CBS did not send an enterprising reporter to cover the story, but the CBS station in Sacramento did.

I don't understand why companies do this stuff. In a recession, people are gonna notice. You are going to get caught, and whatever you make you will lose in legal fees even if you win. Which you won't.

I know this is unrelated, but Elk Grove and Antelope? What is this, Animal Planet?

I don't buy from Khol's for this very reason. EVERY time I've been in there, I've been over charged, and everytime I've disputed it with the store, they told me that the price that rang up was the correct price, and that the price on the item was mispriced. When I asked for an adjustment based on what the items were marked, they flat out refused, saying they couldn't override the price. Bull. I've worked retail far too many years to know that they can too override the pricing. I just returned the entire purchase and haven't been back since.

Obviously, everyone should watch their prices as items are checked out.

That being said... I've shopped at Khols A LOT and have never had a single problem.

The fact that they apply frequent coupon %-off discounts to all items including sale and clearance makes them very consumer-friendly in my book.

Sounds like an isolated incident.

@Nick1693: Well, it is California, so yes.

Hmm, let's see:

Five bucks "mistaken" overcharge applied to, let's say, one percent of any transaction over fifty bucks - to avoid large-scale detection - multiplied by, say, $100,000 of sales (a random guess)...

...multiplied by - maybe as much as half the customers who happen to notice it*... equals WAY over the fines that have been leveled against Kohl's.

"Sloppy" business practice? More like institutionalized thievery. Someone needs to have swine flu poured into his latte.

@Ecoaster: Perhaps the reason you never have a problem is because you shop at Khols instead of Kohl's. Government inspectors, the media and individual shoppers have experienced this problem repeatedly, over time, in several locations. It's not an isolated incident at all. It looks more like a deliberate policy.

I do love Kohl's for its deals -- it's the only store charge card I use -- but I've learned to watch the ringing-up process carefully and to interject when I see something wrong. I don't know whether it's their coding process or what, but often sale prices don't ring up. Then when you point it out, the cashier generally fixes it without questioning you -- which leads me to believe this happens regularly.

What exactly do these inspections entail; where, what detail, and how often? Are supermarkets checked?

I go to Kohl's a few times a year. I've had a price occasionally ring up wrong, but they've never given me a hassle about changing it.

If it were sloppiness, then customers would be undercharged as often as overcharged. Sounds more like "margin enhancement"... Weights and Measures has the power to shut the store down. It usually doesn't take a store long to come on board after this happens. I'll be double checking my Kohl's receipts though!

@Transuranic: It's not swine flu, it's H1N1 flu!

Other than that I agree with your post.

They just made that 2000 right back in a manner of minutes over charging people all over the world. Way to show them you make sense. Charge them 2000 fucking dollars which is only a nuisance for every day people to pay back.

...Seriously?

Do they have anything like the scanning code of practice in the US? In Canada, if the scanned price is higher than the shelf price, it's free (to a maximum of $10). If the item is more than $10, you get $10 off the correct price.

As was mentioned above, mistakes are random - if the variations in pricing are due to error they'd be as likely to be too low as too high.

Errors do happen - but when those errors always result in the customer paying too much then it wasn't a mistake. Kohl's isn't the first or only company to "discover" this way to improve their margins; Sprint was doing it years ago, and I'm sure there are examples of this going back hundreds of years.

That doesn't make it right or legal - the only thing I find puzzling about the situation is how it is they can do this for years and get away with it.

@KainTheGreat: Because they can make a lot more money than potential fines they might have to pay. The gov't needs more draconian punishment for this kind of behavior, something like shutting the store down until they can pass an audit, to get them to stop. Until then the Kohl's CEO will wring his hands at how unfortunate it all is while he's laughing all the way to the bank with his bonus.

How do people not notice a $10+ difference in their total bill? Especially over and over again? Sounds like they do it because they keep getting away with it.

Hmm, I haven't shopped at Kohls in a long time, but when I would go in occasionally (I used to work near one on occasion and go there to kill time), I often had the opposite happen - stuff would ring up for less than it was priced.

I have a pair of sneakers I bought on clearance that were marked ~$10 but rang up at $2.

