Supermarkets Under Fire for Price Discrepancies: Consumers’ Association Demands Compensation

According to the receipt, this usually applies to small amounts that many consumers will not see, says Babs van de Staak, spokesperson for the Consumers’ Association. “But all together, it amounts to tens of millions of euros. “

Prices are wrong

The bottom line: the prices of the offers in the store are not always the same as at the checkout and are often higher. “Consumers pay more than they are promised,” says Van der Staak. In recent years, the Consumers’ Association has carried out various random surveys of price differences at supermarkets.

For example, last year one in six offers bought at the cash register were priced incorrectly. Things often go wrong with offers from coolers or vegetables, for example.

After discussions with the Consumers’ Association, the supermarkets promised to investigate and improve, but the association still sees things going wrong, especially at Albert Heijn. “At Jumbo and Plus the problems have almost disappeared.”

Albert Heijn himself did extensive research on the errors on receipts, but he refuses to give full access to the results, says the Consumers’ Association. “We want to know exactly how big the problem is and how many victims there are,” says Van der Staak. Through the right the interest group hopes to find the information.

‘Consumers must be compensated’

This in turn forms the basis of a claim for damages. The association wants all supermarkets that make a mistake to compensate customers for this. “We are now starting with Albert Heijn, but as far as we are concerned Plus and Jumbo will have to compensate for the damage,” said Van der Staak.

The association does not want to share the subpoena, as it contains information that Albert Heijn had already shared about their own investigation. “It was agreed not to share this,” the spokesman said.

AH called for inspections

Albert Heijn says in a written response that he is investigating the call. “We remain committed to constructive consultation with the Consumers Association. We have already taken a number of steps to ensure customers always get the right price, such as through electronic shelf labels,” said the company.