4 steps to take if you’re charged the wrong price at the supermarket

Brian from Mount Roskill

You’re leaving the supermarket, receipt in hand, and you can’t shake the feeling the total is higher than you’d tallied in your head. You check the receipt and notice you’ve been charged more for an item than the advertised price. So, what do you do?

1. Let the supermarket know as soon as possible
If you leave it too long, the advertised price might change, and it'll be harder to prove what the price should have been.
If you’re still near the supermarket, go back in and speak to someone at the service desk or someone who looks like they’re in charge of the checkout area.
If you’ve made it home and don’t fancy going back, give them a call and ask what you should do.

2. Gather your evidence
The supermarket should be able to look in its system to find your shop and see what you paid if you didn’t take the receipt.
You can help your case by taking a photo of the advertised price and presenting it with your receipt.

3. Know the supermarket’s policy on overcharging
This one’s pretty easy because it’s the same across the big 3 supermarkets: Woolworths, New World and Pak’nSave. All 3 now have policies that if they overcharge you, you’ll get fully refunded what you paid for the item, and you can keep the product.
The policies state that if you’ve bought more than one of a product, you’ll only be fully refunded for one of them. For the rest of the products, you’ll get a refund of the difference between the correct price and what you paid.

4. Let us know!
We want to keep an eye on how widespread the issue is – and for that, we need your help. If you’re overcharged – even if you’re refunded – email your photos and receipts to us at: playfair@consumer.org.nz.

Aneleise shows us what to do
========================
Aneleise Gawn is Consumer NZ’s consumer advocate. She has been heavily involved in our fight for supermarkets to Price it Right.
While shopping at her local supermarket, Aneleise noticed the avocados had two prices – one sign priced a single avocado at $1.69, and the other priced it at $1.99. She selected an avocado from under the $1.69 sign. After getting home, Aneleise realised she’d been charged $1.99. She returned to the store with her avocado and receipt and was told she’d be refunded the difference – 30c. Aneleise pointed out that Foodstuffs’ refund policy requires a full refund when a customer is overcharged. (Foodstuffs owns New World and Pak’nSave.) The store agreed and refunded her $2.

Avocado prices
“I was pretty disappointed that I had to quote Foodstuff’s refund policy to get a full refund. It’s all very well and good having a policy in place, but if it’s not being adhered to, it’s pretty pointless. That’s why we’re calling for the government to strengthen our laws with our Price it Right campaign,” Aneleise says.

Foodstuffs said staff had been trained on the new refund policy that has been in place since the end of June in the South Island and start of July in the North Island.

Why pricing errors matter
=====================
Pricing errors might not seem like a big deal if you’re just talking a few dollars here and there. But our recent research found that 62% of New Zealanders had noticed pricing inaccuracies. This is at a time when many New Zealanders are struggling with the cost of living.
The Commerce Commission’s willingness to file criminal charges shows it’s taking the problem seriously, too. Last month, 2 Pak’nSave supermarkets pleaded guilty to more misleading pricing charges.

What can you do to help?
Our Price it Right campaign calls for the government to introduce a mandatory supermarket pricing accuracy code. The code would:
set out clear pricing rules
require a supermarket to compensate consumers when it gets pricing wrong.
The campaign also calls for higher penalties for supermarkets that don’t price it right.
Sahar Lone, Consumer’s communications and campaigns manager, explains that the policies supermarkets have are voluntary.

“Supermarkets could withdraw their policies at any time. They also might not always translate into practice, as we saw when Aneleise was overcharged for her avocado. We want supermarkets to be forced to compensate consumers and the Commerce Commission to be able to issue infringement notices when supermarkets get it wrong. Fines also need to be much higher to incentivise supermarkets to comply,” Sahar says.
Foodstuffs wanted us to add it is committed to the refund policy and has no intention of withdrawing it.
=====================================================