I select it's more incompetence than malice.

@Nick1693: Both were sections of larger cities that grew so big they broke off and formed their own cities.

I live in Natomas and am certain that we'll break off from Sacramento here soon. Many around here joke about how, in fifty years, Sacramento will consist simply of Downtown and The Capitol.

Considering my Aunt and her friends routinely shop at Kohl's I will let them know. They like going there for the senior discounts, especially since Gottschalks is going out and Mervyn's is gone.

@unobservant: It varies by state. Some states have that kind of guarantee; others don't. I don't know of any as consumer-generous as the one you've got in Canada, though. :)

It's happened to me, I ask, they say the rung up price is what they have to charge, I tell them no thanks and they go restock the item. It's how they operate and if you go there you need to be constantly aware.

I'm not sure that it's incompetence or malice. It's just a case of the fix being more expensive than the penalty. Sure, Kohl's could spend the man-hours fixing their database and constantly auditing it to make sure that each and every price is correct. They certainly could be more diligent about making sure each item is marked correctly. However, that would cost an awful lot of money. It's cheaper to pay the fines and issue the corrections at the checkout if the customer notices the discrepancy.

We have a similar situation in my county; we have a law that says each item on the shelves has to have an individual price tag on the product. The bigger retailers (Walmart, BJs, Sam's Club, etc.) routinely pay the fines imposed by the county rather than spend the money it would cost to label each item. I guess the county could increase the penalty, but at the end of the day the cost would just get passed on to the consumer.

@KainTheGreat: Kohl's doesn't do this on purpose. Their signing teams (yes, they have entire teams of employees designated JUST for the price signs) are usually the worst paid and least trained employees. Also, if you do notice a price discrepancy, the cashiers are trained to just give you the price that you say it is. It's called the "Yes We Can" policy.

Having had worked at a Kohl's for a decent amount of time, I can tell you that their signing does suck. But they won't haggle with you if you walk up to a register and say that the sign says something else.

Newer Kohl's are also having Flat Screen monitors at both ends of the register that show the entire transaction. The customer should be watching that to ensure that their products are ringing up the proper price. Yes, the onus is on Kohl's to keep their signs accurate, but it also falls on the consumer to be savvy and smart and watch their transactions.

@Randa the Panda: I have worked at Kohl's and I am calling shenannigans on your account of what actually happened. Kohl's has a policy called "Yes We Can", it gives the cashier the power to do overrides without even needed a manager to authorize it. The only time they call for a manager is if they think something is REALLY amiss. We had a situation once where someone brought a 179.99$ Portable DVD Player to the cashier and said that the sign said it was 79.99$. The cashier called the manager over just to confirm that they could do that steep a discount, but the customer did get it for that much.

This goes out to ANYONE that shops at Kohl's, If the price is wrong just say these three words 'Yes We Can' If they still refuse, get a manager and calmly explain that the price was mistaken and repeat those same words. I've learned in all MY years of retail that you get more flys with honey... Than with vinegar.

@whuffo: I recall a couple decades ago Safeway being busted in multiple states for charging every customer for a broom they'd leave leaning against the counter. "Oh, that isn't yours?"

Watch your receipts, people.

In Connecticut, if your items ring up at a higher price than the shelf says, you get one of those items free if it's under $20. If it's over $20, you get a free store credit for that amount.

It would seem that with Kohl's horrible pricing, one could hit the jackpot there simply by paying attention, a virtual buy one get one free sale on hundreds of items?

Actually, I have had the exact *opposite* problem with Kohl's. They systematically UNDER-charge me whenever I shop there. We pick out items, and usually find that they are on sale, even though they weren't marked as such on the rack.

It sounds like a few things could have happened.
1. The store may not have overnight signing. This means that they start signing the next ad at 6 or 7pm when the store is open.
2. The ad team did not finish putting up or taking down the signs. Call outs or people being lazy and saying they finished a department when they just did the sign visible from the front. Also not having enough people to do the signing in the time allotted.
3. The freight/replenishment team placing items that look the same but are not on the wrong rack.
4.Customers placing things back on the wrong rack(It does happen).
5. Reg. price increases and the product on the floor is not updated.

