CONTACTING ALDI:John Burke from Dublin recently treated himself to two punnets of nectarines which he found in Aldi, Gorey. While the fruit was fine on the outside, when he started eating them they were all rotten around the stone. It was the same story with the second punnet. His problem is not with the rotten fruit - these things happen - but the difficulty he had making contact with Aldi to alert it to the negative experience he had.

"I looked for a phone number for the store, but could not find one. I looked up the internet to get details of the company or its Irish management. The only information I could find was an address in Naas," which is where Aldi has its Irish headquarters.

He wrote to the head office in Naas on October 4th and enclosed a label from the rotten fruit. "My complaint is that I have not received any communication from Aldi after two weeks. I contacted them the only way that I could and they have not even had the decency to acknowledge my letter. It seems extraordinary that they do not even publish the phone numbers of their stores."

When we contacted the store it apologised for the "failure of our internal procedures to respond to this customer's complaint" and that it had "begun the process of contacting the customer to resolve the matter". It said company policy is to deal with all customer complaints in its stores through its store managers and that it offered a full, unequivocal money-back guarantee on all groceries if a customer is not completely satisfied with their purchase.

SPARE PARTS

Catherine O'Donnell was looking for a filter for her Miele vacuum cleaner recently. She found the one she needed on the company's website for £19 (€21). As the website does not ship to Ireland, she sourced it from Miele in Ireland instead. And the price? €47.49 including delivery.

"When I asked the person who dealt with me in Miele Ireland about the difference in price I was told that I must have been looking at a cheaper filter. On that basis I went ahead with the purchase but, having checked my invoice, I can confirm that the part I purchased from Miele Ireland for €47.49 is exactly the same part which is available in the UK for €21."

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