Very Lidl Help
I had a pleasant surprise today, when I took delivery of a Lidl’s own-brand “Parkside” laser level, sent as a Christmas gift from my mother-in-law and sister-in-law in Hungary. Unfortunately the user manual is in Hungarian, Slovakian, Czech and German. Not English. “No problem,” I thought, “I’ll get onto Lidl and request a an English language user manual.” So I scanned the QR code on the manual, and was taken to generic Lidl site asking which country I was from. I selected “UK” expecting to be able to look up the product from its “IAN” code and download a manual.
Wow, how wrong I was. For a start, Lidl’s UK site is simply awful. When one visits Lidl’s “How do I locate an instruction guide for my item?” page and types in the first part of the product’s “IAN” number, “IAN the search returns “Unfortunately, no results were found.”
I tried various permutations of the IAN: the part I was instructed to give, the whole number, with and without underscore and with and without the “IAN” bit, both upper and lower case. Always the same result was returned: “Unfortunately, no results were found.”
So I decided to try Lidl’s on-line chat instead. Of which, this is a transcript.
Machine Chat
- Hi, I’m Lia, your friendly digital assistant, I can help with Lidl Plus, product queries and check our Middle of Lidl stock from the past 14 days for you.Where do you need a Lidl help today?
- I would like a PDF user manual for IAN 462191_2310 please.
- Sure let me help you. Please follow the instructions on the buttons below and you will be able to download the required manual or Safety Data Sheet.
- Can I help you with anything else?
- Useless. Simply returns “Unfortunately, no results were found.”
- Sorry, I didn’t fully understand that. Please can you explain again clearly how I can help?
- I looked for the manual, using the “ian” number and your useless site returned “Unfortunately, no results were found.”
- Sure let me help you. Please follow the instructions on the buttons below and you will be able to download the required manual or Safety Data Sheet.
- Can I help you with anything else?
- Did that. Your useless site said: Unfortunately, no results were found.
- Sorry, I didn’t fully understand that. Please can you explain again clearly how I can help?
- I want a manual for IAN 462191_2310 but your site says “Unfortunately, no results were found.””
- Sure let me help you. Please follow the instructions on the buttons below and you will be able to download the required manual or Safety Data Sheet.
- Can I help you with anything else?
- No. It DOES NOT WORK!!!
- Thanks for using our Lidl Assistant LiA.
- Did you find this to be a good experience?
- No
- I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to help you.
- If you want to get in touch with our friendly Customer Care team please click on the button below.
- Start Live Chat
- In order to pass you to my human colleague, please provide your email address.
- #redacted#@garfnet.org.uk
- Please provide your first name.
- G
- Please provide your last name. Once this has been provided I will pass you over to my human colleague.
- L
- I will now forward you to a human agent. One moment, please.
So we now proceeded on to the alleged human chat…
Human chat
- Hi, thanks for getting in touch. My name is Anne-Marie, how can I help?
- Good afternoon. I need a user manual for IAN 462191_2310 please
- So sorry but this product number is not showing on the system, can you please confirm which store this was bought from?
- It was a present from my mother-in-law in Hungary.
- Please contact Lidl in Hungary for assistance with this.
- The box is (mostly) in English. I do not speak Hungarian
- Was this bought in Hungary?
- Probably. It was a gift.
- We are unable to assist then, we are customer care for Scotland, England and Wales. Please contact Lidl Hungary.
- Like I said I do not speak Hungarian. There must be something you can do.
- The number is not showing on our system, if it has been bought outwith the UK then we are unable to help.
- Well that is utterly useless and very unhelpful. Though on the bright side, this chat will form the basis for an excellent article. I think I will call it “Very Lidl help”
- Sorry you’re disappointed. We are not based in Hungary and so have no way of assisting with a product bought from there, however as advised please contact the team in Lidl Hungary who will be able to help.
- How many times must I say this I DO NOT SPEAK HUNGARIAN.
- I’ve nothing further to advise on this, we don’t have any details on that product. Take care.
- SO, the advice is that one should not purchase anything from Lidl in continental Europe because one will not receive any support for it back in the UK?
- We cannot manage products bought outwith the UK, as stated our Customer Care Team covers all areas in Scotland, England and Wales.
- Fine. Message understood. That is what I will say in the article.
- Take care.
- I certainly will take care not to buy tech stuff from Lidl, that’s for sure!
- Thank you for talking to us and have a great day! 🤗👋
- Thanks for using our Lidl Assistant LiA. Did you find this to be a good experience?
- No
- I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to help you.
- If you want to get in touch with our friendly Customer Care team please click on the button below.
Returning the chat full circle.
Nice product shame about the support
The product itself is very good. It is nicely-engineered and feels solid and well-made. Initial tests also indicate that it is pretty accurate too. However Lidl’s UK support is literally non-existent, thus ruining what would otherwise have been a very pleasant and welcome gift. More importantly, the thing that alarms me is this is a laser instrument and potentially quite dangerous. Granted I’m unlikely to shine it in anyone’s eyes, or anything daft like that. Nevertheless Lidl’s UK support – or lack thereof – on Lidl products bought from its overseas stores is potentially quite dangerous, and in my view, totally unacceptable.
I guess the moral of the story is: never buy a Lidl product in continental Europe, if you are expecting any support for it in the UK.
- Editor’s note: we have contacted Lidl’s UK Press Office for comment. We await its reply.