miss, but to its credit I have noticed that grumpy people don't last long at the tills or shop floor.

Something in that.

We put in a series of complaints about the constant unhelpfulness and grumpiness of the staff at our new Lidl (they'd been just fine in the old shop some of them came from just down the road).

Within a month there had been a complete clear out. It's improved to some extent, but they're already starting to slip back to their old ways. I hold no brief for Aldi or Lidl - both fine shops - but I really can't see why staff can't be pleasant to customers and smile. Maybe the Aldi staff are just happier in their work?

maman

Doc_N wrote: »

Something in that.

We put in a series of complaints about the constant unhelpfulness and grumpiness of the staff at our new Lidl (they'd been just fine in the old shop some of them came from just down the road).

Within a month there had been a complete clear out. It's improved to some extent, but they're already starting to slip back to their old ways. I hold no brief for Aldi or Lidl - both fine shops - but I really can't see why staff can't be pleasant to customers and smile. Maybe the Aldi staff are just happier in their work?

I'm sure the quality of management and staff training is an element. All the staff in Aldi will answer questions and take you to find what you're looking for. The only thing they [STRIKE]can [/STRIKE] will never answer is why items disappear. I assume it's because it can no longer be sourced at the right price but I could be wrong. The latest is the Dime/Dome sweeties. My DD is distraught that the peanut ones are gone.

VfM4meplse

Doc_N wrote: »

but I really can't see why staff can't be pleasant to customers and smile. Maybe the Aldi staff are just happier in their work?

I always make a point of asking, and the universal message I get its that Aldi is a good employer that keeps its staff happy.

In Lidl, the happiest staff seem to be the young ones, and those from the EU.

suki1964

Our Lidl staff are lovely, even when they get moved to another store they still remember you and stop for a chat. When I was in bad health a while back and I had to go in alone, the manager himself packed my shopping for me and took it out to the car

They have just started clearing the new site for our new Lidl and I personally cant wait as our one is so tiny

popoma

Bought a tin of pink Salmon on 14th September for £1.49. Had a look at the salmon again yesterday (9th October), they were £2.89 per tin. That's nearly doubled in under a month. Do the prices usually fluctuate so much?

The red salmon at Aldi had also increased, from £2.29 to £2.55.

Cornucopia

popoma wrote: »

Bought a tin of pink Salmon on 14th September for £1.49. Had a look at the salmon again yesterday (9th October), they were £2.89 per tin. That's nearly doubled in under a month. Do the prices usually fluctuate so much?

Still showing as £1.49 on the Aldi website. MySupermarket is showing a price of £1.69 at Asda.

Salmon is a product that tends to fluctuate in price, though not normally by this much.

Aldi seem to be getting slightly worse on pricing errors than they used to be (IMHO). Not nearly as bad as the big supermarkets, though.

popoma

Cornucopia wrote: »

Still showing as £1.49 on the Aldi website. MySupermarket is showing a price of £1.69 at Asda.

Salmon is a product that tends to fluctuate in price, though not normally by this much.

Aldi seem to be getting slightly worse on pricing errors than they used to be (IMHO). Not nearly as bad as the big supermarkets, though.

Just to clarify things, this was in Lidl. I didn't check the price at the till or with an assistant, as I just took a double take at the shelf price and checked an old receipt to see if I'd remembered the price right. I'll ask when I next go, and check if the amounts are the same (the tins seemed to be the same size).

popoma

It looks like there was mislabelling, as the salmon was back to £1.49 when I went today.

couriervanman

Doc_N wrote: »

Seen it - and the one comparing Aldi and Lidl. Quite interesting.

Like you, I see the two as pretty much interchangeable - with a few differences.

Much prefer the Aldi bread range (Lidl pushes the freshly baked stuff and has a very limited range of other breads).

Lidl has a much longer date on its filtered milk for some reason.

Lidl pushes its useless self checkouts (they're far too slow, with defective software) and won't open up tills for customers - Aldi will always open a till and we rarely wait long there. That alone causes us to use Lidl only when we have to.

Hate the fact that Lidl won't date their fresh produce clearly and insist on using codes which you have to translate. I know it's a simple code, but it's still annoying if you're in a hurry.

Our Lidl staff are unfriendly and unhelpful - quite different from the delightful Aldi staff.

Lidl has a much newer, bigger store here than Aldi - much more space, and a much bigger car park.

Aldi seems to have cracked the Waitrose market much more effectively than Lidl in what it sells and the way it handles customers - though I'm sure Lidl are working at that.

Just a few thoughts - though both are excellent value for money and knock Tesco/Morrisons/Asda/Sainsbury into a cocked hat. Shopped at both for over 20 years now, and they've got better and better. The early days were pretty basic (cash only, limited range, indifferent quality) but these days we can get at least 90% of what we need, with only the occasional visit to Waitrose.

It really does depend where you live Lidl bakery is way better than Aldi,self checkout tills were taken out of our store 6 months after opening,Aldi never open extra tills when busy,Lidl have cracked the waitrose market up here and Lidl staff very friendly and helpful

maman

It must definitely depend on where you are in the country or perhaps the quality of management in the store.

Locally our Aldi is always opening and closing check outs to respond to the number of customers. Conversely both local Lidl branches are dreadful in that respect. Whenever possible they let long queues develop at the self service tills before reluctantly opening a single staffed check out.