Unless their is a major difference,the cashier should correct the price if you point it out. Except for clearance. IT is only clearance if it has a clearance sticker on the tag. Just cause two shirts are the same style does not mean the same price is. The red may be more expensive than the puke lime green color with pink strips that no one wanted.

IN short their is nothing malicious. They are not trying to increase their profit margin. It may be a management/staffing problem at the store. It takes a good while to find people to do a good job. You may have good management but team the is rough.(or the opposite.

@Ecoaster:
Ok Ecoaster you either work at Kohl's or have Kohl stock but you didn't even spell the store name correctly in your post so you may not have noticed a pricing problem. I have heard the same report of overcharging from people who shop the store so isolated, no I don't think so.

For those that live in Los Angeles County, here is the link to companies that have been fined with scanner overages. Enter your zip code or city to find businesses that are guilty - [acwm.co.la.ca.us]

Here is the California page that links to the various counties - [www.dca.ca.gov]

I worked at Kohl's last night and I gave a customer with no questions asked a price that was different than in which it rang. I did this because of "yes we can." I do agree that are signing is terrible but, it is not the company's fault. If a manager knew the sign was wrong they would want us to fix it immediately. Kohl's has some great customer policies you just need to be a assertive conservative shopper and you need to stop playing the blame game.

I went shopping at Kohls a couple of weekends ago when they were having a sale plus an "early bird" special on top of the sale. It was around noon, about 5 hours into the early bird sale, and although the sale prices were posted by the merchandise, the computers weren't updated. I had to lead the cashier through the store and point to the prices listed for my different items. I would have been overcharged 50+ dollars!!

@sindex23 (my reply is somehow not working again...)

No, actually happened. Granted, this was almost 3 years ago, when the Khol's in my area first opened up, so I don't know if that policy was in place at that time. If it wasn't, well, that's their problem. If it was, well, then, I'd be willing to give them another chance. But the item in question was a top. Nothing fancy, just some top that was marked down according to the tag on the item itself. It was something like $9.99 or something (it's been 3 years, remember). When I got to the register, it rang up $14.99. I didn't realize till I got out to my car.

And I wasn't rude or impolite. I work 4 doors down from them at Target at the time, so I know that it does you no good to scream and shout at the person working. They just didn't seem to care. Okay, fine then.

And this would be why Michigan allows you to bring your item and reciept to the customer service deak, and the store has to give yu the difference plus five bucks. There are exceptions, i'm sure, but it works like that for groceries.

@Ecoaster: No, it's an ISOLATED, CALIFORNIA-based incident. I shop at Kohl's often and I have never been overcharged. California people are just stupid is all.

@fantomesq: Nice point. Yes, if the mistakes are all in the store's favor, that's more than just a crappy "signing team."

I had the same problem at Kohls too. I way buying some toys that had price tags for $5.99 or so and the cash register rang them up as $7.99. The cashier refused to honor the marked price - until I asked her to call her manager. Then she was suddenly able to adjust the price in the register. I haven't been back since.

They do that all the time. I've even had instances where I've talked to management about items that rang up more than what the sign said, and they would NOT adjust the price even though it's their fault because they put the item in the wrong spot or failed to change the signs. I used to shop there a lot but after all the instances where they overcharge I go there considerably less.

JCPenney used to be famous for this. However, how can a consumer be charged $10 - $20 more than they are supposed to be and NOT notice?!

@Shoelace: The verification varies, but I can at least speak for how it is generally done in California. An inspector will show up and let a manager know they are conducting an inspection (and thus will eventually check out but not actually complete payment of a transaction). The inspector will put 10-20 items in their cart. They try to get a variety of items (half on-sale, half regular price) from as many departments of the store as possible. Along they way they write down the item and its price. Once at the checkout, they write down the register's price on each item and the total. Then they ask the manager to void out the transaction. The inspection is to determine if sale items ring properly as well as for freshness of price tags. An item might be 2 years old on the shelf and not reflect any inflation of price that may have occurred in the time frame since. Generally, the minimum fine is $500 and can go up dramatically depending on how many items (and the %-difference) of pricing errors. In my years of retail, I would say we averaged one inspection every 12-24 months.

