A Woolworths shopper is reminding people to thoroughly check receipts when leaving the checkout after she was wrongly charged due to a scanning error.
Tara Wortedly was shopping at the Underwood store in Queensland this week, tallying up the items as she went. She made a note to herself that she had $9 of her set budget spare.
But after scanning all her items at the checkout, the total was more than she’d budgeted for — and with the crippling cost-of-living crisis, “every dollar counts,” she told Yahoo News.
“My partner said to check the receipt, and we noticed multiple item prices were wrong,” she revealed. “He went to take photos as I headed to the counter [to clear it up]”.
Tara was allegedly told that several items were set to go up in price in August, but they were instead scanned at the higher price now.
The pork mince was priced at $9, but Tara was charged $10, and a 3L full cream milk should have been $4.65, but scanned at $5.15.
Meanwhile, the Original Source body wash was scanning at $14, instead of $11 as marked.
Have you had an issue with supermarket prices? Contact newsroomau@yahoonews.com
Tara Wortley is warning shoppers to always check their receipts.
(Tara Wortley)
The scanning mistake saw Tara shortchanged $5, but she was given a full refund for the incorrect items, totalling $34.40, under the supermarket’s little-known Price Scan policy.
Coles offers the same policy to its customers under its Our Promise on Price Scanning policy.
What is Woolworths’ scanning policy?
Woolworths failed to respond directly to Yahoo when asked about the price increases and whether customers are entitled to a full refund in the event of such errors.
“We’re always focused on offering our customers a great experience in our stores,” a spokesperson said.
“While we always strive for accuracy and clarity with product ticketing. If a customer ever has a concern, they can raise this with our store teams, who are always happy to assist.”
The pork mince and full cream milk scanned at a higher price than what was ticketed.
(Tara Wortley)
According to the policy, however, “if an item scans at a higher price than the shelf price, [customers] are entitled to that item free”.
This applies to all scannable supermarket merchandise, including marked‑down items.
“For multiple identical items or multi‑buy promotions that scan too high, the first item is free and the remaining items are sold at the lower (shelf) price”.
RELATED:
The following items are excluded:
Items with a shelf price over $30
Pricing discrepancies caused by a team member error (e.g. keying error)
Prices not displayed in‑store (catalogue, online or promotional email prices)
Where a customer has removed/altered a shelf price or barcode
Errors in unit pricing shown on a shelf ticket or label
Epay recharge, mobile phone SIM cards, gift cards and prepaid mobile phones
Check receipts to avoid being overcharged
Tara has since advised others to always check the receipt to avoid “getting ripped off”. She said it was “surprising” to see how much was added to her shop.
“This could have happened to me before, but I’ve never thought to look.. This time, though, I was just so sure my maths had been right,” she told Yahoo.
“It’s 100 per cent put the wind up us to double, even triple check our receipt before we even think about leaving the store, because there’s no way we want to be ripped off again. Even if it’s only a few dollars, it all does add up at the end of the day. “
You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube.