The overall Aldi experience

maman

renegadefm said:

Pollycat said:

renegadefm said:

maman said:

renegadefm said:

maman said:

renegadefm said:

Just read thisalmillar said:

renegadefm said:

What annoys me is its customers that keeps Aldi alive, or indeed any business,  so I dont find it out of the way to provide toilets. 

Our local Lidls has customer toilets but they keep costs down. I just dont get what problem Aldi has. 

So shop with your feet. Why do you keep going there? Go to the shop you like.

I already mentioned, I dont have a choice. Its my parents shop of choice and have to take mum there every week. 

Haven't you explained to your mum how important it is that your daughter is only taken to shops that have public toilets? I'm sure if you tell her what you've told us she'll understand the priorities and agree to go elsewhere. 

That aint gonna happen. We once suggested for us to take mum Asda but she refuses and insists on going Aldi. 

That's really difficult for you, torn between your mum and your daughter who needs a toilet at all times. I think your best bet is for just you and your mum to go to Aldi. Hopefully it'll get easier next year when your daughter goes to school. 

She is in primary school already,  she comes with us when theres no other choice,  for example if we take mum on saturdays or sundays,  or if the kids are on half term like now. 
But we seem to be deliberately veering away from the problem, or my complaint.  As much as I'd like to avoid it,  there are times that we all have to go Aldi, thats my mum, daughter,  partner, and me as I am the only driver. So very often we get half way round doing the shopping and daughter asks to use the toilet, its as simple as that. 

I don't think we are veering away from the problem, or your complaint - deliberately or not.

You introduced the perceived problem of lack of public toilets in Aldi.

We are discussing that.

I still don't understand why you keep saying 'there's no other choice'.

Is there a reason why your daughter can't stay at home with your partner when you take your Mum shopping?

No because my partner is best at helping mum,  plus while we are there we do our shopping aswell, otherwise it means two trips to the shop. I couldn't do all that on my own and help mum. 
Plus we live in a rural area, so its a long drive,  so we need to make it count. 
Obviously we have looked at all alternatives and options. We even said to mum one day cant we just get everything at Asda, but that didnt go down too well. 
You see the reason its me now that has to take mum to do parents shopping is cause dad doesnt like to drive far anymore and struggles to get round anyway, so for about 2 years now we been taking mum to the shop mum and dad used to go to as to honour what they like which happens to be Aldi, so I dont want to disrupt that for them. 

I'm beginning to feel very sorry for you as the demands of all your family members of all generations is running you ragged. I know you're trying to please everyone but it's so stressful. I'm still not convinced that your daughter couldn't be more in control and perhaps knows that she gets attention by asking you to go through this toile rigmarole with staff each time. 
Is this happening at weekends? Or after school when she's tired? 
I think you'll either have to put up and shut up or learn to manage your mother so she either goes to another shop or puts up with you to help with the shopping (even though your partner is allegedly better at it?). 
This thread isn't about Aldi really (it could just as easily about Iceland or the £ shop or anywhere without public toilets), it's about you trying to manage the family dynamics.  

Sea_Shell

TBH if my mum wanted taking shopping regularly, it'd be on my terms, to the shop of my choice.  (Which would actually BE Aldi!!).  

Pollycat

maman said:

renegadefm said:

Pollycat said:

renegadefm said:

maman said:

renegadefm said:

maman said:

renegadefm said:

Just read thisalmillar said:

renegadefm said:

What annoys me is its customers that keeps Aldi alive, or indeed any business,  so I dont find it out of the way to provide toilets. 

Our local Lidls has customer toilets but they keep costs down. I just dont get what problem Aldi has. 

So shop with your feet. Why do you keep going there? Go to the shop you like.

I already mentioned, I dont have a choice. Its my parents shop of choice and have to take mum there every week. 

Haven't you explained to your mum how important it is that your daughter is only taken to shops that have public toilets? I'm sure if you tell her what you've told us she'll understand the priorities and agree to go elsewhere. 

That aint gonna happen. We once suggested for us to take mum Asda but she refuses and insists on going Aldi. 

That's really difficult for you, torn between your mum and your daughter who needs a toilet at all times. I think your best bet is for just you and your mum to go to Aldi. Hopefully it'll get easier next year when your daughter goes to school. 

She is in primary school already,  she comes with us when theres no other choice,  for example if we take mum on saturdays or sundays,  or if the kids are on half term like now. 
But we seem to be deliberately veering away from the problem, or my complaint.  As much as I'd like to avoid it,  there are times that we all have to go Aldi, thats my mum, daughter,  partner, and me as I am the only driver. So very often we get half way round doing the shopping and daughter asks to use the toilet, its as simple as that. 

I don't think we are veering away from the problem, or your complaint - deliberately or not.

You introduced the perceived problem of lack of public toilets in Aldi.

We are discussing that.

I still don't understand why you keep saying 'there's no other choice'.

Is there a reason why your daughter can't stay at home with your partner when you take your Mum shopping?

No because my partner is best at helping mum,  plus while we are there we do our shopping aswell, otherwise it means two trips to the shop. I couldn't do all that on my own and help mum. 
Plus we live in a rural area, so its a long drive,  so we need to make it count. 
Obviously we have looked at all alternatives and options. We even said to mum one day cant we just get everything at Asda, but that didnt go down too well. 
You see the reason its me now that has to take mum to do parents shopping is cause dad doesnt like to drive far anymore and struggles to get round anyway, so for about 2 years now we been taking mum to the shop mum and dad used to go to as to honour what they like which happens to be Aldi, so I dont want to disrupt that for them. 

