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Aldi’s response to viral complaint really takes the biscuit

Supermarket’s customer service team prove they have a sense of humour with witty response

David Trayner
Saturday 12 September 2015 11:57 EDT
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Aldi has bagged itself a lot of goodwill - and free advertising - with the response (Getty)
Aldi has bagged itself a lot of goodwill - and free advertising - with the response (Getty) (Getty)

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Responding to customer complaints is a delicate matter for any business.

But when the – particularly witty - grievance has almost 30,000 Facebook likes and has been shared 5,700 times you know you have to get it right.

Aldi managed to tread the fine line between humour and mockery when responding to a complaint about one customer’s ‘nightmare’ of finding a plain biscuit in his packet of supposedly chocolate digestives.

And it's reply paid off, gaining just under 42,000 likes of its own.

Darryl Reilly, of County Mayo, Ireland, posted a long-winded gripe about his ‘biscuit predicament’, explaining that the plain digestive could never deliver the ‘foodgasm’ of a chocolate one and his morning cuppa had been ruined.

I have a complaint that i wish to make. This morning i woke up, as i usually do and i went down stairs to make my...

Posted by Darryl Reilly on Thursday, 3 September 2015

The post went viral, being shared around the world.

Aldi took just over three hours to respond but when it did, it was tasty.

The customer service team offered a replacement pack, with a pack of sugar thrown in, but they went further – leaping to the defence of the plain digestive.

Comparing it to a traffic-free commute, a freshly-made bed and finding £5, they said the humble snack was special and shouldn’t be shunned.

Aldi's customer service team matched Darryl's sense of humour
Aldi's customer service team matched Darryl's sense of humour (Facebook)

For the price of a pack of biscuits, some sugar and a little time coming up with the right response, Aldi bagged itself a whole lot of goodwill – and free advertising.

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