Beware, do not buy Aldi Organic Compost.

Thanks for the help and advice. Have copied the comment on FB just in case it disappears, good idea Shiney! Thinking logically it would be incredibly unlikely that there aren't plenty of other people who have had foreign bodies in their bags of compost as I didn't even know Aldi had a Facebook page yet within hours of me posting my comments another person advised they'd had a similar occurrence. It is the case that the supplier of this rubbish to Aldi does supply others , who they are I don't know, I certainly won't "go down" without a fight. As far as compensation is concerned I haven't mentioned a dicky bird about that for the time being and have no intention of rushing out to spend my gift voucher this weekend!

 

I have a mate who does a lot of work for Aldi (much of their IT infrastructure). He tells me that Aldi is very particular about quality and will (and has in the past) dropped a supplier in a heartbeat if they are not up to standard. I know all about the 'game' that both the complainant and the company have to play in cases like this. I always liken it to a game of chess. If you don't think several steps ahead you've as good as lost. If my mate's account of Aldi's approach to quality is right, then I guess this is just a case of making absolutely sure they are not about to drop a supplier on the say-so of one person, so while on one front they will of course deny everything and do everything they can think of to appease the complainant and make the immediate problem go away, on another front it is very likely that they will already be thinking about investigating the wider issue to see if they should keep that particular supplier or not.

 

No thing further from Aldi today, I'll give them till Wednesday and if no contact will return to the attack. I am hoping they ask to see the offending articles I found in the top 1/3 of 1 bag and maybe they'd like to open the 2 unopened bags and see for themselves the "treasures" lurking, bit like a lucky dip! Today I had a little further investigation into the opened bag WITH thick gloves on. Found in the next handful more poly bag bits, a lollypop stick and a cigarette butt, can't be mine I gave up the dreaded fags almost a year ago.

 

@silu

Sounds more like a refuse bag than compost.
It's totally unacceptable, I hope you have been photographing the "exhibits".
Post them here and on their FB page.

I would seriously consider writing to your equivalent of the Consumer Protection Agency.

 

Another update on my saga with Aldi. To give them their due they just might be taking me seriously (thanks Shiney for putting in your tuppence worth ) I was contacted by their senior customer services person who asked me to open all the bags I had originally bought (3). Findings in all 3 were pretty similar, glass,bits of poly bags, bits of broken china, plastic, cigarette ends etc. God only knows what I couldn't see/distinguish, better not to think too much about that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Photos of the foreign bodies were sent to Aldi who then asked me to take approx 1/2 of my findings and the packaging to my local store. They are evidently going to be sent down to Aldi head office. In response to my original complaint I was offered along with a small Aldi voucher and refund for the compost I had bought, a complimentary bag of the same compost! WELL as I was at the store today I thought I would take another bag and have a rummage in it to see if the bags I'd originally bought were unusual or not. They weren't! The bag I got today contained pretty much the same rubbish as the other 3 bought about 3 weeks ago be it maybe slightly less. It did indeed contain 1 piece of glass....full marks Aldi for consistency that's all 4 bags have had a piece in each!

I'll await the response, I'm wanting them to either stop selling this rubbish or at the very least rebrand it for what it is, recycled garden waste. Probably get nowhere but I'm going down fighting!

 

Things like this really worry me most of us try to help our planet then some people jump on the organic train giving us a bad name. Try your MP

 

Where's health and safety when you need them! I think Aldi should remove all these bags from their shops until a full investigation is done.

 

The Health and Safety Executive is a strange organisation. Here's a true story from my own experience.

I once worked for a private firm fulfilling a long term government contract. At the time of this even I worked on the top floor of a large multi-storey office block. One day some higher ranking officials from government were coming in for a meeting re the high profile contract we were doing. Our senior managers decided to really butter them up. So, in an office at the end of our floor, they set up a gas barbecue so they could have an actual barbecue party indoors, at the top floor of a city centre office block. For real, I jest not.

The fire inspector was consulted, as were the HSE, and it was given the go ahead on one condition. Wait for it, again I jest not, all smoke detectors, fire detectors, and sprinklers were to be disabled on the entire top floor for the duration of the party. This is the actual truth, for real.

In the same company, on the same floor, I was once moving desk. I was literally moving from one bank of desks to another, about 10 paces away. Having packed my stuff, I pulled out my chest of drawers, which was 3 drawers tall, about 3ft high in all, and on castors. I set off pushing it across the level floor, and got bollocked for it because I was in breach of the health and safety rules, because I didn't have my 'manual handling certificate'. I was stunned at first, thinking it was a joke as I got shouted at across the office in front of everyone. Then on realising it was serious, I thought for a second, before replying "Look, I'm doing it anyway, I have about 6ft left to push it, the options are you can turn a blind eye or you can fire me for it".

 

I expect that you are correct Loofah re thinking only a few if any other people will have complained. Worth bothering to complain about an inexpensive item (£2.49) a bag?...that is expensive tho for recycled garden waste which I can get (don't) for free! and I only really started to look closely at the product after I had got stabbed by something lurking in it. A friend of husband is quite high up in SEPA (Scottish Environmental Protection Agency) and wants to see what I found in the so called Organic Compost. There are evidently very strict rules about what is and isn't permissible to sell to the general public, licences which need to be obtained etc. Good to have someone who knows about such matters unlike me taking an interest!
Like your wee story Clueless, had similar when I was returning a bulky item to daughter's school. It was a bit big for her to take on the bus so I took it in the car. Got to the school and lugged it up to the right classroom. saw teacher and asked him where he wanted it put. He said it lived on top of a filing cabinet which was about 7 or 8 at most ft tall. I asked if he had some sort of ladder so I could put it in the right place. "Have you been on a ladder course?"..."A what?" was my reply open mouthed. "Oh unless you have been on a ladder course neither you nor I can use a ladder, I will have to wait for the janitor to put the item back". Before he could say anymore I just grabbed a chair, stood on that and managed to put the item on top of the cabinet...I ask you!

 

Many years ago we wanted to have a Mini bus for our school. Great, to get one there had to be a member of staff with the appropriate certificate. How to get said certificate? Take your mini-bus and go on the course. But one cannot get a mini bus without the Certificate.............and so on.

If Aldi HQ are investigating, it will be a slow job as they are very thorough. The local stores are only allowed to offer replacement or money back.