I would give this store a zero but you can't. I am a 67 year old male who has been shopping for over half a century and this was simply the worst shopping experience of my life. I have not lost my temper in 20 or 30 years but I had to leave the store before I did something I would be sorry for. My story? I went into Aldi on Liberia on Friday, Aug 4th a little before one PM. I have been there many times so know how it works. You have to bring your own bags, pack for yourself, put a deposit on the cart, and often endure long lines. That's part of the experience if you want to 1/3 off savings from other stores and I have no problem with that. Since I know how long the lines can be I always look at the registers when I go in. This time there was only one register, number two, open and there were three to four people in line so I figured I would have a long checkout. I finished my shopping--about 50 items--and went to the front. To my surprise there was no one there--no customers and no cashier. I was quickly joined by a middle aged man, a woman with two children, and a man who appeared to be in his seventies. The man behind me asked if I had seen a cashier and I answered no. I then saw the green sign on the belt on register two. It said, "please put your purchases on the belt and a cashier will be with you soon." I pointed out the sign to the others and said I guess that's what I will do and they all nodded. I had almost finished putting all my groceries on the belt when a cashier came from around the corner and went to register three. She then turned to me and said, "I'm sorry, sir, that register is closed. You'll have to get in line over here." I looked at her in amazement and said, "You're kidding. The sign says its open." She then said, "It's not working so you will have to get in line over here." She then turned to the man behind me and said, "will the next customer come up please." To my surprise the man, and the other customers as well, refused to go up. The first man said that I was first and should be taken next, and the man at the end of the line actually yelled at the girl that the young man (me) was next and I should be taken first. I actually picked up the green sign and brought it to her to read. She again said that register was not working. I told her the register had been working just a few minutes before when I came in and if was not working now why did she put the sign on it saying it was open. She had no explanation but then told me to come on over. I picked up all my groceries from the belt and put them in the cart and moved to the other line while the customers waited. I began to put them on the belt on register two when, in fairness, the cashier did help me finish. I was so angry I asked if I could speak to a manager. She called a manager on her walkie talkie and told him they had an upset customer who needed to talk to him. I had just finished paying for my purchases when a young man came up and immediately went to register four to start checking people out. When he said nothing about an upset customer I went over to him and asked if he knew I wanted to talk to him. He said, "Oh, yeah. What do you need?" I tried to calmly explain what had happened and when I had finished he actually laughed and asked what did I want him to do. I told him I would like them to take responsibility and apologize for how the treated me. At that point he actually said, "I don't know what you want us to do. Customers like to play games and move the signs from one register to the next so it's not our fault. At that point the man at the end of the line actually yelled at the manager and told him that was not right. I was so angry I went and bagged my groceries and left the store. I then called Aldi HQ and talked to two ladies in customer care who promised they would escalate the problem and have someone call me. It's been almost a week and not one has called. So, in summary, they told me to get in the back of the line when I was first, they said the register was broken when it was not (if it had just broke why would you put a sign on it saying it was open?). They ignored me and told the next person to load their groceries. The manager first ignored me, then laughed, and then lied by saying a customer had put the sign there. Finally, their HQ promised they would have someone call me but didn't. If anyone sees this who happened to be in the store when this happened I would appreciate your comments. Larry B. read more
