Sorry seems to be the hardest word.

[Chancer]

I am an eternal optimist and also very patient, today after 7+ years I recieved my first "desolée hein!" in a shop, in fact probably the first ever desolé. Things are definitely looking up.

It was from the supervisor in Lidl, I do find that both Lidl and Aldi are far ahead in respect of customer service/respect for the customer than any other store around here, not that they dont sometimes have some miserable so and so's but generally the girls are very hard working and cheery, a couple of them are in my gym classes.

I had bought 2 packets of chicken escalopes marked down from €3.49 to €2.79 but they were rung up at the higher price, I went back and showed the supervisor the red reduction notice and she called the cashier, they found that the promo ended yesterday (the print was too small for me to read) but she said dont worry we will rembourse you anyway, then her colleague could not do mental arithmatic and initially refunded me 60cts so they had to do the whole thing again for another 80cts, to be honest I think if the cashier was on her own I would have got a lot of huffing but at the end the supervisor said sorry and meant it, it really made my day, hey its made my year [:D].

I find that the staff are worked very hard in the hard discounters but they seem well trained and do at least have opportunities and their hard work is rewarded, crucially they dont seem to have the "you cant get rid of me" mentality, isnt it funny that often those who work the hardest seem the happiest and cause the least problems!

Whilst on the subject Lidl/Aldi are excellent about products that fail under warranty, the power tools etc have a 3 year guarantee, you phone up a call centre (which has a UK prefix!) and they take your reciept number and will send you a postage paid box to return the goods, a friend had a GPs fail a couple of weeks before the 3 years, in fact they accept claims a fortnight after the expiry, they couldnt repair it (not surprising as it had fallen from a great height) and refunded him in full less a couple of euros for the use he had had, he bought a new and better one and ended up with money in his pocket.

One thing to remember is that the thermal printed reciepts quickly lose their print, either photocopy them or do as I do and fold them inwards and tape them to the underside of the item.

My Lidl soldering iron failed last week and I couldnt find the reciept so i tried fixing it, in the process I rendered it completely useless so threw it away, as I did so I found the reciept underneath [:(] and it hadnt quite got to 3 years, hey ho it was only €8, what do I find in their prospectus for this week? - The self same iron for the same price!

[idun]

Good for you. I had about three lots of exceptional service in France and much poor and several occassions whereby I can only describe it as stinking lousy service from companies who should have known better.

[Boiling a frog]

Can i suggest that you visit the GAL supermarche.

[Chancer]

Not one I have heard of, neither has google!

[Tim_Quincaillerie]

You got a Sorry!!!!

Blimey that is a first:!!

I always say now " cest pas desole ca"

and they feel guilty or ask why lol.

[LEO]

Lack of the polite "I am very sorry " statement at the point of sale is disappointing ,however at least the staff are being sincere when their body language indicates they don't "give a turd! "

and honesty is probably better than bullshat!

[Chancer]

[:D][:D][:D]

Maybe I would get worn down if I worked there and be the same, I really hope not.

It reminds me of a Lidl I used to use in Horley Surrey, still do sometimes, its a pretty dire place and is accessed through an underground carpark smelling of, well you can guess, that you wouldnt want to leave a decent car in for a long time, buts its a Lidl and the food is good value.

There was a South African couple worked there in the late 90's may have been the early 2000's, they worked different shifts (childcare) so it was a long time before I knew they were a couple, clearly they had once had good jobs and a middle class existence but had had to save hard to return to the UK and start again from scratch with practically nothing as did my cousins.

Anyway they both were exceptional in their welcome to the till, in itself something insolite, always smiling and happy they cheered me up even on my most miserable of days, and they were dark days for me back then, one day she greeted me with the "how are you today?" and I replied "radiant, just like your smile" with sincerity, I am not a drageur but she just brought out the best in me.

I said that there is another really friendly guy here like you and I think he is from S.A. and she said he was her husband and explained how they were both so happy to have finally found a job as it took a long time and they were finally able to start reconstructing their lives.