Large differences between the prices of items offered on the “shelves” and the “cashier”

Consumers complained that there were large differences between the prices of goods subject to discounts on the shelves and their prices at the cash registers and on invoices.

They told Emirates Today that they were surprised, after purchasing goods included in discount campaigns and reviewing the invoices later, that their prices were much higher than the prices announced in the offer literature, which cost them additional payments.

On the other hand, the Emirates Consumer Protection Association confirmed that it had received a number of complaints about price differences between shelves and invoices, stressing that these practices are considered misleading and a violation that requires reviewing the store management, and reporting them immediately upon their repetition or when the management does not respond to correct them, and called for the need to increase consumer awareness by reviewing invoices before leaving the store.

For their part, two officials in the retail trade sector confirmed that these differences are due to unintended errors in some stores, and are mainly due to the failure to update accounting systems in conjunction with updating the prices of goods on the shelves.

Price differences

Consumer Bassem Zaher said that he was “surprised, when reviewing the invoice for his purchases from a store, that there were large differences in the prices of goods included in the offers, compared to the prices announced on the shelves, which led to an increase in the value of the invoice, and he did not discover this until after a while as a result of his reviewing it by chance.”

For his part, consumer Hassan Hamed pointed out that he “discovered a difference in the price of one of the goods included in the offers when paying for the purchases, as its price at the cash register was about 26 dirhams, while the announced price on the shelf was only about 15 dirhams, which explains the big difference between the two prices.”

As for the consumer, Mahmoud Ali, he mentioned that he noticed the frequent price differences between the shelves and the cash registers, which raises the value of the bill, especially with the consumer relying on the prices displayed on the shelves, and the difficulty of reviewing all the prices periodically, especially when purchasing the weekly needs of the home, which include a large number of goods.

Violations and errors

For his part, the Secretary-General of the Emirates Consumer Protection Association, Mohammed Abdullah Al-Naour, said: “The difference in the price of the item displayed on the shelf from the price recorded in the accounting box or the invoice is considered one of the errors that require informing the store management and the competent authorities as soon as it is repeated.”

He explained that “these errors cost consumers large additional sums, especially when planning to purchase according to a specific budget, and then they are surprised to pay higher sums as a result of the shelf prices not matching the accounting prices.”

He confirmed to Emirates Today that the association had received, during the recent period, a number of complaints related to price differences between shelves and invoices, stressing the importance of raising consumer awareness to discover these errors as soon as they occur.

He added: “We advise consumers to check the invoices immediately after completing the payment process, ensure that the prices match, and not overlook any error, and inform the store management immediately to recover any amounts collected in excess.”

He explained, “If price reader devices are available in sales outlets, they should be used before purchasing, and if they are not available, prices must be reviewed immediately after they are calculated. When noticing any difference, the price posted on the shelf should be photographed and compared to what was stated on the invoice. Any increase should not be accepted, and a complaint must be submitted to the store management. In the event that the error is repeated or the management does not respond, one can go to the local economic departments.

Al-Naour stressed that “matching the price of the item on the shelf to its price at checkout is an inherent right of the consumer, and that any difference in price is considered misleading and a violation of the provisions of the Consumer Protection Law.”

He explained that “most of these errors occur in the goods included in the promotional offers, as a result of the end of the offer without removing the stickers from the shelves, or because the accounting cashier systems are not updated, which leads to calculating the basic price and charging the consumer additional amounts.”

He called on store managements to update the cash register systems immediately after applying the promotional offers, and to remove the posters of the offers immediately after they end.

He also stressed the need for “the consumer to be sufficiently aware, to review the invoice before leaving the store, to object to any price in violation, to keep a copy of the shelf price and the invoice, and to file a complaint with the competent authorities if the store management does not respond.”

Accounting funds

In turn, the CEO of Union Coop, Mohammed Al-Hashemi, said, “The price differences between shelves and cash registers, which may occur in some stores, are considered unacceptable and unintended individual practices, and are mainly due to offering discount offers on specific quantities of goods, and then these quantities expire, while prices automatically return to their basic levels in the cash register systems.”

He added, “It is necessary that the prices of goods on the shelves match their prices at the cash registers. The consumer should also be sufficiently aware, review his purchase invoice, and monitor any unjustified increase compared to the announced prices.”

For his part, Dilip Vishal, purchasing manager at one of the retail outlets, said, “The existence of differences in the prices of offer items between shelves and cash registers is due to unintended errors in periodic follow-up, such as delays in removing expired offer stickers from shelves, which may lead to confusion among consumers.”

He added, “Some outlets are also late in updating the systems linking the prices of the offers and the cash registers, which may lead to calculating prices higher than the prices announced on the shelves.”