My mom is disabled and does not have a car, so I take her grocery shopping every week. One of the last times we went to Kroger, she got in the car and said her bill was a lot bigger than it normally is. I looked over her receipt and there was a random charge for $54.95 or something like that. I took it back in and the customer service rep said that sometimes that happens when you buy something out of the deli or that has been specially marked. It's a little irritating, but it just goes to show that you should always double check whomever is ringing you up!
54 dollars? That is one heck of a random charge. I'm glad they were able to take that off for you. That is very scammish of Kroger and I would sue for the distress it caused you.
It's not just Kroger's. You should really be careful of this anywhere. It's possible the deli code is "5495" and when it errors out, then it tries punching in the actual monetary value instead. It's annoying, but it does happen. Not just that, but if you have sale items, coupons, etc, make sure they're ringing up correctly because they don't always. You might only lose a dollar or two here or there, but it can really add up in no time and isn't nearly as obvious as a $55 charge might be.
I agree! You should check your receipts from anywhere. I bought my husband a fishing rod last week that was $37. I got a few other things as well. I thought something was wrong. When I got in the car I checked my receipt. I was charged $48. I took the receipt and the rod back in and they fixed it for me.
Good catch! Another thing to keep an eye out for is to make sure they pull off those little "instant coupon" stickers that are sometimes on products. Often times, you're only getting the product because you see that it's cheaper and you're getting a discount from that little sticker. If the cashier doesn't notice it, though, then you're paying the full price anyway, and how likely are most of you to actually go back into the store later for a $1 refund? Not usually.
I always try to pull off my own "instant coupons" just because I know some of those cashiers won't pay attention. I've had numerous other problems with Kroger, including a young man who worked there scratching up my car when he taking carts inside and them refusing to pay to have it fixed. (I had multiple witnesses who waited for me to come out and tell me.)
Wow that is a huge oopsie! I always check my receipt before I leave the store as it never fails...there's going to be a mistake! Once I had a cashier forget to type in some coupons and I had to wait for her to manager to balance her drawer before they added my coupons back in. What a pain.
Wow, I'm glad you noticed that! That is a huge difference in the final price. Scary to think that they have some things entered into their system wrong like that.
Oh yeah, I've had that happen. It's quite annoying to get home and see those coupons still on the package. I don't shop at Kroger since we don't have one nearby, but Ingles has a monitor that shows everything that's been scanned and I watch it like a hawk. I've caught a double scan more than once!
I agree stores are trying to keep the lights on, and they will try to scam whoever they can. If you didn't check the receipt they wouldn't have called you and said they made a mistake. They try to take advantage of elderly people, but it's best if you double check all of your receipts from now on. I stop in the parking lot and check the items I bought to see if the total on the receipt adds up.
I've had all this happen too - overcharged or the clerk forgets to ring the instant coupon savings. And the other BIG thing with me is that in both of the grocery stores I regularly shop at you have to watch them carefully when they ring up produce. Most of the clerks have the produce codes memorized, even though a lot of it has stickers on it, but they sometimes get it wrong. I've had them ring up apples that were on sale for 99 cents a pound as $3.99 per pound and similar things. I always check my receipt in the parking lot before I leave so I can go back in the store to get it corrected if I have to. That way I'm not standing in line holding it up, but I don't have to go back to get something fixed. I do have to say that I've never had a problem getting things fixed fast and courteously at either Safeway or QFC (which is owned by Kroger).
This seriously happens? :O Thankfully, it hasn't happened to me or anyone I know. So when stuff like this happens, basically, the one ringing it up is at fault, right? Another cause for this might also be mismarked items? Here, the items are just automatically scanned and are very often punched in manually. Is it really necessary to be still punching in codes manually? I don't see the downsides to them being scanned by a scanner. :O
All good advice and tips for any store you shop at. I think these types of incidents can happen anywhere. I know now that I will have to keep a much closer eye on the produce as they ring it up from now on. I have noticed that some stores make it much more difficult to watch the prices as the cashier rings them up. If you can watch them and stop them right then if you have a question or a problem, it is a lot easier than having to go back in.
That is outrageous! I only shop at Kroger on occasion, but this type of charge should not be present. Seems to me like a store trying to get a little bit of extra money on the side without really giving out a product. I know this happened to me when I forgot my shoppers card one day. I had to input the number by hand and and it did not take the money off until I brought it to the service attendants attention. Then they finally took the money off, but it was like pulling teeth and I had to input the number several times for their system to recognize it.
I always check my grocery store receipt as soon as I am done with paying for my groceries, and before I walk out of the store, because they do make a lot of mistakes. Things that were on sale didn't get the sale price, or they just didn't scan right for some reason, like the deli overcharge that happened with your mother. One really nice thing abut Kroger is that they have a scan-rite guarantee, and if they overcharge you, you get your money back, and you also get the item for free ! That really started me checking out the receipts, and very often, I would come home with free groceries just from looking. Now, I am not close to a Kroger, but I still check to make sure I am not overcharged.
That just happened to me at Vons. I went in to buy shrimp that was on sale for $5 a pound and only got 2 pounds. I went home and saw a $20 charge for the shrimp. I was charged the regular $10 a pound. Ugh. So annoying, but I didn't go back. I had to cook it for Mother's Day and was in a hurry. I wish I had caught it at the register.
I've seen this sort of register "error" happen at a Family Dollar as well. So definitely pay attention. I usually try to have a solid idea of what the total should be before getting in line. Just having a ballpark idea is enough to catch most issues.
Pretty outrageous for a mistake. Good catch, I'm guessing you did get refunded? On the other hand, I don't think I have been mischarged, but I believe my mom has been mischarged countless times.