Hope that helps !

I work on the signing team at a Kohl's, and the customer is just as often overcharged as they are undercharged, near-exclusively due to human error by the people who sign. There's a selection bias happening here because people don't get angry when they get undercharged.

Honestly, I don't care for Kohl's and I try to avoid shopping there, but outright intentional lying about price is, at the least, not an institutionalized practice. We take people's money in more subtle ways, like setting very high non-sale prices, and then giving the customers a modest deal while claiming the merchandise is "50 Off!"

@KainTheGreat: Remember when McDonalds saved millions of dollars by serving dangerous coffee after they had been warned not to, and then got all the public on their side when a jury tried to fine them $200,000?

I also used to work at Kohl's. Their signs expire every few days and need to be changed and often aren't changed as soon as the prices are changed in the computer. However, if you tell the cashier about the discrepancy, they may call a manager to check but if you ask, they are supposed to honor the price the customer quoted.

@strathmeyer: I agree with Jim, the company decides the potential penalty fine is worth the risk of the unethical behaviour.

@Transuranic: RE, "'Sloppy' business practice? More like institutionalized thievery", I agree since no one is reporting pricing errors favorable to the consumer - they ALL seem to be in the store's favor.

@SinDex23: I have not been overcharged at Kohls but I also don't buy tons of items there and watch what they charge me item by item before I pay. I have witnessed quite a few arguments at the register where others were being overcharged, usually for big ticket items like small appliances. I also have a couple of friends who won't shop there anymore after not having posted sale prices on more expensive items honored. This isn't just a California problem.

I see Kohl's shell game with prices a bit dishonest but I doubt it is illegal. Everything is at a jacked up price and then "on sale" 1/2 off (or near) about every 2-3 weeks. So I only buy items when they are on sale. The sales are not ongoing markdowns the are cyclical through the life of the merchandise season.

@bigd7387: Wow. Yes, just because Ecoaster forgot the apostrophy, he's clearly a drooling idiot who can't be trusted to double-check his receipt. Your reply wasn't exactly punctuation perfect, either, you know.

I've frequented Kohl*'*s a fair amount myself and have never been over-charged. I'm sure it happens, though, like at any store.

True story time:

It was the year 2003. I went into Kohl's with my (now ex-)husband to use a gift card we were given at our wedding. Kohl's happened to have our pattern of Pfalzgraft dishes & glasses, and there was a sign on the shelf:

Pfalzgraft
Buy One
Get One 1/2 Off

We needed regular drinking glasses (everyone buys you plates and wine glasses, but never goblets/iced tea glasses) so we grabbed two boxes of iced tea glasses in our Pfalzgraft pattern at $29.99 each. On sale, that should be $45+ tax = $47.70.

Imagine my surprise when it was $63.58

Over the course of half an hour, the cashier followed by the manager told me it was because:

1. Not all Pfalzgraft patterns are covered.
2. Glasses weren't covered.
3. The sale was over a week before.
4. The sign was moved from another aisle.

As soon as the cashier started arguing with me, I went back to the shelf, took a photo of the sign on the shelf, then took the sign off the shelf and walked back to the register. All the sign had on it was what I typed above. No dates it was valid for, no exclusions. Naturally, they didn't want to charge me the right amount, nor would they let me get cash for my gift card.

Finally, when I started to walk out the door while shrugging and saying, "I'll just sell the gift card to someone on eBay," did they page the store manager who did a manual override of the price.

Of course, I was told that this was a special, one-time thing, because they didn't want to lose my business, but that it wasn't their usual policy and they wouldn't do it for me again. Not that it was a problem; I never went back and made sure to let the original gift giver (an aunt) know what I went through at Kohl's.

From personal experience - I chalk it up to sloppiness on whomever is pricing inventory in their sales system. I say this because the only time I had an error in a Koh's sale it was in MY favor. I also think you are going to have a lot of people complain if an item is overpriced, but most of those same people will remain mum if it rings up lower then the posted price. (hmmm....unadvertised sale or clearance item???_

The door swings both ways on this.