Aldi shoppers furious over lack of product during Kids Toy Special Buys sale

SHOPPERS have been left outraged after queuing for an hour at their local Aldis — only to be met with disappointment.

IF YOU thought the snow sale was manic, or perhaps people went a little mad during the homewares event — you may want to avoid your local Aldi supermarket during the next kids toys “Special Buys” extravaganza.

Opening their doors across the country for the Saturday event — shoppers have vented outrage and frustration, claiming they were “herded into the store like a mob of cattle” after waiting patiently an hour before doors officially opened.

The lines Aldi customers were facing this morning.

Their extravaganza caused customer chaos.

“Aldi, you are on the brink of losing me as a customer,” one shopper said on the Aldi Australia Facebook page.

“While I am not in the habit of being herded into a store like a mob of cattle at 8am, I just travelled around 40 minutes for a special buy of which the store had ONLY 2 which were quickly taken.”

The Saturday sale was a mix of outdoor items and camping gear, but the big ticket item was the electric Mercedes-Benz and ride-on tractor as part of the kids toy sale.

Retailing at $199, the ride-on vehicles have a radio, travel at 4km/h and even come with working headlights.

The car Aldi shoppers were going wild for.

In Sydney’s Chatswood Westfield, some parents lined up from 7.15am hoping to snap up the perfect present for Christmas. But if you weren’t the first two in store, you drove away empty-handed.

Deb, who lined up for 45 minutes hoping to get the tractor for her granddaughter, was left disappointed after missing out on the single tractor available.

“She wanted to be just like her dad and have a tractor,” the woman from Lane Cove told news.com.au.

“The man I met in line … we tried to work together. He took the trolleys and I ran for the tractors as we both wanted one.

“But one man ahead of us grabbed the single tractor and the single car available. He took both, and that was it. None left.”

Aldi fans go wild for the $200 toy cars.

One shopper in Lithgow, NSW, who lined up with “at least 40 or 50 people” was left outraged when their local store also had limited stock.

“Most people were lining up hoping to score a Kids ride on,” the angry shopper wrote.

“We were hoping to get one for our sons upcoming birthday ... we knew it would be competitive and we may well miss out but when we got into our store we find they had only been supplied ONE of each!!??

“To have all this hype over a catalogue so heavily advertised to find out every store within 50-100ks is in the same position? Leaving so many customers disappointed! If you can’t supply demand don’t advertise ... supplying a store with ONE item for a catalogue with no rainchecks is just bad faith and bad practice.”

Shoppers were met with empty shelves.

Mick from Mt Colah in NSW, who was the first in line at his local store, said he was “disappointed” that their Aldi didn’t even have the product available.

“Was one of the first in line and the first to where the car should have been,” he wrote.

“There was one tractor.”

John, who arrived at 7.15am — making him first in line in Chatswood — was one of the lucky shoppers who was able to grab the one and only Mercedes-Benz for his three-year-old grandson for Christmas.

“I got here first,” he said. “Very happy I got it.”

John managed to nab the only toy car for his grandson.

Earlier this month, the Aldi homewares sale caused chaos — with shoppers around the country hoping to snap up a $99 armchair.

Within 20 seconds, the popular chairs were sold out — with most stores having little more than six items available.

Ahead of the homewares sale, shoppers also lined up an hour ahead of doors opening in the hope of grabbing the designer-look lounge item. But as with the electric cars, many were left disappointed.

At the time of the homewares sale, a spokesman for Aldi said the limited items within the Special Buys and homewares range is because they only intend on the products to be on sale for one week.

“ALDI Australia’s Special Buys have become incredibly popular with Australian shoppers and are just one way we distinguish ourselves from other supermarkets,” a spokesman told news.com.au.

“Our weekly Special Buys are ordered months in advance and are intended to be on sale for one week in a bid to keep our range fresh and interesting.

“We do our best to supply our stores with sufficient stock however, sometimes they sell out faster than expected due to their exceptional value and high quality.”

News.com.au has contacted Aldi for comment about the limited kids toy stock.