Question about reporting faulty register scanners

[craigindaville.livejournal.com]

I am at a loss in trying to find anything at Mass.gov, so I'm throwing it out here in hopes that someone knows this:

I was double charged for a few items at a grocery store yesterday (no need to say which one, but one of the large chains). When I found it once I got home, they were great about taking my word for it back at the store and refunded my money, so I don't have a vendetta against them.

However, I know that the machine itself is faulty (there were no double-swipes, as I would have noticed that standing right in front of the cashier) and want to make sure that they fix the problem, not just my circumstance. Where do I register a complaint about this? With the MA AG's office? The City of Somerville? Somewhere else?

Thanks for the help!

Comments

[ron_newman]

I'd start here: http://www.somervillema.gov/Division.cfm?orgunit=WEIGHTS

And you probably should tell us which store and which specific machine, so we can all avoid it until it's fixed.

[craigindaville.livejournal.com]

Bingo! Ron FTW once again!!

[ron_newman]

Becuase it's a good idea to have an independent authority verify that it is in fact properly fixed.

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

aren't such things covered under licenses and scales rules?
which exists to address stuff like this.

it's not like they have a lightbulb out.

things which cost you money like that are typically regulated and should be reported. not bitchy at all. it's nice to CC: the store in question though (and makes them fix it faster, as they might be fined).

#

[m-b-w.livejournal.com]

I find that supermarket customer service is generally great about refunding money for complaints. But, this doesn't necessarily mean that they then speak to the manager about the problem or that the manager deals with it properly.

[craigindaville.livejournal.com]

Good customer service would have been not overcharging me in the first place. What they did was rectify the situation so I was made whole, minus having to trudge back out and delay making dinner.

And I might have just overlooked the whole thing, but the items that were double charged were the three most expensive ones on the bill. That's frankly the only reason I noticed it.

[benndragon.livejournal.com]

Would you feel better about it is if it was a head-ups rather than a complaint? As in "They were awesome about this thing but I'd appreciate it if you guys would double-check the register" rather than "OMG they're trying to cheat me out of my money!"

[nablacdotu.livejournal.com]

Just because they've addressed a complaint doesn't mean they're going to do anything about the original issue. Even if it's costing them money -- back when Whole Foods was giving you mis-rung items for free, I used to get gratis half-gallons of Naked Juice for weeks on end.

[craigindaville.livejournal.com]

But I think this is the issue- there is nothing preemptive about letting the regulatory body know that a scanner failed three times in one check-out. Yes, I could inform the clerk, then call the manager the next day, then make a visit where I ask again nicely, then do a rain dance, and then *hope* that they fix it. But they may not. And we pay these people called "public officials" to make sure that we aren't screwed over by big chains that use tax incentives in building their stores.

Just sayin'. I don't feel sorry for a large corporation when they use technology to rip off their customers. Because, let's face it, if they had found the overcharge rather than me, would they have sent a check? I scanned my card, so they could have found me, but how many of you really believe they would have done that?

Anyone?

[craigindaville.livejournal.com]

Understood, but if one machine is not functioning correctly, there may be others. These things are regulated for a reason, and notifying the correct regulatory body doesn't necessarily mean that there will be bad repercussions brought on the store, just that the appropriate body was notified.

What I didn't make clear was that there are usually statistical reasons for letting the regulatory body know. If this chain has a history of malfunctioning machines that can be tracked, there may be more oversight brought down. When I lived in CA the state AG went after Albertson's grocery chain for a long-standing, willful neglect of their scanners, causing repeated overcharges and lack of response to state auditors. They were forced to come under greater scrutiny for a set period, undergo the upgrading that they were avoiding for cost reasons, and other items. If people hadn't submitted complaints, this would never had happened.

Now that may very well not be the case here, but it should be added to whatever tally may be ongoing. And of course I'll let them know that in my particular case it was solved satisfactorily, albeit with some inconvenience.

[kpht.livejournal.com]

Plus they may take the easy way out and just fire or reprimand the cashier you had when you went through not thinking or not caring that it's really the scale.

I had a pretty traumatic first job at one of the regional chains where they kept telling me I was losing money and my register was always off and that they were watching me for stealing. I never, ever ever would have taken a penny. I remember going home and crying and thinking I'd never be able to get another job and wondering what was wrong with me.

It wasn't me, I think a supervisor was using me to steal money and rigging the register somehow. I finally caught them when someone witnessed me making a transaction they said never happened and backed me up. I was very young and didn't know to make a big stink and contact the union, they just moved me to another department.

I realize this whole thing has no real point but to retell my story, but damn even national chains can be sketchy as hell.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

I don't assume that one refund is going to magically get the management team to have a register taken offline and fixed - it's not cost effective for the store to do that.

[bobobb.livejournal.com]

CVS has gotten in serious trouble for this in the past....perhaps this article from the globe might direct you:

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/05/07/cvs_called_a_leader_in_pricing_violations/

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

Interesting -- I'm glad the state is working on this.

I've never been overcharged at CVS, but it happens to me at Star Market/Shaw's on at least one item about half the time I go there. They no loger give you the item for free -- they just refund the difference. Occasionally they write down the details of the overcharge on a log, but usually they just give me the money from a register and don't keep track of it.

[tfarrell.livejournal.com]

There's a state government office that inspects for this sort of thing. I forget what office it is, but I do know that I posted some stuff about it for the Office of Consumer Affairs when I worked there a few years ago, so you could call them and they'll no doubt know. You'll find their hotline number on their home page at consumer.com .