Has anyone else had problems with Lidl free vouchers not applying? NOT FREE!

[Fionafullerton]

So far this year none of my Lidl’s free vouchers have actually come off my bill. It’s got to the stage where I keep the “free” items until the end and when they are not free I tell them to take them back. They don’t like it though and are usually a bit awkward. They won’t relent and when you try to show them the voucher it has mysteriously disappeared. I now screen shot it with the days date to prove it was real but they won’t honour the voucher they just say phone customer services. I’ve lost count of how many £’s I’ve lost before I spotted this from Lidl’s and it happens every week.i make sure the item is EXACTLY the right code so there is no get out. The only conclusion I can come to is Lidl’s is being dishonest to get rid of certain items and con you into paying for them.
anyone else had this problem?
im gonna to change to Aldi’s if it does not work this week.

Mine all show as free and my discounts are all there.
Strange that yours don't.

I would contact customer services, I've done so in the past about something else and they were very good.
You definitely hear the 'ding' sound when you zap your phone on their reward scanner? (Im sure you do, im only mentioning it because mine didnt scan once on my 10% off big shop :(

I've never had an issue. Are you making sure you activate the voucher before shopping?

When it first started, I was was caught out by not activating the voucher. In some cases, it will only let you have one voucher OR the other- not both. It tells you on the screen though that both can't be used. I dont know if that is the issue for you though? Maybe turn your phone off and on again? It might be an update?

scan the stuff through separately. Make sure you have the correct vouchers activated

Any time one hasn't worked I've got the wrong item. Even when I really thought I'd matched the codes, I hadn't.

I find their customer service really responsive so why don't you use the contact form to complain with some examples and see what they say.

I managed to pick the only pack of biscuits that wasn’t included in the free biscuits the other week. It can be hard to check if there are loads of products included

I have contacted customer services a couple of times and they have given me a discount voucher for the value.
Did have a while when it didn't work on self scan but did work on the manned till.
Last week voucher wouldn't scan and they said that scanner was broken but they had a box on the screen where I could enter my phone number and that gave me the discount.
Generally though it works fine.

How long have you had the voucher? They usually only last 7 days so even if you haven’t activated them, they will show but then dissapear if they’re older than 7 days

If it’s things like free vegetable and you do a big shop it will take the cheapest vegetable item off.
ideally you need to do all your free vouchers and goods you want them applied to in a separate shop

Ate you activating them in the app?

They don't apply automatically unless you do.

Hi all, thanks for your replies, yes I am dealing with the app in the correct way, I am activating the vouchers prior to the checkout and the app version is the latest. I ensure it is correctly scanned at the till with the ominous ‘ding’ sound and they have confirmed I’m signed in. I am pleased some of you are getting the discount but it seems some are not like me. I shop weekly and I can only assume that as they only last 7 days if I shop an hour later it is cancelling the voucher before I use it if it goes over the exact 7 Days. Either way this seems very petty. I have called the Lidl customer relations in the past and they have conceded that there was a computer error and have applied a corresponding discount for the next week. The trouble is it happens EVERY week, and it’s a waste of life constantly calling them and them admitting they can see it hasn’t worked and applying a further voucher.

Yes doubt it works if you go over the seven days

I don’t actually go over the 7 days I just do a weekly shop. It’s a long shot and I’m making excuses for Lidl here but technically it may be if I shop an hour or so later the same day next week it’s over the 7 days. Either way they always resolve the issue when I call and admit it’s their fault, but it never works on all the vouchers and every week there is at least one that they hold their hands up to not working properly. My point is, it should just work without constantly having to call them. If it takes 20 minutes out of my day every week for something they should give me, it’s pretty poor.

I don't think it's done on exact times - my current free veg ones was earned yesterday, it just says it expires in 6 days.

We ad hoc shop so no routine days so I haven't noticed it's precise expiry date but I'm pretty sure all their vouchers are date related not time.

It’s because your phone hasn’t refreshed so the voucher looks live. It happened to me. I opened the app and the voucher was there. When I paid it had gone. If you go earlier, it will work.

I avoid using them because the point is to get you to shop more often than otherwise you would. So you buy more, spend more. DH got trapped into a cycle of overbuying to get the best use of vouchers. We ended up spending a bomb and having more food than we could house. It really wound me up.

nice observation about the app refreshing, sounds similar to my issue, but I can only do a weekly shop and can’t really justify going earlier as you suggest as I shop on the same day every week and a day earlier each week would just be impractical.
the Lidl customer services always quickly admit blame so I still see this as a fragile and questionable system to get you to send more as you suggest.

I don't get the point of the Lidl app. Like you I never seem to get anything free or discounted. Just seems like pointless admin and it takes ages to open on my phone. I think I'll probably just delete it.

They want you to go a little more often- every 6 days- and still spend over the magic numbers. It doesn’t work for me. I now go when I want to, and use vouchers if it happens to be what I want. Life is too short to organise around Lidl!

Yes it’ll be this. You need to go more then once a week really to be able to use the free vouchers. Sometimes they are only 3 days, some 7 but they won’t work if you go over.

my vouchers work fine and I go once a week at random times. Sometimes I go quite late, but they still work fine. I often wait until 10% off voucher to buy things like dishwasher tablets or meat for the freezer.