Albertsons ordered to pay $4 million for overcharging California shoppers

Supermarket giant Albertsons and its Vons stores will pay nearly $4 million to settle claims in California that they overcharged consumers through false advertising and unfair competition.

At the heart of the complaints were faulty scales and scanners used to determine food prices at checkouts.

Prosecutors from district attorney offices in Riverside, Los Angeles, San Diego, Ventura, Alameda, Marin and Sonoma counties have filed a civil complaint against Albertsons Cos. stores. and Vons following a three-year investigation, which was resolved this week.

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The supermarket overcharging came to light when investigators from weights and measures departments in all seven counties began working with law enforcement. Consumers have also expressed concerns, according to authorities.

“When you get the prices wrong, it hurts a lot of people,” said Evan Goldsmith, assistant district attorney for Riverside County. “The way it worked was if you took a pound of bananas to weigh it, or any other product being sold, you would be charged an inaccurate amount.”

Albertsons spokeswoman Courtney Carranza said Friday that the supermarket chain “takes this matter seriously and remains committed to ensuring our customers can shop with confidence.”

She wrote in an email that the company has taken steps to ensure “our price accuracy guarantee is more visible to customers by displaying signs in several locations in front of our stores.”

Albertsons also conducted additional training for store employees to reinforce the importance of pricing accuracy and transparency to customers. “Additionally, we have improved price tracking systems to better ensure real-time accuracy in stores,” she said.

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Goldsmith couldn’t explain the scale of the problem in Riverside or California. He also couldn’t say precisely which stores were overcharging consumers.

“It’s hard to describe how bad the scale was, but it wasn’t like you were charging £3 when it was actually £1 – but a lot of volume goes through stores so any variation can be meaningful,” he said.

The overload implied a problem with poor equipment maintenance. “They deteriorate over time,” Goldsmith said.

County Departments of Weights and Measures enforce laws and regulations regarding high-tech devices to ensure they are used correctly and properly calibrated for the goods and services purchased. In addition to the scales and scanners found in grocery stores, these same services also monitor the gasoline distributed at gas stations. Their stickers are prominently displayed on the gadgets they regulate.

The complaint filed in Marin County Superior Court for all seven counties alleged that Albertsons-owned grocery stores also overcharged customers with faulty scanners rather than using the lowest advertised price.

Albertsons also used inaccurate weights on its product labels, prosecutors said.

Some items sold by weight, such as produce, meats, and baked goods, contained less product in the package than indicated on the package label. The label was supposed to be printed before the food was packaged, leaving out the packaging to the extent, Goldsmith said.

Price Accuracy Program

The settlement requires grocers to implement a “price accuracy program,” which allows a customer to be compensated up to $5 if they are overcharged, the Riverside assistant district attorney said. The program encourages consumers to report false advertisements to the store as soon as they are discovered.

“Albertsons and Vons have been very cooperative with us in our meetings,” he said. settlement negotiations. “They did everything they could to achieve this. These problems are happening everywhere, but this ruling only covers California.

Boise-based Albertsons Cos., which operates Vons and Safeway stores in California and Cincinnati-based Kroger Co., which owns the Ralphs and Food 4 Less chains, announced plans to merge in a $25 billion deal nearly two years ago.

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Last month, Federal Commerce lawyers argued in federal court in Portland, Ore., that the merger should be blocked because the consolidation would “almost certainly” benefit shareholders and not ordinary buyers. A judge is still considering whether to issue a preliminary injunction to block the merger.

Kroger and Albertsons argued that their merger would preserve consumer choice by allowing them to better compete with growing rivals like Walmart, Costco and Amazon.