Food items you can’t return at Aldi

The woman complained after being told she couldn’t return her unwanted grocery item but other shoppers were surprised by her move.

A mum has taken to Facebook to vent about being unable to return $100 worth of food products to Aldi — only to be met with a not-so-sympathetic response.

The woman posted on the Aldi Mums Facebook page to complain about how she had bought a large amount of chocolate as a “potential gift idea” for a co-worker.

“The project fell through so I tried to return the chocolate but was told ‘our policy is not to take chocolate back, because it may have been tampered with’,” she wrote.
“I didn’t want to hold up the queue behind me so I left.”

Despite the refusal, the mum said the excuse was “ludicrous”, given the chocolate was wrapped.

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The woman took to Facebook to vent her frustration.

“The bars are individually wrapped, AND sealed in plastic,” she wrote. “And if ‘potentially been tampered with’ is an arguable reason to deny a return, why isn’t that used for every single food product? What do you guys think, is this policy fair?”

Other mums were quick to comment on the post, with several arguing that the chocolate should have been returnable.

“If you have the receipt you should be able to return it,” one person wrote, while another added: “Ummmmmm that sounds ridiculous. You can return any other food, why would chocolate be any different?”

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The post sparked fierce debate online. Picture: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP

However, the vast majority of other mums disagreed, pointing out that they wouldn’t want to buy food that had been returned by someone else, unopened or not — especially chocolate.

“To be honest I wouldn’t want to be buy returned chocolate personally,” one wrote, while another added: “I agree with this rule. I’d be pissed if I brought food that someone else had at home before me I think it’s disgusting. Opened or not.”

“You could of left it in heat? I wouldn’t want returned chocolate,” one wrote.

Meanwhile, others claimed that supermarkets had to return food only if there was something wrong with it — and it would then have to be thrown out.

“Unless there was something wrong with the food and they had to investigate, I too wouldn’t refund on change of mind for food,” one mum argued.

“They would have had to waste all the returned chocolate, they couldn’t risk selling it to another customer,” another said.

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Most people thought you shouldn’t be able to return foods like chocolate.

While others suggested the mum hold onto it or donate the delicious chocolate.

“Store it. Enjoy it. Merry Christmas – a delish gift to yourself,” one wrote.

Aldi declined to comment on the specifics of the online complaint, however, its returns policy on grocery items states: “We will immediately refund or replace any everyday grocery item you are not entirely satisfied with. Please provide your original receipt (or other proof of purchase).”

A spokeswoman for Woolworths confirmed that as well as offering refunds for faulty or defective products, the supermarket would “happily refund the purchase price where you have simply changed your mind and you return the product to us unopened, in its original packaging and with clear proof of purchase”.

News.com.au has also contacted Coles for comment.