I don't blame you for that. I used to buy grapes almost every day at Walmart. Often the price rang up was at least a dollar more per pound than what they showed in the produce department. I would call it to the attention to the checker and they would always give me the correct price. After it happened a few times, I called the manage over and said, "You have a sign as you go into the bathroom that says 'We prosecute shoplifters'. That is all find and dandy but when you charge at the checker more than an item is listed on the shelves, you are stealing from the people."

Just think how many people buy grapes and never noticed they were over charged. I haven't had it happen in a long time but I don't buy grapes as much as I used to because I am not rehabbing so many animals any more, but I did notice they took the shoplifting sign down. I always check my groceries when I can. And I always pay attention to what I am being charged, if I can't.

Yes, twice at a big box store I've purchased a larger ticket item (around $200) that was priced lower on the shelf than what rang up. Both times, I immediately brought it to the cashier's attention before I paid. Grudgingly, with the store manager's intervention, I paid the price on the shelf. The manager's excuse (both times) was that they had been "busy", so the shelf labels hadn't been updated to reflect current pricing. I'll bet that updating the shelf price quickly became a priority.

My dad selected a pie from the half-price rack. When going thru the self-checkout, the full price sticker is the one that registered, not the half-price sticker on the bottom of the box. The attendant fixed it right away. But next time, I'd try to hold my finger over the full-price sticker.

I've also learned to look closely at any sale-price stickers on the shelves. Some stores include an expiration date on the sticker but leave them up to catch your eye, and your dollars, after its already expired.

I recently bought a 4 pack of Phillips Hue lamps with bridge for $139.00, ($60< retail). The store retail price was listed at $199.00, which is comparable to other stores. However, the stores online price for same UPC was listed at $139.00. I won't mention the store, but the floor manager didn't hesitate to honor the online price. The item is still listed online for $139.00, so I'm going back tomorrow to buy a gift for my son.

Oh, in a drugstore here, I was over charged for lip balm. I called to complain and the manager offered me a $5 gift card for the inconvenience, and he mailed it.

I recently bought a $1099.00 SS fridge that was advertised at $799.00 through January 3rd. On January 1st I went in to buy it, along with other items with my 10% off entire purchase coupon I got from the Post Office. The fridge was even marked $799.00 on display. One was in stock. Well, first off, they rang us up at the wrong price of 879.00 for the fridge, taking 10% off that price, for a pretax total of $791.10. NOT correct! I wanted them to reverse that and take off 10% off the $799.00 (a price I showed them from the shelf AND the website.) All I wanted was $79.90 off the price of the $799.00 fridge (for a price of $719.10)! Half an hour and two managers later, they still couldn't get the math right! In the end, they refunded the price difference and gave me about $85 off to boot. Even though they know that was MORE than I asked for, they said, "Take it -- the time and paperwork alone is worth giving you more than you asked for!"

I don't think anyone expects the checker to know the prices. What I do expect is that whoever is in charge enter the correct price in their computer, so it doesn't scan wrong.

nickel, just because it was on the half price rack doesn't mean it belonged there. Here's one of the many scenarios that could be: someone grabbed a full price pie, but then saw another lower priced pie, but didn't want to walk back, so they swapped out pies. For instance. Just realize there are a lot of times they may be giving us stuff that probably isn't on sale. They're just being nice :)

Elmer, what ticked me off is that instead of changing the tills to match the cheaper shelf price, they just removed the previous price from the shelf, and kept the higher, till price.

jasdip which was the "correct" price?

Even if it's the $1.50, at the store level, they can change the shelf indication but maybe not the scan database. Perhaps that was all they could do to resolve the inconsistency?

I see your point Elmer. True, I'm not sure which one is the correct price. It wasn't a sale price, and I guess that's why it got to me. I bought some today at a different store for $1.50, and it's a larger bag.

I'm a regular user of the on-floor price scanners in stores so I know whether the price is right. I also know to check the UPC on the tag and product. Was buying some clearance laundry detergent one time. Same brand, same product, same quantity, but when I scanned, 2 of them didn't scan the right price. Different UPC. One was older product being cleared out. They put the new items in the same shelf spot which obviously it would stay when the other stuff was gone. No tag for the new item, just the clearance tag for the old. Confusing but nothing I could claim from them.

