Author Topic: ALBERTSONS items free if they scan at a price higher than the one advertised (Read 83 times)

JTSimon · « **on:** September 02, 2003, 11:14:59 PM »

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/money/2450149/detail.html

Albertsons Fined $1.85M For Overcharging Customers
Store Scanners Programmed With Wrong Prices

SAN DIEGO -- A judge ordered Albertsons Inc. to pay $1.85 million for overcharging customers because of incorrect prices in supermarket checkout scanners.

The supermarket chain was ordered Friday to pay penalties and improvements. The judge also ordered Albertsons to put a system in place that would prevent future overcharges. The chain must also establish a give-away program in California in which customers will get items for free if they scan at a price higher than the one advertised.

Weights and Measures inspectors in San Diego and 14 other California counties found that items were overcharged during the checkout process at 157 Albertsons stores. The inspections took place between September 1999 and December 2002. Inspectors identified bad prices on 780 items resulting in about $700 in overcharges.

The San Diego County District Attorney's Office and the California Attorney General's Office brought the consumer protection action against the chain. The judgment requires Albertsons to employ a scan coordinator, whose only duty will be to ensure accurate scanner-system pricing.

Albertsons has 486 stores in California and 50 in San Diego.

Nice program...