Aldi compressor ...

[Arfa Daily]

Anyone got any experience of this item ? It was their 'deal of the week' a couple of weeks back, I think. I have a use for such an animal at the moment, and at £79.99 I figured it was worth a punt, even if you have got to add a bit of air hose to it. Anyways, I got down to my local Aldi this afternoon, and battled my way through the zombies that wander aimlessly about the place with their trollies full of no-name baked beans, and found four of the compressors on display. They looked perfectly fine - certainly no worse than those I've seen offered for £120+ at B&Q - and were suitably heavy, so I dragged one down to the front, and stood in line at a till for about 10 minutes, whilst more zombies tried to empty and repack their trollies. I finally got to the halfwit behind the till, who scanned my box, and announced "£79.99 please mate" I shoved my card in the slot and waited. Then he says "Oh - we don't take credit cards ..." "What ?!!" said I "We don't..." "Yes, yes. I heard what you said. Where doesn't take credit cards ?" "Well, we don't, mate ..."

So I glared at him, tore my card out of the slot, and walked out, leaving the heavy box in the middle of the floor. Back out in the car park, my daughter, who was with me, told me that we could have used one of her debit cards instead, but by then, we would have looked pretty stupid going back in :-\

Anyway, later tonight, she rang me and said that she and her husband had popped into a different branch near where they live, and picked me one up, bless 'em !

So I haven't yet got to see it 'in the flesh' and have a play. I suppose that for that money, it's not going to be the best quality, but that said, I bought a garden shredder from B&Q the other day, and went for the cheapest one that they did - again about eighty quid. It had the same capacity as all the dearer ones, and the same power rating motor, and it works just fine, and will be perfectly adequate for the limited service that I need it for. I'm hoping the same will be true of the compressor, unless anyone knows different ... ?

Arfa

[H. Neary]

I always found Aldi stuff o/k [With the exception of any processed foods].

The electronics and tools I have had from them have been excellent value for money.

German stores never were too keen on credit cards. I expect Aldi will come round soon though as they have recently started offering cashback with debit cards, so I am sure they are going to adjust to The British never never approach reasonably well.

HN

[Adrian C]

On 26/03/2011 01:56, H. Neary wrote: I expect Aldi will

Strangely, they do accept credit cards in Scotland ...

[Alan]

In message , Arfa Daily wrote

So no different from many of the other supermarkets where possibly the majority of the beans sold are "quality own brand" where the supplier is chosen on price and changes on a regular basis.

In my experience the checkout line in an Aldi store is around 4 times faster than that of a typical Tesco/Sainsbury. Everything goes back in the trolley for the customer to pack or bag up elsewhere (at the shelves provided or in the boot of the car).

The business model is not British and possibly the reliance on credit cards (rather than debit) for a weekly shop is not the same in some parts of Europe.

[Alan]

In message , H. Neary

[Bob Minchin]

I got mine when they were about £50 a few years back. It is very noisy but typical of the breed. The pressure difference between cut off and cut back in is too great for my nail gun so as the pressure drops the nails don't fire all the way in. I have a round-2-it action to try and adjust this. One of the quick release connectors has just developed a leak in the last week or so. The body and seat is plated steel, so the water vapour has started to rust. Easily replaced by a brass one.

Still good value for the money though.

Most people who have a compressor are likely to be handy types who can live with these little issues.

Bob

[Steve Firth]

Do you have shares in Aldi?

I really do wonder at the way the zombies leap to the defence of this grunge supermarket chain.

[Andy Dingley]

Why do you have water in the air lines?

I don't have an Aldi compressor, but I do have half a dozen of their drier / filter units. They''re cheap enough you can dot them around the walls of the workshop. You can also afford to dry the air both before the pipework, and afterwards. Seems well made and the price is certainly good.

I note that their hose reel units are also cheaper now (40 instead of

45) than they were two years ago. I bought one then, knowing I'd want one for the new workshop and "they'd only go up", but still haven't taken it out of the box.

[Arfa Daily]

Certainly no worse than my local Tesco, which is also infested with zombies. Sainsbury's is a little better along with Asda, and Morrisons is pretty good. However, my stores of choice, for food at least, are Waitrose and M&S, neither of which allow zombies in ... :-)

Not at this one. It was as bad as any place I've ever been in, and there was certainly no 're-packing' area

For 'weekly shop' I can agree with you, perhaps, but when you are selling single item tools for eighty quid, I think it's a bit 'head-in-the-sand'. Had I have bought a few accessories to go with the compressor at the same time, it could easily have been £150 or more. Still, I'll know if I ever brave the place again ...

