Under fire and facing at least five separate complaints about its pricing practices, Dollar General has agreed to a compromise plan that could resolve one of the disputes – and ensure that the price you’re promised is the price you pay.
Three months after Ohio’s attorney general filed suit against the dollar store chain, the two sides have reached a tentative truce. Dollar General has now agreed to take steps to ensure that prices on its shelves match the prices charged at the register.
The lawsuit came about in response to consumer complaints, and local county auditors’ findings that many Dollar General stores in the state were regularly overcharging customers. State law allows for an error rate of 2%. But in one Ohio store, more than 88% of the audited items cost more at the register than the shelf tags indicated.
“This seems like a company trying to make an extra buck and hoping no one will notice,” state Attorney General Dave Yost said in a statement announcing the lawsuit back in November.
Dollar General says it has policies in place to correct such errors when they occur. But as part of the new agreement, the retailer has promised to redouble its efforts to ensure all of its prices are correct.
“In accordance with Dollar General’s already existing policy,” the agreement reads – pointedly and perhaps a little defensively – a cashier will adjust the price at the register if a customer notices a discrepancy with the shelf price. And then “Dollar General shall provide sufficient coverage for employees to update shelf price labels” as soon as possible, so it doesn’t happen again. Dollar General employees in the state will be reminded of this policy. And signs will be displayed “clearly and conspicuously in each Ohio Dollar General store either on the door or at each register,” ensuring that shoppers know about the policy.
Dollar General will also have district managers “perform price checks of at least 25 items in each Ohio store every 45 days.” If more than five items are found to be mispriced, corporate will be notified. Dollar General will also keep detailed records showing that each week, every store in the state has received updated shelf tags, and that employees have “used reasonable efforts to complete the application of the updated shelf price labels.”
Yost cautioned that this is “just a step in the process” and not a permanent settlement. The “litigation is not over,” he said in a statement, “but this is a step in the right direction.”
It also addresses just one of several similar disputes. At least three Dollar General customers have now filed at least four separate lawsuits, accusing the retailer of regularly charging “a higher price at the register for merchandise than the price advertised on the unit price labels for the same merchandise on the shelves.” They even go so far as to allege that it’s Dollar General’s “policy” to do so.
“It is virtually impossible for a retailer to have 100% accurate shelf-pricing all of the time – some error is inevitable,” Dollar General said in response to one of those lawsuits, all of which are still working their way through the courts. In its agreement with Ohio’s attorney general, the retailer elaborated in its defense, saying that “Dollar General must rely on thousands of individual employees, and therefore, perfect performance at all times may not be practically possible.”
In a statement issued after the agreement was reached, Dollar General said it was “committed to providing customers with accurate prices on items purchased in our stores, and we are disappointed any time we fail to deliver on this commitment… When a pricing discrepancy is identified, our store teams are empowered to correct the matter on the spot for our customers.”
So in the coming weeks and months, Ohio’s attorney general will be watching closely to see that there’s a decline in price discrepancies in Dollar General stores. So will at least three Dollar General shoppers whose cases are pending in several federal courts. And so, presumably, will Dollar General shoppers – who now know that, “in accordance with Dollar General’s already existing policy,” it’s up to them to bring pricing errors to their cashier’s attention, so they don’t get end up getting charged any more than they should.
Image source: Dollar General
They are an evil greedy company. I wish I could find the time to write down all the ways they are ripping off consumers & post to social media in hopes of warning consumers. I’ll hand it to them, they are clever. But once you’re on my radar that you’ve done something wrong, I’m going to watch every move. I am currently building my evidence to turn over to the AG in my state. I am sick of the blatant disregard of people’s hard earned money being stolen by this corporation. All the while they keep building more stores to steal more money!
DG response is total BS . It happens every trip at every store in PA. Cashiers around here have literally stated they cant do anything about it, its the system. What they are doing in addition to this scam is putting little to nothing on the shelves, swapping out sizes on the shelves, and scamming digital coupons out of their customers. I got scammed $5.00+ 3 weeks ago and still have heard nothing from support at all. Walmart is no better !