HAMILTON, Ohio — The Ohio Attorney General is suing Dollar General over price inaccuracies.
Every Dollar General store in Butler County recently failed an auditor inspection after multiple prices at checkout differed from those on shelves, Butler County Auditor Roger Reynolds said.
Attorney General Dave Yost said he received complaints from multiple other counties about the same issue, including Highland County, and announced the lawsuit on Tuesday.
In addition to monetary payments, the state is seeking court intervention to fix the issues and bring Dollar General stores into compliance with Ohio law.
“Everything we buy these days costs more – Ohioans can ill-afford businesses that draw people in with the promise of low prices only to deceive them at the checkout counter,” Yost said. “This seems like a company trying to make an extra buck and hoping no one will notice. We’ve not only noticed but are taking action to stop it.”
The Butler County inspection happened after a consumer complaint letter from a St. Clair Township resident William Anderson. In Anderson's letter, he noted that the Dollar General on 950 S. Main had a sign posted that said "Prices cannot be changed at the register. All prices are final."
Anderson went on to mention how it was "dishonest" as two boxes of cereal may be $6 on the shelf but cost $7 or more at the register.
From there, the auditor's office began conducting price verification checks on Oct. 14.
Results showed that there were double figure error rates up to 88%. A store is only allowed a plus or minus 2% error rate, which is measured on the total number of items tested.
During the inspection, it was found that most errors were found with products advertised at lower prices if more than one of the same item was purchased, and that reduced price wouldn't be reflected during checkout.
"This is a serious problem," Reynolds said. "A customer could be charged substantially more than the listed price and that amounts to a form of consumer fraud. During these inflationary times, people turn to stores like these to get some bargains. Instead, in too many instances they are being over charged."
The Ohio Department of Agriculture, which oversees weights and measures in the state, is also looking into the matter.
An example of the pricing errors at the Dollar General at 2614 Millville Oxford Road in Oxford included:
- A six-pack of Diet Coke had a shelf price of $4.00 but scanned at $5.25.
- Tombstone Frozen Cheese Pizza had a shelf price of $4.50 but scanned at $5.75.
- Snapple Apple had a shelf price of $1.00 but scanned at $1.50.
At the 1425 Millville Road store, examples include:
- Nestle Coffee Mate creamer had a shelf price of $2.00 but scanned at $4.35.
- Hefty solo cups had a shelf price of $4.25 but scanned at $5.95.
- Perdue Chicken Strips had a shelf price of $7.95 but scanned at $10.75.
- Pillsbury Grands biscuits had a shelf price of $3.00 but scanned at $3.75.
One store's errors were actually all in the customer's favor: At the 5055 College Corner Pike location in Oxford.
Dollar General has previously dealt with issues in the past. In 2019, the company reached a $1.75 million settlement with the state of Vermont for violating the state's Consumer Protection Act.
In that settlement, the company resolved claims of pricing inaccuracies where items were sold at a higher price than advertised on the shelf.
Dollar General is based in Tennessee. Yost said there are 943 stories statewide.
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