Posts tagged 'Aldi'

AMOEBA ALERT!

Posted by on April 13th 2022 in A bit of a rant, Lost in translation, Name and Shame
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The Amoeba Squad has been out in force over the last few days.

 

On Sunday morning I ordered some timber from Wickes, it was a Click & Collect job, and checkout was via PayPal. I don't have an account with Wickes, so I assume that my contact details were gleaned from PayPal.

Wickes started sending emails regarding the order status, that's fine, but they also started sending texts... to my mobile AND to our land-line. Thanks to the amoeba that set up their digital communication algorithm, whenever I get a mobile text the land-line chimes in and we get an auto-woman reading out the text. It/she is hilarious - my order number 680432227 was "order - number - six - hundred - and - eighty - million - four - hundred - and - thirty - two - thousand - two - hundred - and - twenty - seven". Twats.

 

Next, and somewhat predictably, it was the turn of the Aldi Click & Corrupt service. As usual there were some subs for items not in stock.

We'd ordered Easter eggs, all allegedly in stock on Saturday night when the last chance to amend the order had passed, i.e. the point at which the card payment is authorised and the order becomes "firm". But when we arrived at noon on Sunday they'd run out of all the eggs that we'd ordered and for which we'd authorised payment. The reason given was that "they'd been flying off the shelves all morning". So, we can order and authorise payment the day before, but, the day after, someone else can buy them in-store and wipe out the stock, including our items which Aldi couldn't be arsed to reserve? That stinks.

In short, NONE of the eggs that we'd ordered were in stock, so their amoeba-powered algorithm had subbed the lot, and all of the subs were unsuitable:

 

 

The middle item/sub is a belter... I ordered the box of "Specially Selected Exquisite Belgian Chocolate British Birds Eggs" specifically for my Dad, as he's interested in such things, but Aldi thought it would be a good idea to sub it with A SLAB. WTF? In what way is that OK?

Fuck 'em. I rejected the lot.

 

You'd think that would have been enough, but no, there was more to come... the Amoeba Factor was still in effect...

Amazon's Subscribe & Save thing had decided that it couldn't get us any BarleyCup...

 

 

so it offered us this bizarre substitute:

 

 

We're bemused... in which universe is a dry snack bar a suitable replacement for a hot-drink powder?

I mean, I'm partial to a stiff drink now and again, but that's a tad too rigid for me!

Happy Easter!

Fatness Tricker

Posted by on January 31st 2022 in Health, or lack thereof, New tricks for an old dog, Shiny new kit
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The Aldi online emporium was flogging off twin-packs of these Medion Fitness Trackers, so we took a punt and nabbed a pack to see how they fared, with a view to upgrading to something more techie later if we decide that they are beneficial.

 

 

We're not in any way fitness-fanatics, but we thought that these gizmos would give us some idea how many steps we do at home each day. Being cooped-up either shielding or working-from-home, it's easy to slip into a false sense of having done enough exercise.

The Aldi blurb proclaims most of the info that anyone would need when contemplating a purchase, but here's a quick run-down of what I've found after a few weeks of use:

The thing is easy to set up and is comfortable to wear, but care is needed getting the wrist-tightness correct - if it's too loose the pulse-sensor bit loses contact with the skin, if it's too tight then circulation to the hand can be affected. Operating the unit is simple - no swiping screens, it's a click-through system with just one screen touch-sensor, so it's fairly idiot-proof. There are no buttons or whatever on the sides, so it's ambidextrous.

Charging is simple - there are no separate chargers, cables or wires, there's an integrated USB connector which is revealed by pulling off the strap. It's a neat idea but when I plug it into my laptop the device screen faces downward, not ideal for checking whether the thing is fully charged. Looks like I'll have to find a short USB extension cable after all, or use one of my USB power-banks (more on that subject in a later post).

 

 

 

The tracker unit is flush with "activities", I've not used any of them yet as I'm not allowed to venture into the wild, but I'm looking forward to using the walking setting next time I escape these surly bonds. The pedometer seems to catch most steps but also counts some arm motions. At my most-recent haemo clinic when having my obs done I compared the pulse readout with their hi-tech machine and the data were a close match. Sadly there's no Yoga Mode which would have been of interest to Chris, but I'm sure that if she wants to upgrade to a different device with that included she'll do so.

 

 

Setting targets is a doddle, and the tracker emits a satisfying yet discreet signal whenever a target is reached. Chris has set a motion-prompt and tells me that it works as expected but I can't vouch for it as I need no prompt to move about, most of the time I need to be restrained.

The recommended free Android app installed first time on the phone and on the tablet, and is basic and simple to operate. Chris tells me that the app DOES have a Yoga Mode but she's yet to try it, so we're interested to see how that works out. We've not yet set up Cloud access so I can't comment on that. As far as I can tell, there's no way to export data to any other app or software when in phone/tablet-only mode. Sync-period is adjustable, I found that the default setting was draining my phone so I set it to max and it's been fine since, and manual syncs are simple enough. The sleep-tracker is odd though - "Time Asleep" = Deep + Light... + Awake!?!?

 

 

All told it's good for the money - it's not flash, it's fairly-well specced, and so far it's been reliable.

Oh, and it tells the time.

Duck or grouse?

Posted by on December 17th 2021 in A bit of a rant, Lost in translation, Name and Shame
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Just had the advisory email for tonight's Aldi Click & Corrupt drive-by raid, and as usual there are some subs for items not in stock. Usually it's not an issue - we can live with 1x6 pints of milk instead of 2x4 pints...

But Chris, being a veggie, is up-in-arms over this:

 

 

And I have to say that I agree with her - there's a reason why people order veggie food, subbing with a meaty alternative is incredibly stupid and insensitive.

Clearly their product substitution algorithm has been coded by an amoeba.

That said, I like duck, so they'll not go to waste 🙂

Wipeout

Posted by on June 10th 2011 in Bargains
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You know what it's like - you're out on the hills and it's time to make a brew or a meal. You get the kit out and find that in your rush to get away earlier you didn't clean the pan/mug/spoon and now it's all looking a bit unhealthy. To add insult to injury all your tinder for your wood-burner is damp, you've run out of belly-button fluff, it's rained all day and you can't find any dry stuff to get you started.

You need one of these:

 

 

 

These handy wipes are brilliant - not only do they kill a multitude of nasty bugs that might be contaminating your cookset, they also burn like stink at the slightest provocation so they're great for starting your twig-furnace. If you click the pics to see the bigger versions you can read the box-blurb to see just what's what.

The wipes are in individual sealed foil sachets and have a 4-year shelf-life. Each sachet is a measly 5g. These boxes of 20 are currently on sale again for just £1.49 at Aldi.

Just one bit of advice - don't keep them in your first-aid kit. Accidentally use one of these instead of an antiseptic wipe to clean up a wound and it's not a pleasant experience.