What are your rights when the price is wrong? Wendy Knowler explains...
When pricing mishaps happen at the till, it's important to know your rights.
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CapeTalk’s Pippa Hudson speaks with consumer journalist Wendy Knowler.
Listen below:
With the number of supermarket transactions happening daily, and the volatility of grocery prices, mistakes are bound to happen.
Sometimes this means products scanning at a higher price than what is shown on the shelf, so consumers miss out on a special.
Legally you do have the right to insist that you pay the lower price for the item at the till if you notice it, according to Knowler.
“Of course, the barcode on the shelf tag and the barcode on the actual product must match.”
- Wendy Knowler, Consumer Journalist
This does not apply in the case of obvious errors such as an accidental R0 price tag.
In addition to this, some supermarket chains do have a wrong price compensation policy.
In these cases, you may be entitled to get the product at the lower price, get the product for free or get back ‘double the difference’ depending on the supermarket and the item.
These policies are voluntary and cannot be legally enforced.
At Pick n Pay the policy is ‘double the difference’, which means the consumer will get double the difference between the scanned price and paid price back.
At Woolworths you may get the item free, at the discretion of the store manager.
Finally, at Checkers, if there is a difference the customer will receive the item at the lower price.
Scroll up to the audio player for more.