Dollar Generals overcharging shoppers, Ohio county auditor says
If you've recently shopped at a Dollar General store in Ohio's Butler County, you may have been overcharged.
An audit inspection by the Butler County Auditor’s Office found pricing errors at all 20 stores in the county, causing shoppers to be overcharged for some items. The office received a customer complaint and began conducting price verification checks at stores on Oct. 14.
The auditor’s weights and measures department makes sure an item's shelf price matches the amount customers are charged at checkout. Stores are only allowed a 2% margin of error to meet standards. Inspectors tested items at Dollar Generals within a two-week period and said between 16.7% and 88.2% were the wrong price at checkout.
Some of the overcharges included a six-pack of Diet Coke, which, at one Oxford store, was priced on the shelf at $4, but scanned for $5.25. At a Fairfield store, Nestle Coffee Mate was $4.35 at checkout, despite having a $2 shelf price. Pricing errors were actually in customers' favor at the other Dollar General in Oxford.
Items that were discounted when a shopper buys two or more were also affected. At most stores, the discount on subsequent items was not honored at checkout, a press release stated.
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“This is a serious problem,” Butler County Auditor Roger Reynolds said in a statement. “A customer could be charged substantially more than the listed shelf price and that amounts to a form of consumer fraud. During these inflationary times, people turn to stores like these to get some bargains. Instead, in too many instances they are being overcharged.”
Tom Woods, chief of weights and measures for Hamilton County, said price errors typically happen when employees are unable to keep shelf prices updated, either due to understaffing, sales or increasing prices.
Woods said the Hamilton County Auditor's Office hasn't received any complaints about Dollar General price errors, but that he and auditor Dusty Rhodes are aware of the situation. The department will do price verification checks at Dollar Generals and other stores during their routine inspection later this year.
Chris Mehlman, chief deputy auditor for Clermont County, said he was unaware of any Dollar General consumer complaints.
Rob McGee, weights and measures inspector for Warren County, could not be reached.
The Ohio Department of Agriculture, which oversees weights and measures in the state, began investigating the price errors on Wednesday, spokesperson Bryan Levin told The Enquirer.
According to Ohio law, if the stores are determined to be guilty of the violation, they may be forced to pay a penalty. First-time offenders can be fined up to $500. On the second violation, offenders can face fines up to $2,500, and fines up to $10,000 are possible for violations after that.
Reynolds is up for reelection next month. The Republican currently faces six public corruption charges and was indicted on five of those charges by a grand jury in February.
Dollar General did not return The Enquirer's requests for comment.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Report: Dollar General stores in Butler County overcharging shoppers
