Very few items cost a dollar these days, but deceptive pricing makes the “dollar store” shopping experience even more disappointing and even risky.
The Ohio State Attorney General has filed a suit against The Dollar General Corporation after several people accused the store of overcharging its customers and listing incorrect product prices on their shelves.
According to the lawsuit, Dollar General violated Ohio’s consumer protection laws by displaying prices on its shelves and then charging customers more at the checkout register.
The lawsuit cites complaints from a dozen county inspections conducted between March 2021 and August of this year.
Last month, the Butler County auditor’s office sent several inspectors to all the Dollar General stores in the county, and they found significant errors in pricing at all 20 stores. Most of the mistakes found caused customers to be charged more than what was displayed on the shelves.
The investigation took inspectors about two weeks and revealed that many of the items they tested had a different price at the checkout register. By law, stores can only have a 2% error margin to meet standards the state sets.
The Butler County auditor’s office received a complaint from a disgruntled customer, and that started the ball rolling on October 14.
The investigation found that sometimes customers would even be charged double.
For example, a Dollar General store at Fairfield put the shelf price of Nestle Coffee-Mate at $2, but it more than doubled at checkout to $4.35.
The Ohio Attorney General’s office released a statement accusing the store of deceptive pricing. They had also received complaints from 12 other counties, including Franklin, Cuyahoga, Madison, Richland, Trumbull, Lucas, Highland, and Summit counties.
Dollar General, a very successful chain, operates over 900 stores in the country, and opened their first stores in Ohio in 2015.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said that people from Ohio could not afford to shop at businesses that lure them in with the promise of charging them lower prices for items only for them to turn around and deceive them at the checkout counter.
In the lawsuit, the Attorney General’s office wants the court to stop Dollar General from engaging in acts that violate the state’s Consumer Sales Practices Act. They are also seeking a $25,000 fine for every violation, compensatory damages to all customers affected by the overpricing, attorney fees, payment of court costs, and collecting any judgment awarded.
The Attorney General also hopes the court will issue an injunction prohibiting Dollar General from engaging in any business in Ohio until they have paid out all monetary obligations that the court orders.