Arfa

[Andy Dingley]

Because they don't do much, but what they do do is mostly good. Better than Lidl, on nearly everything. Lidl is pretty grungey these days (cheapest place for Kraftburys chocolate, and that's aboout it).

I wouldn't want to shop there entirely (unlike Waitrose), but there are things that I do buy every week. Catfood and bottled beer are the usuals - real English breweries, for peanuts.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I'm amazed you find this surprising. If a store is aiming for the very best prices, they're giving *you* the amount that would normally go to the CC company. Which is several quid in this case.

I'm surprised you don't also have a debit card. You get things like car VED cheaper with one too.

BTW, you've just described any supermarket on a busy day. And Friday afternoon is busy at most. You should have asked the wife about the best time to shop - Monday morning is a good bet.

[Arfa Daily]

Yeah, thanks Bob. That pretty much confirms what I felt was going to be the case. Nail gun is something I have in mind for the future, as well as spray, but duty will be light in any of those fields. The current need I have is for a short blast of compressed air to blow crud out of some items that are impractically difficult to strip for this, whilst being serviced. Other than that, it's one of those 'nice to have' items to put in the garage, for that sort of money. As you say, I'm a practical person both professionally and 'handy-wise', so I can indeed live with any minor shortcomings. Come to think of it, I actually have a mate in the air business - although he specialises in producing a lack of it, rather than an excess (!) but even so, I guess he will know where to get replacement / better fittings, if it should ultimately need any.

Arfa

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You seem to have the same issues with Lidl. No one is forcing you to use them. But you can save a great deal of money on the average household shop by using Lidl for lots of things. But it sounds like you don't do the shopping anyway.

[Steve Firth]

The cat won't touch catfood from Lidl or Aldi.

I'll hake an exception for the Schöfferhofer's Hefe Weissenbier, or I did until Tesco/Asda started selling it cheaper.

I've not seen any beer bargains there.

I'll continue to buy (some) tools from them, but a policy of "don't put it in your mouth" still applies to the majority of stuff that they sell.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I don't have an Aldi close, but reckon they're fairly similar to Lidl with respect to power tools etc. And Lidl stuff is in a different league to B&Q own brand. Better quality at lower prices.

[MuddyMike]

I have owned one for about 4 years. Its been fine apart from the connector on the end of the air line leaking shortly after I bought it. That turned out to be a bonus as I complained and they sent me a new air line without asking for the leaky one back. I periodically use the old line as an extension as the leak is not that bad. I actually bought it to power the nail gun they were selling at the same time to build my shed workshop which has held together.

also find the tyre inflator that was in the box very handy, but it is not really powerful enough for heavy use.

Mike

[Dave Liquorice]

said I

As with CostCo.

I didn't know that. I normally go to the local PO with a cheque in some vain attempt to keep their turn over up and thus minutely reduce the risk of closure (thoiugh as it's also the local delivery office that isn't likely).

Is Friday still "Pension Day", always avoid supermarkets on Pension Day as all the old biddies get their pension then combine with shopping.

[Dave Liquorice]

Different up here:

Tesco - OK but can be bad when the big monthly livestock and farm plant auction is on just across the road.

Sainsbury's - Where are they?

Asda - Chavs ville.

Morrisons - old biddies chatting in the middle of the dimly lit narrow isles. I wonder of they have finished rebuilding it after a major fire?

[Harry Bloomfield]

It happens that Arfa Daily formulated :

So you will happily pay £150 for the compressor alone, just for the privilege of using your credit card?

Those who go in regularly know they do not accept CC, but do accept DC's and their is usually a clear notice up to that effect.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Arfa Daily formulated on Saturday :

The fitting on mine have been fine, despite it connecting to supply air around my workshop and garage and a few floods. I did have a tiny leak from a fitting that had rusted up, but a bit of lubrication sorted it. My system holds full air pressure for many weeks at a time. My only complaint is that the safety valve lifts before the pressure switch shuts off - the valve just needs adjusting. I have mine fed via a timer circuit, so that the compressor can only run 10 minutes each time it is turned on - so it doesn't get forgotten. Enough to blow tyres up etc..