Woolworths shopper’s warning after mum overcharged: ‘Check your receipts’

A Sydneysider is warning Woolworths customers to check their receipts, after an error meant her mum was significantly overcharged at the checkout.

The Aussie shared a photo of her mum’s receipt, which revealed she paid nearly quadruple what she needed to for one item.

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“My mum grabbed a few things from Woolworths last Tuesday 27 Feb and it looks like the ham she bought scanned at the per-kilo price ($36.00) rather than the price for the 256g she actually bought ($9.22),” she wrote online.

“I can’t see how this isn’t an issue with their checkout system unless the cashier manually overrode the price? She [Mum] usually doesn’t check the receipts as well so this was a bit of a lucky find!”

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While the exact reason for the error was unclear, one commentator suggested the cashier may have had to manually enter the item and accidentally entered the wrong figures.

Woolworths told Yahoo Finance it was investigating the issue, however, it was understood to be an isolated incident. The customer has been encouraged to contact Woolworths to obtain a refund, per its price-scan policy.

How customers can score refunds

Under Woolworths’ price-scan policy, if an item scans at a higher price than the ticketed price in store, customers can receive that item free.

This covers all scannable products at Woolies, including items with a barcode, items with a Price Look Up number and items that have been marked down for sale.

This is known as the Supermarket Code of Practice. Coles offers the same policy to its customers under its Our Promise on Price Scanning policy.

Customers call out pricing errors

It’s not the first time Woolworths customers have complained about errors resulting in them being overcharged by the supermarket giant.

In January, one Brisbane customer claimed the self-serve checkout charged him slightly too much for his grocery shop.

The checkout had his total cost at $17.90 but, when the man manually added up the four items he purchased, he claimed it should have been $15.70. Woolworths confirmed this was due to a “technical error”, with the self-serve checkout displaying the wrong price for the mangoes he had purchased.

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