Supermarket giant Albertsons and its Vons stores will pay nearly $4 million to settle complaints 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 in checkout lines.
Prosecutors from the offices of district attorneys in Riverside, Los Angeles, San Diego, Ventura, Alameda, Marin and Sonoma counties brought the civil law enforcement complaint against Albertsons Cos. and Vons stores following a three-year investigation, which was settled this week.
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Overcharges at the supermarkets came to light when investigators with departments that handle weights and measures in the seven counties began working with law enforcement agencies. Consumers also raised concerns, according to authorities.
“When you get pricing wrong, it hurts a lot of people,” said Evan Goldsmith, deputy district attorney in Riverside County. “The way this worked was that if you grabbed a pound of bananas to get weighed, or any other produce sold, you’re going to get charged an inaccurate amount.”
Albertsons spokeswoman Courtney Carranza said Friday that the supermarket chain “takes this matter seriously and remains committed to ensuring that 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 posting signage at multiple locations at the front of our stores.”
Albertsons also has conducted additional training for store workers to reinforce the importance of price accuracy and customer transparency. “Additionally, we have enhanced price tracking systems to better ensure real-time accuracy at stores,” she said.
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Goldsmith couldn’t explain how widespread the…
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