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During our twice weekly shopping at my local Lidl store in Stourbridge, I bought on impulse the above insect killer at a purchase price of £ 5.99.

It was not used until recently when I found it to be faulty and not working and I consequently took it back to the store for exchange or credit.  It was returned in its original box together with the instruction leaflet, which clearly states that the item, which is specially made for Lidl, is guaranteed for 3 years.

Image my surprise when the staff emphatically refused to accept this item back claiming that new store policies had been introduced recently which instructed the staff to decline a refund or exchange on any goods above £5.00 value, which are returned without the receipt.

Whilst I usually keep receipts for more expensive items, I regret having to say that I do not normally keep receipts for my grocery shopping unless it is pointed out to me that this is company policy.

At no time has the store displayed any such notices informing the customers that they must keep the receipt on any purchase over £ 5.00, had they done so, I would have either kept the receipt or not purchased such an item.

I am clearly not happy with the attitude of their staff and I have now written to their Head Office in London asking them to confirm to me in writing that this is indeed their policy that they do not refund or exchange faulty goods without receipts. (see letter)

In the meantime, if you do intend to buy an item

over £ 5.00 from Lidl  make sure you keep the receipt

Update 23/07/2003

It is now exactly 14 days since we wrote to their Customer Relations Manager at their London address and, regretfully, they have not had the courtesy to reply.  We have now written yet another letter, this time to their Managing Director and we have enclosed a copy of our previous letter and a copy of this website.

Maybe they don't have a Customer Relations Manager or, perhaps, it is their company policy not to reply to consumer complaints. Time will tell but it does not look too promising at the moment.

Update 16/08/2003

Lidl have now replied and have informed us that they have recently changed their Return of Goods Policy

[ their wording - not ours ].

'slightly meaning  that goods over £5.00 and under £10.00 can be refunded directly at the store

 at the discretion of the management after  establishing whether the customer has a valid

receipt, how long the customer had the product for and whether it is indeed  faulty'

 see letter

They have agreed to refund the full value of the faulty insect killer and they have offered a £5.00 voucher for the inconvenience we experienced.

Whilst we accept that our above claim has now been settled we are not quite sure how we should interpret their Returns Policy if a customer returns a faulty item exceeding the £10.00 value. According to their letter, only goods below the £10.00 limit can be refunded directly at the store and, logically, we would like to know what happens to items exceeding this limit. We also feel that their Return Policy should be prominently displayed in their stores.

We have now written another letter to Lidl requesting clarification.

Update 23/08/2003

Lidl have replied very promptly informing us that their returns policy for goods exceeding £10.00 is as follows

ANY GOODS ABOVE THE VALUE OF £10.00 ARE NORMALLY

REFUNDED BY CHEQUE AS WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO TEST ALL

PRODUCTS RETURNED BY CUSTOMERS PRIOR TO ISSUING A REFUND.

THE CHEQUE USUALLY GETS ISSUED WITHIN 7 DAYS

HOWEVER IN MOST CASES OUR CUSTOMERS RECEIVE A REFUND

WITHIN 2-3 DAYS.

IT IS COMPANY POLICY TO DISPLAY A NOTICE EXPLAINING THE ABOVE

AT EVERY TILL IN ALL OUR STORES.