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Differences between the advertised prices and the price charged to customers at the checkout have resulted in a $ 78,000 fine for Pak ‘n Save Mangere.
Kennedy Foodcentre Limited, operating as Pak ‘n Save Mangere, pleaded guilty to six counts of making false and / or misleading price statements, under the Fair Trade Act of 1986.
On six dates during June and October 2018, Pak ‘n Save Mangere charged a higher price at the checkout for one or more items than the promotional price advertised or displayed on the supermarket shelf.
The charges came after Commerce Commission staff held mystery workshops to compare advertised prices with those charged at checkout.
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The sliced salmon was displayed at $ 8.99 but was charged at $ 10.79 four times.
Mushrooms were displayed at $ 4.99 but were charged at $ 6.99 on two occasions, Avocados were displayed at three for $ 5 but were charged at $ 1.99 each on one occasion.
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PaK ‘n Save Mangere pleaded guilty to six counts under the Fair Trade Act of 1986 for discrepancies between the promotional price displayed or advertised and the price charged at the box.
Promotional prices were announced online through a specific Mangere website and / or on price tickets and in-store posters.
The pricing discrepancies identified by commission staff were raised with Pak ‘n Save Mangere customer service staff immediately after the mystery shops.
The Commission staff then returned the next day and re-purchased the products for which they had identified price discrepancies, to check if the price discrepancies were still occurring. In some cases they were.
In a written decision, Manukau District Court Judge David McNaughton said the conduct “was repeatedly careless and was not immediately rectified.”
“The price discrepancies were related to several individual items in different departments of the supermarket, and they were repeated, and the defendant did not take immediate action to correct their pricing systems,” he said.
Once notified of the commission’s investigation, Pak ‘n Save Mangere took significant steps to remedy the problems “but the immediate lack of action was unforgivable,” McNaughton said.
Commission chair Anna Rawlings said supermarkets need to make sure their systems are robust enough so that customers are charged the correct price and not misled.
“Consumers must be able to trust that the price displayed on the shelf is the price they will be charged,” he said.
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Commerce Commission Chair Anna Rawlings says being a high-volume, low-value company wasn’t reason enough for the price discrepancies.
“If a mistake is made, companies must ensure that consumers are compensated and take immediate action to ensure that the mistake is not repeated.”
Rawlings said the commission agreed with the judge when he said consumers had a right to trust an error-free pricing integrity system.
Claiming that the error was somehow inherent in a business that involved high-volume, low-value sales and regular changes in prices was not a good enough defense, Rawlings said.
Pak ‘n Save Mangere is an owner-operator store that was part of the Foodstuffs North Island collective.
