Home Depot has entered a stipulated judgment of nearly $2 million to settle a civil complaint that alleged the company took part in false advertising and unfair competition practices, the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office said.
The complaint alleged Home Depot regularly charged customers higher prices than its advertised or posted prices. This issue, where the price on an item or shelf tag doesn’t match what is charged when scanned at a register, is called a “scanner violation”, prosecutors said.
Although Home Depot cooperated in the investigation, it did not admit to any wrongdoing, according to prosecutors.
Home Depot will have to pay $1.7 million in civil penalties, $177,251 in costs to cover the investigation, and $100,000 to support future consumer protection law enforcement.
The stipulated judgment prohibits Home Depot from advertising falsely and charging an amount greater than the lowest price posted for an item. Home Depot will be required to implement and maintain a Price Accuracy Program, which includes additional price and employee training and prohibiting price changes on weekends, when employees responsible for changing price tags are usually not working, according to Price’s office.
The judgment was filed in the San Diego Superior Court, as the Alameda County DA’s Office’s Consumer Justice Bureau was working alongside the District Attorneys of Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Sonoma counties on the case. The investigation was initiated by the multiple counties’ departments of Weights and Measures.
Alameda County will receive more than $283,000 of the civil penalty payment and about $14,241 to reimburse the Alameda County Department of Agriculture and Weights & Measure for investigative costs.
When will Safeway be fined for the same? Check prices when using self check-out….. I’ve caught many incorrect prices and then you have to track an employee down to correct it 🙁
This sounds like several counties conspired to strong-arm Home Depot. If 7 counties couldn’t even get 2 million from the company, the violations must have been pretty small.
Normally when there is an error I have been charged less than the price on the shelf tag. Consumers rarely complain about that. Usually it happens when the store changes suppliers or vendors for a product. The new product has similar to identical packaging as the old one but the price is higher. The UPC barcodes are different. If someone grabs one of the old products still on the shelf then it will scan at the old and lower price.
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Long ago I added numbers to my mailbox using a set of stickers from a local hardware store. I get home and see that I was charged a few cents less for one sticker than the others. I was puzzled but then see that they came from two different vendors. A few years later the one cheaper sticker is fading badly while the others have held up very well. To me it was an interesting example how how product quality can vary even though it was something that was impossible, or nearly so, to detect in a retail store.
Two whole million. What is that? About half a day’s net profit? Oops, Ouch!😏