Today I bought the 3.3 megapixel digi cam for 139 Euro. I was quite happy at first, but then a lot of the pictures I took were blurry.
I was wondering whether this is my fault or the camera’s and then I realized that the bloody camera hasn’t got an autofocus. WTF? The horror!
I guess that means I have to adjourn putting fresh photos on my homepage, as I’m going to take it back to Aldi and demand my money back
Quite a blast from the past, I thought nobody builds cameras without an autofocus anymore!
No offense, man, but you bought a camera. From Aldi. What do you expect? But yeah, it’s a PITA to return stuff. Good luck with that. Does Aldi even take returns? I realize that our stores in the States are even more no-frills than the ones abroad, but I didn’t think they were exactly the place to get electronics from anywhere.
I don’t trust stores selling both generic dry grocery items and DVD players from companies I’ve never heard of. I don’t get my groceries there and I sure as hell wouldn’t buy a digital camera from there, though I admit before I read the OP it might have been tempting.
AFAIK, it is. Don’t ask me why, but I went to their website once. They have stores all over Europe and the UK, just like the U.S., similar product lines, although you can apparently buy liquor at the non-U.S. Aldi.
I do make the odd grocery run there, and a few weeks ago you could buy laptops. They often have weird seasonal non-food items like grills and Christmas ornaments.
Yeah, it’s the cheap supermarket Aldi I am talking about. And usually their products are pretty good. The last digi-cam they sold was great and had a very good cost-efficiency-ratio. This one looks pretty neat: It’s small, it’s light, it’s cheap, it has got 3.3 megapixels. But without an autofocus it’s just a nuisance to me. I am not an expert photographer, so I simply need the autofocus.
As for taking things back to the shop: I guess they can’t say “no”, when I tell them that all the pictures are blurry and blame it on the camera. They have to exchange it, if there is something wrong with it, right?
They ARE known for their good deals on computer products and the like, although I do not speak from experience myself.
I used to shop at an Aldi when I was a student, mostly because it was close by. But even on my tight student budget, I soon got tired of bringing my own box cutter to slice open the freakin’ pallets in order to get my stuff.
(The above is only a mild exageration, it’s like shopping in a supermarket warehouse or something.)
mhendo, I’m truly sorry you had to drive that POS Samara. But think of it this way: it could have been a Lada 1200. At least the Samara is modern, in a late 70’s kind of way.
Both my laptop and desktop are from Aldi and they are actually really good, especially considering the price I paid. If you don’t mind waiting in front of the Aldi store in the morning, beating back little old ladies who want a computer, too, that is.
As for returns, Opti, I think their policy is to return any product without any hassle and no questions asked. So if you have the receipt just go there and demand your money back.
Aldi is a German company, there’s one or three of them in every town over here. Aldi is a supermarket, they sell their own generic brands of food and household articles. Every week they have a special offer of something “technical”, e.g. computers, digital cameras, flatscreens, VCRs etc. While these things aren’t top-notch, they usually are very good value for money. A colleague of mine has one of the latest digicams they sold and is very happy with it (it does have an autofocus, though).
They offer a PC every year and people basically camp in front of the store the night before it sells, because the Aldi PCs are simply great value. IIRC, the last one had a P4 2,3 Ghz, 256 MB RAM, 120 GB HDD, DVD-Burner, Flashcard-Reader, USB 2, Firewire, 64 MB Graphics card, etc. for around EUR 900.
I doubt it. At least in Europe, the products you see in ALDI that look like they might be infringing on copyrights are made by the very company that owns those copyrights. Basically ALDI is given the right to relabel and sell these products. For instance all the detergent you can buy at ALDI in Germany is actually made by Henkel or Procter & Gamble. You’re basically just buying exra batches of Ariel or whatever, that they needed to get rid of at low prices. You can often see this by checking out the addresses of the so called manufacturers of these products. They have different names (companies that are actually owned by the “big ones”), but their addresses just happen to be exactly the same…
Oh and another thing. Their computer’s really are a great value. The next time I’m buying a computer, I’ll be out there beating up little old ladies also.
I just made my first ALDI purchase last week:
a 6000 BTU air conditioner made by a Whirlpool company (i.e. a semi-name-brand) for $89.99.
Can’t beat that deal, esp. when it’s >90F degrees out.
However, when I drove up it DID look like those scenes of looting in LA after the OJ verdict: all those people rushing into and out of the store with carts filled with 2-3 air conditioners. They were sold out within 5 minutes of opening.
A little update: I told the story at work and one of my collegues said “Oh, you got the camera? I went to two Aldis and they were all sold out!”
Despite my verdict of the camera, he still wants it. I am going to take it with me tomorrow: Either I am going to sell it to him or I’m going to exchange it (in case he changed his mind).
What do you expect? But yeah, it’s a PITA to return stuff. Good luck with that. Does Aldi even take returns? I realize that our stores in the States are even more no-frills than the ones abroad, but I didn’t think they were exactly the place to get electronics from anywhere.