Hi There,
I’ve received several requests if your own contributions are welcome on the blog? And the simple answer is YES, the more real life stories and customer experiences we can get together showing the reality the better. So feel free to send your contribution to: ihatealbertheijn@gmail.com and they will get published on the blog.
Thanks.
I hate Albert Heijn 
Dear Albert Heijn Hater,
Maybe it’s an idea, to send this pictures to the Albert Heijn Headquarters.
I am an employee of Albert Heijn, other town for the record, and I’ve never seen such a mess as this one. I’ve been in many stores though…
One last question: is it only this one store or are it all stores you’ve been that were quite mess? Because when you say I hate Albert Heijn after looking at one store, you’re over-generalizing in my opinion..
Michael
Hi Michael,
Many thanks for your comment.
My pictures are taken in different stores located in central Amsterdam. They are also taken through out the day, some in the morning some in the afternoon and also in the evenings.
I agree with you, I hope this is not the normal Albert Heijn service, but the ongoing experience I have is news worthy enough to make public. After all this is the reality and nothing has been added or removed.
Thanks
Hi there,
You are absolutely right. I am living in Utrecht and have two Albert Heijns on my street.
The opening hours are great. Store A is open every day from 08:00 22:00. Store B is only open
from Monday to Saturday.
The problem with one of the stores is that its filthy / messy. The packing material of some products are damaged. It looks like they throw the stuff on the shelf. They also always run out of the products I want to buy. I am happy that one of the stores I visit has all the products and is better organized than the other store. (I have stopped going the filthy one)
Hope you find a store that has the quality you are looking for.
Dave
I once watched a young women be beaten by security guards in an AH here in Heerlen.. random thought I suppose but I did step in and told them it wasn’t right no matter what she stole. The appalling part of it is how many people were there who didn’t say a word! The foreigner had to speak up! NIce Dutch people!
Thanks a million for starting this website…I’m a long-time AH hater, I’m not shopping there anymore at all, except for walnut oil…
What I’m saying is, I’ll be back often to help support the hate.
Hi Laura,
Security guards are never on the payroll of AH, or any other supermarket for that matter. They are always outsourced from other companies. I don’t know what your message in this is; it could happen in any branche, anywhere in the country. It’s never a supermarket’s policy to beat up customers; I don’t know where you’re from but most Dutch customers will understand this.
I think the Albert heijn lacks service. You could even say they have NO STYLE!
Maybe you should move than. Here in Rotterdam all the AH’s are great.
Always full of stock. Clean. A lot of products. Nice employees.
Guess, it’s where you live. Amsterdam sucks anyway.
Echt niet. Ben je wel eens bij AH Zuidplein geweest? Ruime collectie met vlees dat over de datum is, kassa’s die sluiten als er nog een rij staat, klantenservice die met zijn alles proberen TNT-pakjes te versturen terwijl er tien echte klanten in de rij staan……
Same problem in The Hague,
When I walk through the store I bump into crates all the time and a lot of products are not in stock, it is like I am going to a distribution centre in stead of, what is supposed to be, one of the higher quality supermarkets in The Netherlands.
This b+og is a great initiative! Keep up the good work.
Hi,
This website is a nice project. I’m on your site. During the two years I lived in The Hague, Valkenbos quarter, one supermarket after the other was taken over by Albert Heijn.
In the start, 4 AH out of 8 supermarkets available. Two years later, 6 of the eight supermarkets belonged to AH!
ANd you are right, there minced meat really is disgusting, it stinks.
Regards,
Grebbel
Ondanks dat op de bonuskaart van de Albert Heijn staat dat de gegevens over inkopen niet aan derden ter beschikking worden gesteld, moeten grote winkelketens, zoals Albert Heijn, dergelijke klantgegevens zeker tientallen keren per jaar met justitie delen. Dat meldt BNR nieuwsradio. Het OM wil niet vertellen hoe vaak er precies om de gegevens wordt gevraagd.
“Het kan belangrijke informatie bevatten over wat iemand precies heeft gedaan op welk tijdstip of wat ze precies hebben gekocht. Dat kan belangrijk zijn in een strafrechtelijk onderzoek”, zegt Officier van Justitie Monique Korte.
