Michigan Sues J.C. Penney Over Scanner Errors

J.C. Penney Co. has been sued by the state of Michigan on charges of deceptive sales practices after a survey found the retailer’s check-out scanners were wrong on about a third of purchases of sale items, the state attorney general’s office said.

The Michigan attorney general’s office surveyed 19 stores operated by several retailers, including four J.C. Penney department stores. It found an overall scanner error rate of 16.8%, an increase over the prior two years.

The survey found that 85% of the scanner errors resulted in overcharges to customers.

Officials focused on sale items, since they are commonly used to draw customers into stores and represent the largest source of scanning errors, the attorney general said.

In the survey, J.C. Penney, which has 1,150 department stores nationwide, inaccurately scanned 18 of 54 items purchased, the attorney general’s office said.

That topped Sears, which erred on 11 of 63 items scanned, and Hudson’s department stores, which erred on 11 of 59 items.

The other retailers surveyed were Mervyn’s and Target, both operated by Dayton Hudson, and Montgomery Ward.

Target stores had two overcharges among 30 sale items purchased. Mervyn’s had one error--an undercharge--among 32 items purchased.

A spokesman for Plano, Texas-based J.C. Penney said the company has not yet seen the lawsuit, but he said scanning mistakes result from “human error” in leaving promotional sale signs up too long.