Woolworths shopper gripes about checkout overcharge – but it comes with a surprise upside
A Sydney Woolworths shopper is urging people to check their receipts after claiming he was overcharged when buying fruit.
The man, who went to a supermarket in Dee Why in the city’s north, wrote to the supermarket giant on Facebook claiming he’d been overcharged for blackberries twice and pictured two receipts.
“They are advertised on the shelf and the web at $5.50 per punnet,” he wrote.
His first receipt shows he was charged $4.50 for one 125 gram punnet and $5.50 for the other two. He claims on this occasion, they were all priced at $4.50
However, the two he was charged $5.50 for are labelled “premium” on the receipt.
A second receipt shows the man returned and bought two more blueberry punnets, also premium, but was charged $11.80 meaning they were $5.90 each.
Driscoll’s blackberries are listed at $5.50 per 125g punnet on Woolies’ website while the premium listing is unavailable.
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The shopper said he complained to staff about the berry “overcharge” but received little help.
“Not only do they look at you like you have two heads for making it known, politely, they did nothing about it on one occasion and then another changed the price and made me feel like I was at fault for somehow scanning the items incorrectly,” he wrote.
“I’d appreciate a refund.”
Another Facebook user pointed out he purchased premium and non-premium blackberries but the man still maintained he been overcharged.
“They have one product on the shelf,” he wrote later adding they’re all “grouped together”.
Woolworths customers entitled to free item if charged more than display
In a response to the man’s berry complaint, Woolies apologised for overcharging him.
“We always aim to charge you accurately for the items you have purchased,” Woolies wrote.
“Please speak with the friendly team at the service desk next time you are in-store, they'll happily fix this up for you. We have also shared this with the relevant teams as well as our store manager.”
In a statement to Yahoo News Australia the company pointed out that Woolworths is a signatory to the Scanning Code of Practice.
“Under the Code, our customers are entitled to receive an item free of charge if the scanned price of an item is greater than the shelf price displayed,” a spokesperson said.
“The only exceptions under the Code are products with a shelf price greater than $50, as well as tobacco and liquor products. These products will be adjusted to reflect the shelf price.”
As one Facebook user replied to the Sydney shopper: “If food scans incorrectly you should get it for free”.
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