ALDI chip bag discovery disappoints customer: ‘We weren’t getting our money's worth’

As the cost of living continues to rise, every cent counts.

It's no wonder that many of us flock to stores like ALDI, where the promise of savings can make a significant difference in our weekly budgets.

However, a recent incident involving an ALDI customer has raised eyebrows and left many feeling a sense of solidarity with her frustration.



ALDI customer Kelly Tranent was looking forward to enjoying the ALDI-branded Sprinters Chips, which cost $2.69 for a 230g packet.

But upon opening the bag, Kelly's anticipation turned to disappointment. The contents were noticeably lacking, with nearly half the chips missing.


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Kelly and her husband noticed the contents of the ALDI sprinter chips were lacking. Credit: Shutterstock


‘My husband and I decided to check the weight of the chips because the bag seemed to have so much more air in it than usual,’ she said.

The Tranents, being prudent and curious, decided to weigh the bag.

‘As we opened it, more than 2/3 of the bag was just air, and looking at the chips at the bottom of the bag, we thought that there’s no way it was 230g worth,’ she said.

‘I weighed the bag with the chips in it, and it was 157g, and just the chips alone were 139g.’

The packet did bear the 'e' mark, indicating an estimated weight, but the difference was more than what one would reasonably expect.

The 'functional snack-fill' of nitrogen gas, meant to preserve freshness and taste, is one thing, but a nearly 100g shortfall is quite another.



But Kelly was ‘disappointed’ for being short-changed by the chips.

‘Being a single-income family and trying to make ends meet, we shop at ALDI to try and save a bit of money. We get chips only on occasion and thought the ALDI packets were bigger than Coles and Woolies ones and cost so much less,’ she said.

‘I felt we weren’t getting our money's worth at all if we were getting almost 100 grams less than anticipated.’

Kelly’s issue is not an isolated case.

Another ALDI customer shared her frustration over its potato chips when they also weighed 139g instead of 230g indicated in the packet.

Many expressed her revelation as a ‘deceptive practice’.

‘How is this okay at all?’ she asked online.

‘[We] try and save money by buying from ALDI and don't even get the amount on the packet.’


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Kelly felt she was short-changed because the chips were 139g instead of 230g. Credit: Facebook


An ALDI spokesperson did not comment on Kelly’s experience, but they reassured customers that they could return products they were not satisfied with for a full refund or replacement.

Consumer expert Gary Mortimer said companies undergo rigorous weight checks that are supposed to be in place during the manufacturing process, but some things may be overlooked.

‘I suspect this is an isolated incident which would have taken place at the manufacturing stage and considering the volumes of potato chips that go through a factory, it’s not unreasonable to think that one or two packs might be considerably underweight,’ he said.

‘But these are often picked up at some point in the system because they do go over a weight plate, and the manufacturers' process has a lot of checks and balances in place.’



The 'e' mark, widely used in the European Union, Australia, and South Africa, is designed to protect consumers to ensure that the estimated weight is compliant with the Average Quantity System (AQS), as implemented by the Australian Department of Industry Science and Resources.

Products prepared under this system must adhere to a ‘tolerable deficiency’ level, and the estimated weight should fall within a specified range.

According to AQS guidelines, ‘no pre-packaged article can have a shortfall greater than 5 per cent of the stated quantity’.

‘Packers and importers have a duty to carry out sufficient checks to ensure that all batches of pre-packaged goods meet the legislative requirements for correct measurement,’ a National Measurement Institute spokesman said about the AQS.
Key Takeaways

  • A customer felt 'ripped off' after purchasing a bag of Sprinters Chips from ALDI and discovering nearly half of the advertised contents missing.
  • Kelly Tranent, who bought the chips at the ALDI, discovered that the pack was significantly underweight when she weighed it at home.
  • The ALDI spokesperson stated that customers can return products they are dissatisfied with for a full refund or replacement, although they did not comment directly on Tranent's experience.
  • Consumer expert Gary Mortimer explained that while manufacturing processes have rigorous weight checks, it is possible for occasional discrepancies to occur, which are meant to be caught by the manufacturers' checks and balances.
Have you ever weighed your packaged goods to check for accuracy? Share them with us in the comments below!
 
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you can take it back and let them know this is not acceptable to you and get your money back. This also enables them to speak to suppliers I'm sure this amount would not meet required estimated weight and there woulds be serious breaches to deal with here.
 
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Reactions: Cyberchook
It's a quality control issue. The computer that discards unweight products is actually fallible.
 
All the packaging is done by machines and occasionally there is one that becomes a glitch. I have never found anything like that in anything from Aldi's and I have been shopping with them from the beginning.
 
On the occasions we've been on a tour through the Cadbury's Factory any wrapper which did not contain a chocolate was automatically removed from the travelator because it contained no weight.
Surely the same should apply with packets of potato chips? Any packet under a certain low weight is automatically removed.
 

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