“Het is op zich geen nieuw feit. Het is wettelijk toegestaan om gegevens op te vragen”, aldus Naima Azough van GroenLinks. De supermarkten maken niet goed duidelijk aan hun klanten dat de gegevens door justitie kunnen worden bekeken, aldus de politica. Daarnaast zou er vertrouwelijk met de gegevens moeten worden omgegaan door politie en justitie. “Daar heb ik eerlijk gezegd mijn twijfels over.” De gegevens moeten vernietigd worden als mensen niet langer verdacht zijn, vindt Azough. “Ik ben bang dat dit soort gegevens, boodschappenlijstjes en locaties waar je bent geweest, gewoon rondslingeren of in ieder geval niet vernietigd worden zoals zou moeten gebeuren.”
I must say I have never seen anything like this before. Living in Leiden, we have 2 AH’s in the city centre and another 2 AH’s To Go in the central station. Never have I encountered anything remotely similar to the photos and stories on your blog. I use to travel a lot through the Netherlands and I have to say that in most towns and cities the Albert Heijn is my choise of supermarket, since the competition is not that much better, say worse. Ofcourse the meat is better at a butcher, and the bread better a baker, and the cheese and milk fresher at a farmer’s, but you choose to pick up all your groceries 1 place, or you simply don’t.
I was truly shocked by your pictures and you have to absolutely do something with it, but luckly things aren’t like this everywhere.
shocked? What is so shocking about the photo’s?
I don’t see a timestamp when the most photo’s are taken. So you don’t know if it’s at the end of the day, when they restock all the items.
Next time try the new AH at the Nieuwendijk. It’s small but clean, new and ok.
I do think you overestimate the quality of other supermarkets, and underestimate their quantity. There are a couple of dirks in the centre, as well as some super de boer’s. Personally I like Dirk but I think the Super is worse than AH. Other supermarkets are not that much better than the AH.
The best way to get food it to go to your local market on Saturday morning and buy all fruits, veggies, herbs and cheese you need to get through the week. It’s much cheaper on the market anyway, and more fun to buy. We get our bread at the local bakery, ordered in advance and stored in the fridge (=fresh bread every day!). I stock things like rice, pasta and other ingredients, when you see them available in the AH, buy a bulk, and stock.
What do they do with that meat at Albert Heijn?
When I fry the minced beef (Rundergehakt) halfway-through I always throw away the water so the meat can start frying again (don’t get me wrong, I use a 3.5 kW smeg gas stove, so it’s hot enough alright). The mince just boils. Als Rundergehakt is supposed to be lean, but seems to contain a reasonable amount of fat anyway.
Haven’t tried the half-om-half in a long time because I assume it’s worse.
Vegetables… is it coincidence that there’s always one tomato gone off in a pack, even with those tasty toms. They also seem to last a lot less than tomatos bought at other places. My wife has forbidden me to buy vegetables at albert heijn because they’re so crap. I sometimes can’t help myself because of the convenience of having everything in one place, but look guiltily in my trash bin after cooking at all the plastic packing materials.
What makes you think that minced beef is supposed to be lean? You have the low-fat variance for lean meat: it’s the same as from the butcher. You are mistaken with steak the beouff or minced steak (tartaar) which are all very lean.
Funky that the minced steak does the same at AH. I almost always buy my meat at a butcher or realy good supermarket and the meat never ever does this. I meassured once, if I buy 1 kg of lean meat at AH I have between 650 en 750 gramms left after baking it, at my butcher or supermarket I have 900 to 950 left. So the meat at AH is full of fat or water to make it heavier. Hence the sanitary towels in the meat boxes, so the customer won’t see. When I have to buy at AH I always deside to go vegetarian that night.
I know that they inject porkfat into chicken to make it more juicier.
Me know to that they use beer to make bier. It is arwfully truth!
I live in Antwerp, Belgium, but I always go shopping at AH in Hulst, just over the boarder. Why? Because the products are excellent, staff is very friendly, they have great promotions for loyal customers and they are much much cheaper than in Belgium, for some products such as dairy I think it is half the price of Belgian prices. If you are disgusted with AH, then you really should come take a look at the Belgian supermarket: they are not only really disgusting with very unfriednly staff, but also extraordinary expensive. Maybe your nect blog should be: I hate Belgian supermarkets
I have a kind of dualistic approach towards Appie. The bigger ones do have the nicer tasting more expensive items you do not find at other places. I do not mind to pay a premium for premium products als long at it comes together with premium service and that is where Appie fails (in my opinion). Too often very long lines at check out counters. And too many Appies run out of bread well before closing time. And some are dirty indeed.
