An Australian shopper has accused Woolworths of a sneaky trick after finding a clearance sticker that made an item more expensive than its normal price.
Christian Hull posted a photo on Facebook showing the normal price tag for ‘Inghams Chicken Munchies’, with a price tag of $10 per kilogram.
However, an approval sticker next to the item stated $11 per kilo.
“I understand that prices of goods change, but the fact that this item is on sale when it clearly isn’t,” he explained. “When will someone intervene?”
His comments come as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has taken legal action against Coles and Woolworths over bogus discount schemes.
The consumer watchdog claims both retailers temporarily increased the prices of certain products by 15 per cent before including them in Woolworths’ ‘Prices Dropped’ promotion and Coles’ ‘Down Down’ promotion.
Mr Hull is concerned that as Woolworths gradually introduces digital price tags, it could become harder for shoppers to notice that a so-called ‘special’ offer is not actually a real discount.
‘Little controversial view, but did Woolworths just spend an ungodly amount of money on the new digital tags to avoid being caught price gouging?
“This was one of the few ways we could blatantly catch them in their lies.”
Many Australians agreed with Mr Hull and said it was time for the major supermarket chains to face the law.
A customer posted a photo online of a clearance sticker that was more expensive than the original price (photo)
Woolworths is introducing digital price tags (pictured) at many stores in Australia
“I find it funny that the organization that is meant to protect consumers is just playing on this,” one person said.
“Shoppers are well aware of the dirty tricks that big companies have been using for years.”
A second added: This is what they are doing to increase prices. People convince themselves that $11 saves. After the ‘special’ is over, the new, higher price will be introduced.’
A third says: ‘As a former employee of both supermarkets, they have been doing this for over twenty years. They got away with it for years because we trusted them.”
However, a Woolworths spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia it appears the original $10 price tag was old and had been left there by ‘mistake’.
“We apologize to our customers at this store for any confusion,” they said.
‘This appears to be the result of a one-time human error where that old shelf label was not updated.
‘Our store team members work hard to quickly update our shelf prices if there are any changes. If a customer is unsure of a price, our team is always ready to help.”