The other day I was at the "W" store and saw some shorts on clearance for $5. Thought I'd get one. Scanned it and it scanned at $3. They didn't change the markdown tags on them for the next markdown. Pricing variations happen. And it's not always that they're charging more.

rob333, in this specific case there was no doubt it was meant to be on the "Half of Marked Price" rack. It was one of a whole stack of small pumpkin pies. Each box had a white barcode on the top & side marked $3.99, and a bright yellow barcode on the bottom marked $2.00. It's quite possible that we held the box at an angle when using the self checkout, whereas if we'd gone through a staffed checkout line the clerk might have run the box more horizontally over the screen, thus picking up the yellow sticker -- maybe?

But I agree with your point -- products can end up in the wrong spot through no fault of the store. Many stores give the benefit of the doubt to the customer, which is nice, and that good will keeps me coming back to them.

Just yesterday I was buying three identical things at Michael's. They rung up as $0.99 , $0.99 and $7.99, Ummm nope. Then just after that at a grocery store 16oz blocks of cheese were marked " Buy 2 get 3 free" I picked up 5 of them but noticed that the register didn't apply the discount. I brought it to the attention of the cashier, and rather than trying to figure out how to apply the discount, he merely voided out three (or possibly four) of them

One time I went in to Target and they had some toilet tissue on sale and if you bought two, you got a gift card. I bought two, but the cashier didn't know anything about a giftcard. It went to several people and no one knew what the gift card should be. Finally someone just gave me a $5.00 gift card and the manager was taking down the sign as I left the store.

The good old days.

I'm sure there were far more mistakes made before produce item codes and product barcodes and checkstand scanners became prevalent.

Barcode reading also allows for item descriptions on the receipt, where before it was just amounts. That made it harder for a customer (and store personnel) to find mistakes.

One thing to be aware of is that many stores (I'm looking at you, Target) are starting an annoying practice of charging different prices on the internet vs their stores. So I looked up some sheets on Target's website and they were on sale for $32.99. Great. Get in the car, go to the store and they're $40-something.

I went to customer service and asked and they immediately rang them up at the internet price, while also checking 12 other stores (Walmart, BB&B, etc) to see if any of them had a lower price, which they would have matched. This has happened to me twice since, with other items.

I was given to understand that you can always get the 'Net price in the store, but only if you ask. This seems to me like a lousy way to run a business if you want to keep your brick and mortar stores, but I've recently encountered it a couple of other places, too.

writersblock, If you have the option to pick it up while looking at it online, just go ahead and and pay for it then to lock in the price and spend less time wandering the aisles? merely a suggestion, so I won't be offended if you don't take it. After all, a lot people read books electronically. Not me. I want to hold the book, I even enjoy the smell of the paper/print whatever it is. There's something to be said for the "ritual" surrounding the event. We are who we are :)

I am amazed at WM stores -- they do ALL of their pricing in Bentonville and I've only ever had a handful of things ring up wrong (and I think those were more of a stocker problem -- putting merchandise in the wrong place on the shelf).

But what makes me mad is when the ads come out and you go to a store to buy that sale item and it rings up regular price . . . you tell the clerk, they fix it, and you go on your way. Here sales last from Wednesday to Tuesday. Monday night you go into the store and buy that same sale item . . . it again rings up regular price. WHY haven't they fixed it from Wednesday to Tuesday? Think of how many people THOUGHT they were buying something a a lower price and didn't -- and they bought that particular product because of it's price and they were "swindled".

I agree with an earlier poster -- what's the difference between my shoplifting and a store PURPOSELY not changing a sale price? Aren't they both "stealing"?

I try to watch and will say something to the cashier. And if I hold up the line, so be it.

Something else that is interesting is that when a store advertises 2 for a certain price, you only usually have to buy 1 full bathroom r the sale price. For instance If the item is advertised at two for three dollars if you only buy one you should only be charged $1.50

1 full bathroom? Stupid auto correct

Writersblock, to avoid that Target hassle (different online prices), I just buy it online and arrange in-store pick-up. It's a service I've come to love. Just go to the customer service desk, show your i.d. and they retrieve the item from their storage for you and off you go. No wandering the store looking for the exact item/size/color. It's great.

Also, if you have a Target credit card, you get 5% more off all your purchases and free shipping, too, so ordering online for home delivery is a breeze.