This seems to be their bread business model: in stead of receiving one euro for half a wheat or white bread they deliberately seem to run out of those sku’s a couple of hours before closing time. So I have to buy more expensive bread or even bake off products I hate with a much higher margin for Appie. If this happens and after that the line for check out is too long I have rebelled several times. I leave my shopping cart full of perishables, sometimes frozen food, and other items somewhere in the store and leave without paying or buying anything. And buy my bread and other stuff for that evening at a local gas station on my way home. Where Appie fails too often to deliver fresh bread this gas station (Gooiseweg Bijlmer) almost never fails to deliver. Appie has a couple of tricks I hate like the bread trick.
I have to give them credit for their check out staff, this is slightly better than the competition. On average. But there are always exceptions. A check out guy once made me pay a couple of euros for their “spaarzegel” scheme because I said “geen zegels” and he did interpret that as “wel zegels”. I needed the products, didn’t have the time to go elsewhere or discuss, and could only go to customer service to get my euro’s for the “spaarzegels” back. He strongly refused to credit them to me. Needless to say that there was a long line at customer service so I made an old lady happy with these silly things after paying some euro’s for them.
Appie, a curious combination of sometimes very fine food and regrettably too often sloppy service.
Hay,waar ik mee zit is dat AH teveel macht heeft,de leveranciers worden uitgeknepen en
in mijn woonplaats is er keus uit 4 AH en 1 Plus winkel .
En het gehele centrum is al opgekocht door AH vastgoed .
Wie Wat Hoe stopt die gasten.
Nou, iedere supermarkt in NL is vrij om een filiaal te openen. Er is geen AH lobby in welke gemeente dan ook die dit tegenhoudt ofzo. Ik zou je aluhoedje afzetten als ik jou was en je afvragen waarom andere supermarkten geen zin hebben om zoveel huur te betalen voor winkelruimte in jouw buurt. AH kan ook niet een heel centrum overkopen ofzo. Al zouden ze dat kunnen, dan zouden ze dat nog niet doen omdat ze daar geen belangen bij hebben.
Daar komt nog bij dat iedere leverancier het vrij staat te kiezen voor het niet uitleveren aan AH. Geen enkele leverancier doet dit omdat de meeste mensen bij AH winkelen. Dit komt omdat AH wel de dure huur wil / kan betalen van winkelruimte, daar waar andere supermarkten geen zin hebben…
I want to let you know what happened to me on the 2nd of sep 2009, as i was just watching your programme about Beirut. I have loved beirut and still love beirut and open 2 restaurants in beirut, but one of my Partners in Biz that i trusted and gave the Managment signature to decided to play a very dirty TRICK on me and as I confided in him and know him since i got to lebanon on the 23rd of Oct 2003 and I aquired HIV 2years ago in beirut and told him this, he last year when i went to meet my sick father and brother in london he told the Security General that I HAVE HIV and now I have been stopped from entering LEBANON that I LOVE so much and have lived there for the last 7years. I dont know if I should turn to you or the BBC as both of you are showing a face of BEIRUT thats very beautiful and yet just because I HAVE HIV I HAVE been stopped from entering the country, I have moved from a european country and moved home to beirut and all my things are in beirut and just dont know how much longer I can live like this. Is there anything anyone can do to HIGH LIGHT THIS POINT as I think this is total BLACKMAIL and I just want to get my things out of beirut sell my shares in my FAMOUS restaurants that he has tried to take from me and has made great lies and problems for me. PLEASE HELP someone I will entertain your wishes if we cant first keep my name out of the spot light, as it seem that no one can help me unless I PAY to get my life baby in beirut, I WANT TO LIVE IN BEIRUT again but I FEEL so LET DOWN tht i just want to move my things out and back to EUROPE regards RIchard
ps I aslo moved my son out of beirut as i thought that this person would do some thing to my son
moron site “I Hate A.H.” even a moron maker of the foto’s It only proves that this A.H. does it very good because everything is sold out. And that means that the next day it wil be fresh. And please leave your pignon next time at home.
You stupid moron