A Publix customer has filed a lawsuit against the supermarket company for allegedly hiking the prices at self-checkout. Wendy Koutouzis from Florida is behind the suit and believes that Publix secretly raises the weight of items to make shoppers pay more, according to the Daily Mail.
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Shopper Sues Publix For Allegedly Spiking Prices At Self-Checkout
This seems to have happened at self-checkouts where the shopper places items like cheese and meats to weigh for its price. The suit filed at a Miami federal court includes an example where a pack of pork should've cost around $14. Instead, the machine charged her nearly $20 since the scale claimed it weighed more than it actually did.
Koutouzis is now looking for compensation for all customers that the grocery chain has illegitimately overcharged. This could affect not only stores in Florida but also in other states that have Publix locations. These include Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
The case also alleges that the self-checkout machines repeatedly overcharged Koutouzis at five locations in Tampa. Claims suggest that this happens when Publix has weekly discounts on produce sold by weight. Instead of accounting for the discount, it alleges that customers end up paying the original price without a discount.
"Instead of charging the reduced sale price multiplied by the weight of the product, Publix's point of sale (POS) checkout system automatically increases the weight of the product, so that the consumer does not receive the sale price," says the suit.
The Extra Lean Pork Tenderloin wasn't the only example listed in the case. Koutouzis found a Kentucky Legend Turkey Breast for $7.99/lb. Since it weight 1.75 pounds, the turkey should've come to $13.98. Instead, her receipt showed a price of $17.48.
She included plenty of other shocking examples of this alleged deception. Since filing the lawsuit, the firm has let other Publix shoppers know that anyone with proof can help. If any customer has proof of the grocery chain overcharging them, they are allowed to join the lawsuit.
Although we're unsure how much money Koutouzis is seeking, the suit listed a few other requests. It asked of Publix to change its "deception behavior" on top of covering legal fees and expenses. Mainly, it requests for the supermarket to grant recoverable costs from the alleged actions. Unsurprisingly, Publix has not commented on this lawsuit yet.
