Check your receipts, county tells customers

All those “Black Friday” deals look good, but L.A. County officials say shoppers need to make sure that they are actually paying the reduced prices at the checkout counter.

In the last year, county inspectors found that more than 900 stores failed to charge the lowest advertised price — including such big names as Ralphs, Whole Foods Market, Target and Toys R Us.

“A lot of times, it’s a matter of sales going on and they’re not changing prices in the scanner,” said Ken Pellman, a spokesman for the county Weights and Measures bureau, which is managed by the Department of Agricultural Commissioner.

Pellman said the problem can be missed if a shopper doesn’t bother to check the receipt.

“And if they pay by credit card, they might not ever realize it if they’re not checking,” Pellman said. He urged shoppers to bring ads with them to the store or jot down the prices of items as advertised on the shelf.

One time while Pellman was accompanying inspectors, they saw a market that had posted two different prices for a piece of produce, and the inspector was charged the higher price.

The amount being overcharged is sometimes less than $1, but other times the difference is $10 or $20. Stores that don’t give customers the lowest advertised price, Pellman said, are reaping an advantage by drawing in customers but failing to provide the discount.

“It’s not necessarily nefarious. There’s a lot of turnover at some of these places,” Pellman said.

The problem of overcharging in stores became an issue in 2001 after Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina was overcharged at a Macy’s and a Kmart.

The board ordered a study of the issue, which found that among 108 stores visited by inspectors in L.A. County, overcharges occurred at two-thirds of them, mostly on discounted items.

The supervisors created a Buyer Beware Program in 2002 requiring stores with scanners to register their equipment with the county and subjecting them to undercover inspections. Stores can be fined anywhere from $50 to $1,000, but municipal agencies can also seek court action with higher fines.

If shoppers catch an error, they should ask for a price correction immediately, Pellman said. They should also contact the county so inspectors can investigate whether the store corrects the problem for other customers. Customers can file a complaint by calling (800) 665-2900 or logging onto acwm.co.la.ca.us/scripts/scanform.cfm.

County officials say their inspection program has helped improve the situation. In the last fiscal year, out of inspections at 8,036 locations in L.A. County, 929 stores overcharged for 1,167 items, a significant improvement.

Undercover county inspectors played a role in a multicount criminal case filed against supermarket giant Ralphs and its parent company, Kroger Co., for overcharging customers. The Los Angeles city attorney alleged in May that Ralphs overcharged on prepackaged and weighed products such as fried chicken, bulk coffee, salads and fish.

Ralphs and Kroger could each face fines and penalties of up to $256,000. A Ralphs spokeswoman said that there was “absolutely no malicious intent in this situation.”

The county’s database of stores that have received fines can be found at latimes.com/pricecheck.

ron.lin@latimes.com