Target Corp. has been ordered to pay nearly $4 million to settle a case brought by six jurisdiction prosecutors in California on claims that the retailer had been overcharging its customers.
The suit, filed by Marin County District Attorney Edward S. Berberian, alleges that Target violated a 2008 false advertising and unfair competition law, by charging consumers prices higher than their advertised prices, according to reports from CBS San Francisco.
The complaint also alleges that Target violated a 2008 injunction that prohibited the retailer from using any scanning system, such as those used at checkout stands, at its 250 stores in California unless Target maintained a compliance program to enhance pricing accuracy and corrected pricing errors, according to ABC 7 of San Francisco.
Under the judgment signed Feb. 9 by Marin County Superior Court Judge Paul Haakenson, Target will pay $3,941,118 in civil penalties, investigative costs and restitution settlement. Customers believed to have paid higher prices for products advertised at a lower price rate will be compensated.
The announcement made by the district attorneys’ offices of Sonoma, Marin, Contra Costa, Santa Cruz and Fresno counties and the San Diego City Attorney’s office on Feb. 11 alleged that Target had been overcharging consumers since December 2008.
“We are committed to prosecuting pricing accuracy violations and ensuring that businesses charge customers accurately and in compliance with California law,” Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch said in a statement. “Consumers should always watch as items are scanned at the register and check receipts to verify that they are charged the correct price.”
Target will now have to abide by a new policy which will include audit and price accuracy procedures in its California stores. Its stores will also have to hold comprehensive employee trainings on price accuracy, which will allow cashiers to adjust prices on the spot if a customer believes they were charged the wrong price. This policy will be implemented for a period of seven years.
In addition, a 2-foot-by-3-foot sign must be posted in stores, informing customers about the price accuracy program. This corrective program will cost Target, the second largest retailer in the United States, $2 million to implement.
Each county and city involved in the suit will get $558,750 plus $338,618 in investigative costs.