walmart must pay !!!!!!
Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 9:21 am
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
By Patricia Sabatini, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Murrysville resident Mary Bach, nicknamed "the Scanner Lady" for her 25-year campaign against pricing errors at the checkout counter, has won another court case against Wal-Mart for scanner errors.
Last month, Mrs. Bach sued a Wal-Mart store in Delmont, Westmoreland County, for overcharging her for a dress she purchased for her granddaughter. The store gave her a refund when she caught the error, she said, but did not fix its scanners to reflect the advertised price and prevent other customers from being overcharged.
On Monday, Wal-Mart, which pleaded no contest to the small claims charges, was ordered to pay $100 in damages plus $64 in court costs for violations of Pennsylvania's Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law. Under the law, plaintiffs can sue for the amount of the damages, or $100, whichever is greater.
Mrs. Bach won a similar case against the world's largest retailer in May.
"The error was never corrected after I told the store about it on four earlier occasions," she said of the earlier case. "I sued the fifth time it happened."
Wal-Mart, with more than 4,000 stores nationwide, typically makes more than 5,000 price changes in a given week, spokesman Dan Fogleman said yesterday from the company's Bentonville, Ark., headquarters.
"We strive for 100 percent price accuracy, but as in every retail store, there is a slight possibility for error," he said.
Mr. Fogleman said it was Wal-Mart's policy to promptly fix scanner errors.
"When something is brought to our attention, it is our expectation it would be fixed."
He said he was continuing to investigate what happened at the Delmont store. He noted that the state's Weights and Measures unit recently performed a price accuracy audit at that store, giving it a perfect score.
"We're trying to understand what occurred [in Delmont] and how we can improve," he said.
Mrs. Bach, whose efforts helped spur laws in the mid-1990s requiring scanner inspections in Pennsylvania, has tussled with Wal-Mart on several other occasions. In 2002, she won a judgment against the chain for charging her sales tax on a pair of nontaxable bedroom slippers. In the 1990s, the two faced off multiple times over the price of Hanes bras.
Mrs. Bach said she was still upset over her latest encounter with the giant retailer.
"I am quite distressed to find a merchant, as large and respected as Wal-Mart, not addressing pricing overcharge corrections brought to their attention repeatedly, and for which they have been sued and proved negligent in court," she wrote in an e-mail.
She said she believed that some stores deliberately avoid making fixes to pad their profits.
Because of Wal-Mart's "repeated overcharge violations," Mrs. Bach said she would file a complaint with the state attorney general's office.
She said her experience should be a warning to shoppers to check their receipts, especially during the busy holidays.
By Patricia Sabatini, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Murrysville resident Mary Bach, nicknamed "the Scanner Lady" for her 25-year campaign against pricing errors at the checkout counter, has won another court case against Wal-Mart for scanner errors.
Last month, Mrs. Bach sued a Wal-Mart store in Delmont, Westmoreland County, for overcharging her for a dress she purchased for her granddaughter. The store gave her a refund when she caught the error, she said, but did not fix its scanners to reflect the advertised price and prevent other customers from being overcharged.
On Monday, Wal-Mart, which pleaded no contest to the small claims charges, was ordered to pay $100 in damages plus $64 in court costs for violations of Pennsylvania's Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law. Under the law, plaintiffs can sue for the amount of the damages, or $100, whichever is greater.
Mrs. Bach won a similar case against the world's largest retailer in May.
"The error was never corrected after I told the store about it on four earlier occasions," she said of the earlier case. "I sued the fifth time it happened."
Wal-Mart, with more than 4,000 stores nationwide, typically makes more than 5,000 price changes in a given week, spokesman Dan Fogleman said yesterday from the company's Bentonville, Ark., headquarters.
"We strive for 100 percent price accuracy, but as in every retail store, there is a slight possibility for error," he said.
Mr. Fogleman said it was Wal-Mart's policy to promptly fix scanner errors.
"When something is brought to our attention, it is our expectation it would be fixed."
He said he was continuing to investigate what happened at the Delmont store. He noted that the state's Weights and Measures unit recently performed a price accuracy audit at that store, giving it a perfect score.
"We're trying to understand what occurred [in Delmont] and how we can improve," he said.
Mrs. Bach, whose efforts helped spur laws in the mid-1990s requiring scanner inspections in Pennsylvania, has tussled with Wal-Mart on several other occasions. In 2002, she won a judgment against the chain for charging her sales tax on a pair of nontaxable bedroom slippers. In the 1990s, the two faced off multiple times over the price of Hanes bras.
Mrs. Bach said she was still upset over her latest encounter with the giant retailer.
"I am quite distressed to find a merchant, as large and respected as Wal-Mart, not addressing pricing overcharge corrections brought to their attention repeatedly, and for which they have been sued and proved negligent in court," she wrote in an e-mail.
She said she believed that some stores deliberately avoid making fixes to pad their profits.
Because of Wal-Mart's "repeated overcharge violations," Mrs. Bach said she would file a complaint with the state attorney general's office.
She said her experience should be a warning to shoppers to check their receipts, especially during the busy holidays.