The Arizona Attorney General’s Office has secured a consent judgment in a case against the Family Dollar Stores, in which the company is accused of inaccurately advertising the prices of items at their stores.
As part of the settlement, the company must pay $275,000 in civil penalties and $25,000 in attorneys’ fees. Family Dollar has also agreed to injunctive terms to improve its pricing accuracy going forward, including dedicating additional employee hours to ensure correct pricing, spending an additional $300,000 internally to improve employee training and oversight, and promising consumers that Family Dollar will honor the advertised price if it is lower than what rings up at the register.
The Attorney General’s investigation revealed that Family Dollar had repeatedly failed UPC Scanning Accuracy inspections conducted by the Weights and Measures Services Division of the Arizona Department of Agriculture in stores throughout Arizona. This meant that the prices that were advertised on store shelves were not always the prices that customers paid at the register.
A recurring cause of this mispricing was Family Dollar’s practice of making changes to the prices at its registers before store employees had updated the prices advertised on the store shelves to match.
To correct these practices and ensure more accurate pricing, Family Dollar has agreed to several injunctive terms, which include:
- Allocating an additional 10,000 labor hours annually for pricing-related activities to Family Dollar stores in Arizona for the next two years;
- Training all Arizona store employees on its process for updating prices, both during the employee’s new hire training and on an annual basis;
- Generating, collecting, and submitting records to the Attorney General reflecting Family Dollar’s adherence to internal pricing procedures; and
- Posting at every register in Arizona a notice informing customers that, if the price on the shelf does not match the price at the register, Family Dollar will honor the lower price.
Consumers can protect themselves from mispricing by ensuring that the prices charged at the register match the prices advertised on the shelf. In the event that a price does not match, you should bring this to the attention of the business. If the business does not refund you or honor the lower price, you can file a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office.