I'm beginning to feel very sorry for you as the demands of all your family members of all generations is running you ragged. I know you're trying to please everyone but it's so stressful. I'm still not convinced that your daughter couldn't be more in control and perhaps knows that she gets attention by asking you to go through this toile rigmarole with staff each time. 
Is this happening at weekends? Or after school when she's tired? 
I think you'll either have to put up and shut up or learn to manage your mother so she either goes to another shop or puts up with you to help with the shopping (even though your partner is allegedly better at it?). 
This thread isn't about Aldi really (it could just as easily about Iceland or the £ shop or anywhere without public toilets), it's about you trying to manage the family dynamics.  

I think it also might help if the OP stopped stressing about things that happen to other customers.
It's clear he doesn't like Aldi.
It's clear his Mum does.
Only the OP can sort it out.

Vegastare

Well focusing on my Aldi experience, I have 2 newish Aldi close to me, both new build with loos, one is totally new store (store 1), second is a new store replacing one that was small and outdated(store2), both stores and the way they are run is as different as chalk and cheese.

Store 1 is mainly well stocked and shelves replenished, staff on shop floor are helpful and checkout staff are pleasant and encage with you, a great all round experience and now it is my preference and this is why!

Store 2 at times looks like a bomb has hit it, shelves are often empty and staff while decent certainly lack the customer service skills.  This is down to the fact the staff give you little eye contact as they are totally focused on what is being said down the headsets they wear,  customers think they are wrongly addressing them when they are talking to other staff members and laughing and grinning at what is being said. So store 2 gets the thumbs down, plus last year I took a quiche to checkout was told it had no price - so as a regular item I told them the price,  I could not buy it because the code was not registering on the till, so frustrated I asked what was going to happen to the stock - I was told all would be removed.   My mate was visiting store 1 later and asked if she would get me one for me and wonder of wonders she could all priced up....same day just different store.

So my experience is fine but my comment would be to flush the headsets down the toilet as stores without them are by far the better for it.

BooJewels

amandacat said:

I like that I’m in and out in 30 mins compared to 1 hr plus in Tesco. 
A lot of the food is nicer in Aldi. 

This is something that is often overlooked when the media do like to refer to Aldi and Lidl as 'discounters' - it's not just cheap - it's very good value indeed - the quality versus price is where they win.  For example, we had need for a quick evening meal for 3 and dropped into a hospital M&S and got a 2 person lasagne and a single portion - total cost was around 8 quid.  We regularly get the Lidl one which has now dropped in price to £2.69 and Aldi do a similar one too.  It truly isn't any different in quality - the M&S one certainly wasn't more than twice as nice - in a blind test, I'd think you'd have a hard job separating them as the difference is much more subtle than a nearly three-fold difference in price - although I didn't note the weights for a more accurate comparison, but the Lidl one does do for 3 of us.

Same with drinking chocolate - my husband has developed a taste for hot chocolate having been in hospital for several weeks and needing to get calories in him.  I grabbed some sachets of Cadbury's hot chocolate at 4 for a quid when I did an on-line shop - Lidl had it on offer this week for £2.49 for 400g, where their own was 95p for the same quantity (same price in Aldi).  I was very disappointed with the Cadbury one in comparison - just didn't like the taste as much - three of us had some of the Lidl one on Friday and decided that it was significantly nicer - we've had the Aldi one too and that's our second favourite.  So I would actively choose their products, even if they were the same price, let alone the significantly better value that they actually are.

maman

Completely agree about the headsets vegastare. They're a new addition we could do without. I often notice that the cashiers are listening/talking to those while serving me so I feel invisible. That's poor customer service IMO.
There are big differences between the stores in my area too. My own store is excellent but 2 of the others are very different. One is a mess and looks like a jumble sale. The other always seems short of staff and it's hard to find anyone to ask for help. I think it varies on the quality of the management and also how easy it is to recruit.

Pollycat

maman said:

Completely agree about the headsets vegastare. They're a new addition we could do without. I often notice that the cashiers are listening/talking to those while serving me so I feel invisible. That's poor customer service IMO.
There are big differences between the stores in my area too. My own store is excellent but 2 of the others are very different. One is a mess and looks like a jumble sale. The other always seems short of staff and it's hard to find anyone to ask for help. I think it varies on the quality of the management and also how easy it is to recruit.

I've not noticed the headsets.

But, then again, I've hardly been out of the house for 5 weeks and not visited Aldi for about 7 weeks.

elsien

I think the headsets are better. Maybe it's another store management thing, but in mine they're not generally chatting to each other. But it does mean that if they need to check something, open another till or get help to deal with a shoplifter they're not having to bellow down the store and hope someone notices.

od244051

The nearest Aldi which is 10 min walk to there and 15 min back (up a hill plus got bags of shopping). I hate it as it has a small car park. People park where they want to - in areas where there's no marked bays, making those who actually parked in bays leaving them difficult at times. I spoke to a manager about the difficulties that these people that parked in non bay areas cause. He didn't give two hoots!

The other 7 Aldis within 7 miles (in different directions) all have decent car parks. One is in a retail park where two of the largest units are empty as used to house the now busted Toys R Us and Mothercare. Never struggle with getting parking there.

almillar

renegadefm said:

I already mentioned, I dont have a choice. Its my parents shop of choice and have to take mum there every week. 

OK, sounds like you need to persuade your mother of the importance of supermarkets having these facilities. We can't help with that.