Every importer of electrical appliances and equipment knows that the two-pin plug is not the standard one for Malta. Hence, when put on the local market, to get the required standard, the client is given a three-pin plug/adaptor to fix on the appliance. This will also ensure that the appliance is safe to use.

So how come Lidl are being allowed to sell a modelling engraving machine with just the two-pin plug? When I enquired about the three-pin adaptor, the supervisor of the Żejtun branch told me that Lidl Italy know about it but did not send the adaptors. And that the local staff do not know when Lidl Italy are sending them.

For me this means a lack of customer care since, conversely, Lidl Italy know that they are putting on the market something that is not safe to use in Malta. And since it is not safe to use, it is sub-standard.

And what about the Health and Safety Department in Malta? Do they care that electrical appliances are only supplied with a two-pin plug? And to the female employee who told me that it only costs 1 from an ironmongery shop, I say that if Lidl bought a box of such adaptors they might have been given a wholesale discount and get them for, maybe, 80c. Is customer care that cheap?