DA’S OFFICE HOLDS ALBERTSONS AND VONS ACCOUNTABLE FOR OVERCHARGING CUSTOMERS
October 3, 2024
RIVERSIDE – District Attorney Mike Hestrin announced today, Oct. 3, 2024, that Albertsons and Vons will pay $3,962,500 in a stipulated judgment to settle a civil law enforcement complaint, alleging the grocer engaged in false advertising and unfair competition.
The civil complaint alleges that grocers unlawfully charged customers prices higher than their lowest advertised price. Beyond the scanner violations, Albertsons also had issues with inaccurate weights on the labels of their products. Some items sold by weight such as produce, meats, and baked goods had less product in the package than was displayed on the package label. For those items, a grocer may only charge for the product’s actual weight, the packaging is not included in the overall weight.
The judgment prohibits grocers from engaging in false or misleading advertising and requires them to implement a Price Accuracy Program which allows a customer to be compensated up to $5 if they are overcharged. The program is an incentive to encourage consumers to report false advertising to the store directly as soon as it is discovered.
The judgment also requires the grocers to pay $3,213,000 in civil penalties and $749,500 in costs and restitution to cover investigation costs and support future enforcement of consumer protection laws.
Albertsons Companies, Safeway Inc., and The Vons Companies operate 589 stores in California.
The action was filed in Marin County Superior Court by prosecutors throughout the state, including the District Attorneys of Riverside, Alameda, Los Angeles, Marin, San Diego, Sonoma and Ventura counties.
In Riverside County, the case was handled by Deputy District Attorney Evan Goldsmith of the DA’s Consumer Protection Unit. The Consumer Protection Unit investigates and prosecutes unfair or dishonest business practices so that consumers get a dollar’s value for their dollar spent. Through jail sentences and lawsuits which levy heavy monetary penalties for fraudulent practices, the Consumer Protection Unit strives to uphold consumer protection laws.
