Family Dollar responds after Ohio county auditor accuses chain of overcharging shoppers

This story has been updated.

Family Dollar is investigating a pricing error issue that the Butler County auditor says is causing some shoppers to be overcharged.

Days after all 20 Dollar Generals in Butler County failed price verification checks, inspectors with the auditor's office found a similar issue at Family Dollar.

Inspectors began testing items at Family Dollar stores on Oct. 28 to see if products' shelf prices matched the amount customers were charged at checkout. Pricing errors were found at all 13 stores in the county, a press release said, with between 12% and 84% of tested items showing a different price at checkout than on the shelf.

Stores are only allowed a 2% margin of error to meet state standards.

Dollar General lawsuit:Ohio attorney general accuses discount chain of 'deceptive pricing'

Butler County:Dollar Generals overcharging shoppers, Ohio county auditor says

"At Family Dollar, we are dedicated to serving the needs of our shoppers and providing them with great values on the products they need and want," Kristin Tetreault, chief communications officer of Virginia-based Dollar Tree Inc., which has owned Family Dollar since 2015, told The Enquirer in an email. "We are committed to operational compliance with all applicable federal, state and local laws, and upon learning of this report, we launched an investigation into the matter."

Most pricing errors were in the store's favor. Of the 25 tested products at the Hamilton Family Dollar on Dixie Highway, 21 were a different price at checkout and 20 were more expensive. At a Middletown Family Dollar on Roosevelt Avenue, however, all four items that failed the price verification check were cheaper at checkout.

“These pricing errors are very concerning, especially at stores where nearly every error is in the store’s favor,” Butler County Auditor Roger Reynolds said in a statement. “We will continue to alert the public when we uncover rampant abuse like this.”

The Butler County Auditor's Office said it has referred the issue to the Ohio Department of Agriculture, which oversees weights and measures in the state.

Reynolds is up for reelection next week. The Republican currently faces six public corruption charges and was indicted on five of those charges by a grand jury in February.

Yes, the cashier has to honor the shelf price

Tom Woods, chief of weights and measures for Hamilton County, said his department hasn't received any customer complaints about Family Dollar, but inspectors will include the store in their routine price verification checks this month.

"If you go to Family Dollar, Dollar General, Speedway, UDF, any of these small stores, you're going to find errors," he said. "They just don't have the staffing (to keep shelf prices updated)."

When stores fail price verification checks, county auditors can alert the Ohio Department of Agriculture, which will determine what action to take. For shoppers, it's important to remember that cashiers have to honor shelf prices, Woods said.

"It's illegal not to," he explained. "If you have it on a shelf for $2.99, you have to sell it for $2.99."

Customers can report pricing errors at stores to their county auditor's office.

The weights and measures inspector for Warren County and the chief deputy auditor for Clermont County could not be reached for comment.

On Tuesday, the Ohio attorney general filed a lawsuit against Dollar General Corp. for allegedly violating Ohio’s Consumer Sales Practices Act after eight counties reported pricing errors. The lawsuit, filed in the Butler County Common Pleas Court, accused the Tennessee-based discount retailer of bait advertising and listing false prices on products.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Family Dollar investigating pricing error issue in Ohio county