KROGER shoppers can fight back if they find that the grocery giant has overcharged them.
Consumers are able to pocket what’s called a “bounty” if they wrongfully paid more than what they owed, or up to $550 if the retailer refuses to reimburse them.
Kroger has been repeatedly accused of overcharging shoppers, who have frequently noticed that items tagged as being on sale ring up as the regular price.
Consumers, however, are able to fight back.
The “Pricing and Advertising of Consumer Items Act,” also known as the “item pricing act,” was created to protect shoppers in Michigan from being overcharged.
Signed into law in 1976 and implemented in 1978, the law required the price of most items for sale be clearly marked near or where the product is displayed.
The rule has been tweaked over the years, with one of the most notable changes being that products are no longer required to have individual price tags.
This new stipulation took effect in September 2011 thanks to the “Shopping Reform and Modernization Act,” or “scanner law,” which replaced the former law.
Retailers still must display an item’s price near where the item is located, but they are no longer required to individually mark the price on the item itself.
Signs, electronic shelf labels, or price stickers can be used to indicate the price of an item, per the scanner law.
Customers charged more than the displayed price of an item once a transaction is complete can take several steps to correct the overcharge, according to Michigan’s consumer protection website.
Shoppers must have their receipt indicating the price they were charged for the item and are required to inform the retailer of the overcharge within 30 days, in person or in writing.
Sellers such as Kroger then have two days within receiving the notice to refund the customer the difference between the display price and amount charged.
The retailer can also opt to pay the shopper a bonus, or “bounty,” of ten times the difference. The bonus must be between $1 and $5.
If they fail to pay both the refund and the bonus, the overcharged customer can sue the retailer to recover their damages or $250 – whichever is greater – in addition to attorney fees up to $300, according to the scanner law.
PRICING PROBLEMS
Kroger has received much backlash over the years from shoppers who have been overcharged.
Kroger's refund policy
Kroger shoppers can return items with or without a receipt.
All Kroger Co. Family of Stores can accept returns of items purchased at any location within 30 days of purchase.
Returns with receipts:
Customers can use digital or paper receipts to get a refund The refund will be returned in the same payment method the purchase was made. Either going back on a card or handed back in cashReturns without receipts:
Customers wanting to return more than $10 will receive a store merchandise gift card for the value Customers who spent less than $10 will receive cash“Every week customers are being duped into thinking some grocery items are on sale,” a Cincinnati Kroger customer told state officials in February.
“The store is full of expired shelf tags showing one price and upon checkout [customers] are being charged a higher price.”
In one study by Consumer Reports, 14 Kroger stores of the 26 investigated across 14 states and Washington DC had expired sales tags that led to customers being overcharged.
Over 150 products with expired sale tags were found, with Kroger charging shoppers on average $1.70 more than the sale price for each item.
Everyday products from Cheerios to Nescafé instant coffee were found with expired sales tags.
Kroger spoke out about the investigation’s findings, arguing that it overexaggerated the overcharging issue.
“The characterization of widespread pricing concerns is patently false,” a Kroger spokesperson told CBS.
They noted that the pricing errors found in the study represented only a “few dozen examples across several years out of billions of customer transactions annually.”
Aside from overcharging shoppers, Kroger has come under fire for axing a service and changing an in-store policy, “failing customers.”
Plus, another shopper called out “constant” issues with a popular Kroger service – they missed out on $212 of essentials.
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