Quote:

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Originally posted by Pramod Chopra


This is highly surprising that a manager at Wal Mart is unaware of this rule.

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The rush of life- full of surprises!

Surprising or not read on if you wish

I wrote a general letter to

To: onyourside
Subject: Retail $10 law


Dear Sir or Madam:

Of late both my wife and I are fed up with the price mix-ups that occur very often when we go shopping at big department stores. This happens at least once a week if not more. We usually just settle for getting the difference back when we bring it to the attention of the cashier.
However, it is happening so often that we now ask for a full refund, if the item is less than $10, and for a $10 refund if the item is more than $10. However, many a time we are even challenged by the manager to produce a copy of the document that manifests this law.
We would appreciate if you would be kind enough to email us the site from where we can download this law or clause and carry it around with us while shopping.
You should perhaps do the full GTA community a favour and perhaps do a write-up on this not so well known law and give the link where your readers can go read about it.
Perhaps you can print it in your column and we can just photocopy it.

Thanks,

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The answer from Ellen Roseman of The Star:


I actually did a couple of columns about this, after having my own bad experience. Here they are.

The links are here to the websites you need.

http://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/internet/index.cfm?itemID=1262&lg=e

http://www.cacds.com/CACDSonRecord.aspx?P=12

http://www.ccgd.ca/home/en/NationalScannerAccuracy.htm

http://smartcanucks.ca/canadian-coupons-discounts-canada/canadian-code-of-practice-scanner-price-accuracy/

Best wishes,

Ellen

(P.S. not every store is a member of the voluntary code.)

The articles published in 2005:

Toronto Star
Pubdate: December 03, 2005 Page: D3 Section: Business Edition: MET Length: 921
A consumer guide to voluntary code
Byline/Source: By Ellen Roseman Toronto Star

Do you know about the voluntary code for scanner price
accuracy?
Participating retailers will give you a free item (to a maximum
of $10) if you're overcharged.
Last week, I wrote about my own experience at Shoppers Drug
Mart. The cashier didn't know about the code and had to be
coached by a supervisor to offer a refund.
Many readers responded with similar stories. Some had no idea
there was any protection against pricing errors in the
store's favour.
Here's a question-and-answer column on how the voluntary
code works - so you can demand your own refunds.
Q When did this come into effect? What are my rights?
A The code was implemented in 2002 by several retail trade
groups and endorsed by the federal Competition Bureau.
The Competition Bureau put out a news release this week, trying
to make the code better known. Stores have a hit-and-miss system
of informing customers of their rights.
Retailers can choose whether to participate or not - except in
Quebec, which has a similar policy under the Consumer Protection
Act.
"Where the scanned price of a product at checkout is higher
than the price displayed in the store or than advertised by the
store, the lower price will be honoured," the code says.
"And (a) If the correct price of the product is $10 or
less, the retailer will give the product to the customer free of
charge. (b) If the correct price of the product is higher than
$10, the retailer will give the customer a discount of $10 off
the corrected price."
The code applies to all items scanned in participating stores -
except for items that have an individual price tag attached to
them.
Also exempt are items not easily accessible to the public (such
as prescription drugs and cosmetics kept behind the counter).
Q Which stores participate in the code?
A There are more than 5,000, but here's a list of major
signatories in Ontario: Shoppers Drug Mart, Jean Coutu Group,
Canada Safeway Ltd., A&P/Dominion, Loblaw Cos. Ltd., Sobeys
Inc., Costco Wholesale Canada Ltd., Home Depot Canada, Canadian
Tire Corp., Toys r Us, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Giant Tiger Stores
Ltd., Best Buy/Future Shop, Longo Brothers Fruit Markets Inc.
You might notice the absence of some big retail chains
(Staples/Business Depot, Sears Canada and the Hudson's Bay
Co.), which may have their own policies on scanner price
accuracy.
If there's an error, "we make the adjustment in favour
of the customer," Hillary Stauth, a spokeswoman for the Bay,
said without mentioning refunds.
Q Where can I get more information?
A Start with the Competition Bureau. At its website,
http://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca" rel="nofollow">LINK, go to What's New? on the home
page, where you'll find the Nov. 28 release, with links to
the participating retail groups.
Q What if the store won't comply? How do I complain?
A Always ask for a supervisor or store manager. If the problem
can't be resolved at that level, try the head office.
You can call 1-866-499-4599 to register your complaint with the
scanner price accuracy committee. It's run by the industry
and the Consumers Council of Canada.
There are no sanctions spelled out against stores that
don't honour their commitments. But at the request of the
customer or the store, the complaint may be referred to an
independent arbitrator.
A Star reader who works in the retail industry told us about her
experience at a Future Shop store in Sarnia. She bought an item
with a shelf price of $39.99, which was scanned at $44.99.
When she noticed the error, she was directed to customer
service. But all she was offered was the $5 difference. Store
staff didn't know about the code, the reader said. Her email
to Future Shop, sent Nov. 21, had not been answered by Nov. 26.
Pamela Saunders, a spokeswoman for Future Shop and Best Buy
Canada in Vancouver, responded more quickly to our email.
"In this case, the associate was not aware," Saunders
said, adding that the store is training staff and upgrading signs
to raise awareness of the code.
Adjusting prices and giving shoppers the difference is not
enough. Stores need an incentive to shape up.
That's the rationale behind the first-item-free policy.
It's designed to inflict pain on retailers, so they try
harder to ensure price accuracy.


