Ohio sues Dollar General over deceptive pricing

(NewsNation) — Ohio is suing discount chain Dollar General, alleging the store charges shoppers prices higher than the ones advertised.

Ohio Attorney General David Yost said the state is suing the store on behalf of shoppers who have complained about being overcharged.

“They’ll put one sticker on the shelf, say $1 for shampoo. And when you get up to the register, they charge you $2,” Yost said.

Dollar General has been operating in Ohio since 2015, with 943 stores across the state. Ohio does allow stores to have an error rate of up to two percent when it comes to pricing.

Testing done by the auditor’s department in Butler County found error rates from 16.7 percent to 88.2 percent in Dollar General stores.

Yost said his office has received a number of complaints from shoppers who bring up the price discrepancy and are told there’s nothing the store can do.

“Well, you know, who’s gonna sue over $1, right? People just walk away grumbling. They know they’ve been ripped off, but there’s nothing they can do. The store is the one with all the power,” he said.

Ohio customers are being advised to check their receipts to see if they’ve been overcharged — if they have them.

“We have a number of similar complaints where they said that they had to ask for their cash register receipt, which might just be negligence on the part of the cashier, or it might be evidence that they know that their prices don’t match between the shelf and the computer,” Yost said.

Yost said he hopes Dollar General will be a good corporate citizen and make things right.

“We’ve got inflation out there. That’s right, you know, pushing prices up on everything. It seems like every day to have two separate pricing systems at Dollar General, which is, let’s face it, they’re serving people who don’t have a lot of extra disposable income,” he said.

The court documents are seeking an injunction to stop the store from charging customers more than the marked price, as well as seeking reimbursement for customers who have been overcharged.

Dollar General did not respond when NewsNation contacted them regarding the lawsuit.