A woman camped outside her local Aldi store at 5am to bag a popular air fryer - and was surprised to find that only ONE had been delivered to the store.
Anne Grainger, 58, woke up at 4.30am on Sunday (November 13) and, armed with a deck chair and flask, headed off to the Cardiff store on Excelsior Industrial Estate. She was the only one who made the trip that early in the morning and once the manager turned up at 7am, she learned that only one air fryer was available.
Anne, who wanted the air fryer as an early Christmas presenter for her daughter, was amazed to find she was the only one queuing outside the store after reading about the hype for the special buy - which has sold out online.
Read more: Aldi shoppers excited to get new air fryer left gutted after arriving at stores
She said: "I thought I was being prepared, I thought there would be people waiting. The manager came about seven and they said we have only had one delivered, I couldn't believe it. They said some stores haven't even had any delivered."
Anne, from from Llandaff North, said she decided to make the purchase after doing some research with her daughter Victoria Grainger who she said likes to cook. They have been reading about air fryers and came to the conclusion that the Aldi air fryer, which is said to be a dupe of the Ninja air fryer, was a good purchase.
The air fryer is a gift for Christmas, but Anne intends to surprise her daughter with it on Sunday so she has time to practice ready to cook with it for their Christmas dinner, reports Wales Online.
The Aldi fryer was available to purchase online for £89.99 on November 6 before being made available in stores on Sunday, November 13. Anne said she opted not to try and get one online as she likes to make purchases in person, but many people who failed to get the sold-out online air fryer last week will be chancing their luck to get one in an Aldi store near them this week.
Anne said when she left the store with the one air fryer they had available, the manager put a sign up in the window which read: "We have 0 air fryers, some stores have received 0, sorry for the inconvenience caused but please don't queue for it."
Many people were left disappointed after queuing for the air fryer, only to find a handful had been delivered - or that they had already sold out. Others complained on social media that they had not been told about a ticketing system being implemented at some locations, meaning some customers had already been allocated an air fryer while others in the queue missed out.
Some claim they turned up only to be told the air fryers had already sold out before stores even opened.
The Manchester Evening News has contacted Aldi for comment.
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