Keywords/StoryType/Column/Series: On Your Side

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Toronto Star
Pubdate: November 26, 2005 Page: D3 Section: Business Edition: MET Length: 927
Voluntary code means customer is always right
Byline/Source: By Ellen Roseman Toronto Star

You buy something at a drug store and take it to the
cashier for scanning.
Wait a minute! The price is not right.
Now what happens?
Here's an example of the wrong way to handle a pricing
error, drawn from an experience last weekend at a Shoppers Drug
Mart store in Toronto.
A customer buys a package of eye drops, displayed at the
checkout station. The shelf price is $6.99, but the scanned price
is $7.49.
"That's wrong," the customer says to the cashier,
who tries to scan a second package of eye drops.
Again, the price is $7.49.
Since no more eye drops remain on the shelf, the cashier starts
over and punches in the $6.99 price by hand.
"That's not right, either," the customer says.
"Isn't there a policy that you get the item for free
when the scanned price is too high?"
By now, there's a line of people waiting to ring up their
purchases. Only one cashier is on duty.
The customer feels embarrassed, demanding the right not to pay
for her eye drops.
But she remembers hearing about a voluntary code on scanner
accuracy.
She looks around to see if signs are posted and finds one right
on the cash register.
"This says I'm entitled to a free item when I'm
overcharged," she says.
The cashier reads the sign. But she refuses to give away
something for nothing.
"I'm calling the supervisor," she tells the
customer.
Fortunately, another cashier shows up to handle the growing line
of people waiting to get out.
The supervisor arrives and sizes up the situation.
"Don't charge for the eye drops," she tells the
cashier.
Not knowing how to scan a free item, the cashier asks the
supervisor for help.
For several agonizing minutes, they work together until a
correct bill is finally produced.
Back at home, the customer tells her husband about the
experience. Is this typical of Shoppers Drug Mart - or an
anomaly?
She calls the corporate office on Monday morning and speaks to
Lilian Relph, director of consumer and corporate affairs, who
promises to investigate.
"The cashier serving you was a part-time employee working
very limited hours and unfortunately, although she was trained,
had not had a pricing accuracy issue," Relph writes back on
Wednesday.
"As a result, she did not know what to do. This has been
addressed and necessary action has been taken at the store to
ensure all staff are up to date on the necessary procedures for
pricing accuracy issues."
The eye drops were marked down by 50 cents on Nov. 17 - and
while the shelf signs had the right information, the scanning
system didn't.
"The bottom line is we made a mistake with the
pricing," Relph says. "Please rest assured that all
staff are thoroughly trained in managing pricing accuracy issues.

"In this instance, however, that did not appear to be the
case."
The Canadian Association of Retail Drug Chains (of which
Shoppers Drug Mart is a member) signed onto the voluntary code in
2002.
So did the Retail Council of Canada, the Canadian Council of
Grocery Distributors and the Canadian Federation of Independent
Grocers.
They agreed to honour the lower price when the scanned price at
the checkout was higher than what was displayed in the store.
"If the correct price of the product is $10 or less, the
retailer will give the product to the customer free of
charge," the code says.
"If the correct price of the product is higher than $10,
the retailer will give the customer a discount of $10 off the
corrected price."
When there's a recurring error with multiple units of the
same product, only the first product purchased by a customer
qualifies for special treatment.
Participating retailers - such as Loblaws, Dominion, Longos,
Costco, Home Depot, Canadian Tire, Wal-Mart, Toys "R"
Us, Future Shop and Best Buy - are supposed to put signs near all
store entrances and at each checkout station.
The federal Competition Bureau, which endorsed the voluntary
code, plans to launch a public awareness campaign for the holiday
shopping season.
Let's hope the store signs are more prominently displayed
and the staff members more thoroughly trained.
Customers need to know they're entitled to free items or
discounts when they're overcharged.
That's the only way to ensure this voluntary code on
pricing accuracy has any teeth.



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