COLUMBUS – After receiving a dozen complaints from consumers in Franklin County and elsewhere in Ohio, the state’s attorney general is suing retailer discount retailer Dollar General to court for allegedly advertising goods for one price on shelves and charging a higher price at the register.
From March 2021 to August 2022, the office received complaints from Franklin, Madison, Cuyahoga, Highland, Lucas, Richland, Summit and Trumbull counties, according to a release from attorney general Dave Yost’s office.
State regulations allow stores up to a 2% error rate on overcharges but the lawsuit filed in Butler County claims that testing by the county auditor’s Department of Weights and Measures found error rates ranging from 16.7% to 88.2% at 20 Dollar General stores.
Tennessee-based Dollar General operates 943 stores in the state.
Ohio Department of Agriculture rules permit stores to have up to a 2% error rate on overcharges. But
Among the consumer complaints received by Yost’s office, a Dollar General in Franklin County listed shampoo at $1 on the shelves but charged double that amount at the register.
In some cases, consumers claimed that the stores would not change the price even after the discrepancies were po9inted out.
The lawsuit cites violations of Ohio’s Consumer Sales Practices Act, saying Dollar General listed false prices on items and engaged in “bait advertising.”