By Jorge Vazquez
01 Dec 2023, 09:40 AM EST
The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) announced a significant settlement with Dollar General Corporation that resolves 662 alleged violations of Wisconsin’s price accuracy laws and 53 alleged violations of Wisconsin’s disclosure requirements laws. retailer refund policy.
According to the institution’s report, Dollar General does not admit any violation of Wisconsin law, but will pay $850,006.11 in civil forfeitures, surcharges and fees.
DATCP conducted price verification inspections at 238 Dollar General stores in Wisconsin between January 30 and February 10, 2023.
DATCP Weights and Measures inspectors and municipal inspectors from Appleton, Green Bay, Kenosha, Madison, Menasha, Milwaukee, Reedsburg and South Milwaukee verified 7,344 products sold by Dollar General to ensure prices charged at checkout equaled or were lower than the prices posted on store shelves.
Of the items verified, DATCP alleged that 662 were priced higher than advertised, resulting in customers being overcharged for 9% of the products inspected.
On average, these scanned products were 17% higher than the listed price.
“If a customer is overcharged for an item, Wisconsin law requires merchants who use electronic price scanning systems to refund at least the difference between the posted price and the price charged at the point of sale,” the report says. “These merchants are legally required to inform customers about this law by prominently posting a sign.”
However, DATCP alleged that Dollar General stores were missing this required signage in 45 stores during the initial inspection and in 8 stores upon re-inspection.
“Accurate pricing on store shelves is one of the most basic and essential protections consumers have,” said DATCP Secretary Randy Romanski.
“Consumers should be able to trust that the prices advertised to them are accurate and they have the right to be informed of the laws that protect them,” Romanski added.
The inspections follow a 2018 settlement in which Dollar General paid $10,586.50 for similar alleged violations. Between that settlement and the 2023 state inspection, 89 routine price accuracy inspections were conducted at Dollar General stores in Wisconsin.
DATCP concluded that 76 of those inspections did not meet the national standard for accuracy of 98% or greater. DATCP sent 11 warning letters documenting these issues to Dollar General during this period.
Finally, Dollar General Corporation is reported to have paid $850,006.11 to resolve alleged violations of 2023 price rebate and price accuracy signage.
Additionally, the company has made changes to prevent future violations, including internal price accuracy checks at each Wisconsin store at least once every 45 days.
Dollar General reported that it has invested and continues to invest in improving its price accuracy practices in Wisconsin, and that it has spent approximately $70,000 to verify price accuracy since learning of the alleged violations in January and expects to spend approximately $300,000 annually to support price accuracy in Wisconsin in the future.
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· Dollar General sued for overcharging customers at checkout