Woman shocked by Aldi's AI response to complaint

A woman who found hairs in her Aldi dip has said she was disappointed the company included an AI prompt in its reply when she complained.

Jo Reeves from Cotteridge in Birmingham said she found the "vile" hairs when she popped out for a snack, while her partner was in hospital.

The AI prompt included the phrase: "Make it short and concise but do not overdo it" and Reeves said: "Everyone uses AI but the language is disappointing as a customer.

An Aldi spokesperson said: "This response fell well below our normal standards of customer service. We have contacted Ms Reeves directly to apologise and fully resolve the issue she had with our product."

Reeves said: "My partner was having an op in Worcester hospital so popped to the local Aldi to get 'recovery food'."

She said she found the hairs while eating some Aldi chicken caesar loaded dip.

Speaking about the hairs, she said: "We were disgusted and put them in the bin.

"I can kind of excuse one hair, sort of, but two..."

The full Aldi response did give Reeves some advice on how to get a refund and told her "we're taking your feedback seriously" but did not include an apology.

It was the use of AI which annoyed her though.

Reeves said: "They might very well have written: 'Send an email to a customer who is making a mountain out of molehill, give the bare minimum and keep them sweet'."

She said she accepted human errors occured, but added: "I'd like to question their authenticity.

"They always present themselves from a marketing and customer services perspective as genuine and authentic. Yet, this is their reply. Disappointing."

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