Aldi Complaint Who Is In The Right?

Vicky Gordon’s complaint to Aldi uk has caused heated debates we would love to know if you agree with her treatment at Aldi or if she has the right to be upset.

Gordon wrote “At approximately 11.30am, on the morning of Saturday 7th July 2018, I took my 5-year-old son into Aldi in Dartford. As we walked into the store, my son complained he felt unwell, and vomited on the floor of the first aisle. As I was trying to calm him down, a lady offered to get a member of staff for me to help us. The woman came back and said she had asked for a First Aider to come to help us.

The woman, Andrea, came round from the tills with a kitchen roll and bag; she handed them to me, turned away and said “I don’t do sick”; and walked away. I was left standing with my son. I called after her “Could you please send a First Aider to us?” At which she replied “I’m busy on a till”; and walked away. Another customer said to me “I wouldn’t clean that up if I were you. Not after she shoved it at you and walked off like that”.

I put the roll down and went to walk my son out of the store to get him some water, but I had to walk around to the exit, where the security guard (Collins) saw us and asked what was wrong with my son. I told him he had been sick on the floor and Andrea had just walked away from him with no regard for if he or I were okay. He told me to sit Oscar on the packing shelf and he would get us some water.

I asked if he could also get a Manager or First Aider to come and see us. He returned and said there wasnt any bottles of water, but he would keep looking; and that a Manager was on her way. As he was about to go look for water, he pointed out the Manager Aneta. She approached another till member who was serving, and then appeared to get onto a newly opened till. I said “Excuse me, I’m waiting to speak to you”. She replied “You’ll have to wait, I need to serve”. I said “I’m sorry but my son has just been sick in your store, and your member of staff has just shoved tissue at me and walked away. I need some help with my son.” At which, she said “you’ll just have to wait, I’m busy”.

I walked towards her, feeling rather upset and angry at how my son had been ignored; and asked her to please come over and get me some water for my son. I said that I couldn’t believe that as a Manager, after hearing she has a child that is ill in her store, has decided to serve customers is more important than checking he is okay. I asked for her name and for her colleague’s name, and said that I would be contacting Head Office. Her reply was simply “And??”.

I went back to my son, thanked the security guard for his help in the situation, and left the store. As we walked out, my son said to me “Can we please not go in Aldi anymore”, I said “Dont worry, we wont be”. I walked into Poundworld next door to get my son some water. I called a cab for us to go to my parents home. While there, my son was clearly still ill, so I took him home.

Later that afternoon, I contacted Aldi Customer Service and spoke to a lady called Kelly. She was utterly appalled at the situation, and actions of the staff and Manager. She apologised and said that she would escalate it to the Area Manager Daniel on Monday. She said I would get a phone call from him within a couple of days, once he had reviewed the complaint properly. Monday (9th July 2018); I got a call from Kelly at 11.15am. She said that my complaint had been passed on to Daniel and that he had asked her to send me an apology, and a £10 voucher as a gesture of goodwill. I said that no amount of money was going to make me want to go back in the store, it wasnt about the money.

I asked for her to get the Area Manager to contact me directly, once he had reviewed the CCTV footage, and decided on a course of action. She said it would probably take a few days as he would need to speak to the staff involved etc. I said I was happy to wait. At approximately 1pm on the same day, I received another call from a different member of Customer Service, saying that the complaint had been passed on to him and that he would like to send me a letter of apology in the post. Again, I said that I would like to speak to the Area Manager once he had reviewed the footage and had a course of action. I was then told that this could take a while for that to happen, but if I was happy to wait, then he would put my request in place. I explained to him that I was going to post my complaint publicly.

2 days after this incident, my son is still unwell. The staff had no idea whether he was severely unwell, or not. It was on one of the hottest days of the year, and all they were worried about was serving customers. To not even offer him a cup of water, is an absolute disgrace.

I am absolutely disgusted that anyone could ignore a sick child, least of all when that child is in a shop you work in. I will not be returning to Aldi, and intend to spread our experience far and wide”.

Vicky and her son didn’t get much sympathy on her complaint post, many people stating it is not the stores responsibility to care for a child who has vomited, what are your views?