warrrreagl

Yet another chapter occurred today in mine and Grancey's constant ongoing battles with checkouts at department stores. Today, it was Target. Here is the scam as we see it:

Most of the items you select scan out correctly at the checkout. However, one or two items scan out just a wee bit higher than they should. Now first of all, the screen where you watch the prices is either non-existant or is always magically turned to an angle where you can't read it so you can't effectively follow your checkout. Therefore, as a customer, you must stop before you leave the store and scrutinize your receipt for mistakes. Our firm belief is that Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target, etc., use this checkout scam as company policy in an attempt to bilk unsuspecting customers out of billions.

First of all, the corporate offices are depending on the notion that most customers either a) won't notice the mistake, or b) won't think it's worth it to go back and straighten it out. Therefore, if you just let it go then they made a few pennies off of you or at most a few dollars. And that adds up to a shitload of money spread out over thousands of customers a day at each store location. However, if you buck the trend and try to fix the mistake, you must go to Customer Service where the lines are as dreadful as the DMV. The lines are always ridiculously long and slow, and the idea is to make you think, "Ah, not worth it," and walk back out the door.

Secondly, the cashiers are not in on the scam. Even if you happen to catch the incorrect price during the checkout, the cashiers don't have any authority/jurisdiction to correct the mistake from their station. You are required to resolve the mistake at Customer Service (see above). They are playing the odds that you won't and you'll just let it go.

Thirdly, although the Customer Service employees are not in on the scam, they are certainly aware of it, because they hardly ever give you any shit about your claims and they usually take your word for it. It is very rare that they actually send an employee out into the aisles to check the price dispute, and therefore they must have been trained this way. And the only reason a company trains an employee to give refunds so easily is if they know the scam is real.

Here's what happened to us today at Target. We bought several items (probably 20 or so) and our total was $120. Now we are the kind of shoppers who thoroughly check prices before we select an item, so we were aware of the prices of every single item we selected (something the corporate offices are hoping doesn't happen). When we got to the checkout, we had to unload our basket and the checkout girl was halfway through scanning everything before one of us could step around to try and read the screen. Our specific Target is designed similarly to every Target we've been into, and they don't provide ANY space at the front for you to check your receipt. You're kind of whooshed out the door after checkout, and I firmly believe the store is designed that way on purpose.

So, once we got to the car, Grancey noticed that we had picked up four identical items and two had scanned at one price (correctly) and two had scanned at a higher price. I then noticed that a CD I'd picked up scanned at the full price instead of the sale price that was advertised at the CD rack. So, I went back inside to Customer Service. The girl asked what the problem was and these were my exact words. "This CD was supposed to scan at $9.99 and all four of these should have scanned at $8.48 but two of them didn't." Without saying another word, she scanned my receipt, scanned the five items in question, tapped some keys on her register, and then announced, "$11.26 will go back on your credit card, haveniceday." She never checked anything. Therefore, it MUST be a scam. That was an overcharge of almost exactly 10% by the way.

Now here's what makes it even weirder. Whenever we get a chance to use the self-checkout aisles we ALWAYS do that, because we've NEVER EVER had the incorrect scan problem pop up at a self-checkout. How is that fucking possible? Is it possible that the SCANNERS know when to scan incorrectly? I think yes, they do! I think the cashier's stations are set so that a predetermined number of items scan incorrectly on purpose, and the self-checkout stations are set so that they don't. It's the only possible answer.

So, do you go back inside to argue for your refund, do you let it slide, or do you not even notice this happening? Our philosophy is this: Maybe people will think you're cheap for making such a big fuss over a few cents or a couple of dollars. But isn't the store exactly as cheap as you for trying to steal those few cents or dollars?

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