If you've ever gone to the checkout in a Kroger and the final bill was way higher than you expected, you're not alone because it turns out they've been allegedly massively overcharging on quite a few items. People have finally started kicking back.
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It has been reported by many customers of Kroger that, when ringing up items, the charged price is far higher than the advertised. But they claim it's not that big of a deal. Over the billions of transactions a day, the percentage is miniscule.
Kroger is aware of the problem, and has allegedly had discussions on how to remedy the overcharging. "The Consumer Reports allegations boil down to misinformation, reviewing a handful of discrete issues from billions of daily transactions," they told The Post. "It in no way reflects the seriousness with which we take our transparent and affordable pricing."
However, a number of investigators decided to do their own study on the situation. They believed the overcharging issue was much more common than Kroger made out. Consumer Reports, The Guardian and the Food & Environment Reporting Network, led an investigation. They sent shoppers out to compare prices at checkout with advertised prices.
The results were wild.
Findings Prove Kroger Regularly Overcharging At Checkout
The investigators for the outlets visited 26 Kroger and Kroger-owned stores across 14 states. They were overcharged on a total of 150 items in total in the various Kroger stores they visited. These items ranged from dog food to cold medicine.
Some of the more egregious items were a pack of 4.99 for salt and pepper pistachios, which were advertised at $2.49. One Kroger was overcharging on a pack of flour tortillas at $4.99. The store advertised them at $2.99.
This kind of dishonesty could violate federal and state consumer protection laws. If investigated and found guilty, there could be serious consequences. Many stores preceding Kroger have faced heavy fines for overcharging. Recently, Safeway, Albertsons and Vons were sued for $4 million for the same misconduct and false pricing.
The practice is incredibly predatory, and results in people simply trying to buy the groceries they need to survive heavily out of pocket. Many people, while doing a large grocery shops, won't remember the individual item price of everything in their basket. Kroger relies on this.
They have rooked me on their 'buy 2 and get 1 free' often. I always check, then go challenge them...
I suppose anything is possible. With hundreds of stores in varying unique markets, all with thousands of products stocked and constantly re-stocked day and night, and grocery stores wholesale cost in constant flux, and about 100 sale items changing weekly, and then factor in the thousands of customers daily (hourly) and those thousands upon thousands of transactions each minute (each second) and much more in the realm of things that can go wrong but must go right (I could go on with more things, but I won't.) And all of it subject to computer glitches, and human error, and who knows what...Well, mistakes are going to happen. Mistakes. Any high volume business is subject to this. But the systematic, by design, completely intentional practice of outright cheating of customers as a means to make a profit is virtually unheard of. Because it would be stupid. A recipe for disaster. So...I don't buy this lady's story. Something is not right. I don't think Publix did this. And actually, I would say this if it was any grocery store, but especially Publix. After all, Publix has the Publix promise, and the Publix Guarantee. I don't think any other grocery chain in the U.S. has a higher level of standard customer protection and customer satisfaction policies than Publix. Publix has a guarantee that it "will never knowingly disappoint you"...If a purchase doesn't satisfy the customer, return the item for any reason, or NO REASON, and the full purchase price will be refunded. And the "Publix Promise" guarantees that if during checkout, the scanned price of an item (excluding alcohol and tobacco products) exceeds the shelf price or advertised price, Publix will give the customer one of that item free. (And will charge the lower price for any remaining items.) So, this lady should have got her $17.48 pork loin FOR FREE! And all those other items she has been overpaying were free too. All she had to do was point out the price discrepancy which would have been obvious. And also, blatant fraud. Yes, fraud...not deception, is what Koutouzis is apparently alleging. If true, the incident(s) she claims to be a victim of would be (in my opinion) criminal fraud under Florida statute 501.135. I am not a lawyer and no...I don't work for Publix. Anything is possible, I suppose. But I say...this story don't pass the smell test for me.