Aldi sells non food products and, based on my experience, Aldi ignores its legal obligation under Australian consumer law to provide a consumer guarantee on the performance of these products. In my case 2 x Aldi own brand 'Crofton' non-stick cookware products were purchased in Nov '19 from a QLD Aldi store and returned to the same store in Oct '20 as both products had failed in the same manner under light use (failure of the pan surface). Repair, refund or replacement, my legal right under Australian consumer law, was denied by both the store where purchased and then also by Aldi itself. Aldi on its own website claims it follows Australian consumer law with regard to warranties/guarantees, however, this is not the case. The store manager's reason for not standing by the products was "we provide a 60 day satisfaction guarantee". However, this is not a "product" guarantee, it is a "satisfaction" guarantee, i.e. that when you get it home and unbox it, the product is what you wanted/expected. I suggested this to the store manager, who was totally disinterested and said I should "refer to the manufacturer". This is also a response that a store is not permitted to make under Australian Consumer Law. A consumer is not required to follow up with a manufacturer in such circumstances. Upon investigation of the "manufacturer" however, I determined that the owner of the 'Crofton' brand is Aldi itself! So I contacted Aldi Customer Service, who similarly provided a response that is in breach of Australian consumer law: "there is no warranty on those products"! Both replies to my legitimate product complaint have been referred to the ACCC. All products sold in Australia come with an automatic 'product guarantee' that the product is fit for purpose and that it will reasonably perform as intended. Aldi seems to think it can play hard and fast with Australian consumer law, even though on its website, it says Australian consumer rights are respected! If so, how does Aldi explain my experience at both store and national level? And based on this, why should anyone trust Aldi? What other laws do they think they are above and can ignore? Hence my star rating. I would suggest all Australian consumers to be aware of Aldi's disregard of their rights.
