Two sales outlets that he returned to the Fund's employees and recorded the «barcode» in light of the congestion during the Ramadan

Consumers: Invoice errors raise the prices of goods by more than 300%

Outlets stressed the importance of consumers reading the bill and reviewing prices before leaving the outlet. Archival

Consumers said that they found errors in invoices issued by outlets during the current Ramadan season, which raised the prices of goods by more than 300%, calling for facilitating the procedures for refunding the price difference and making it more rapid in the event of an error in the invoice.

Two sales executives explained to Emirates Today that the errors are due to the error of the fund's employees or some sections of the outlets in registering the barcode or calculating it more than once or not entering the new barcode in the case of discounted goods. They stated that mistakes can occur in light of the congestion during Ramadan and discount campaigns that witness many changes in prices, noting that there is also a responsibility on consumers in addition to the responsibility of the outlets, which is to read the bill and review prices before leaving the outlet.

Full Price

In detail, the consumer Farouk Khalil said that he finally bought his family's weekly needs from one of the outlets, and when he reviewed the bill after returning home, he discovered that there was an error in calculating the price of one of the goods «imported cheese», as the payment box employee calculated the price of a full kilo, instead of the price of the quantity he bought, which is a quarter of a kilo, to increase the price he paid from 12.5 dirhams to 49.95 dirhams, an increase of nearly 300%.

He added that the next day he returned to the same outlet, and after reviewing the supervisor at the outlet for the invoice, he agreed to refund the rest of the amount to him, noting that it took a long time, especially with the heavy crowding before breakfast.

Khalil stressed the importance of outlets taking the necessary measures so that the same mistake is not repeated with other consumers, calling for facilitating the procedures for refunding the price difference and making it more fast.

The price is twice

Consumer Fatima Ahmed said that she discovered that the employee of the payment box in one of the outlets calculated the price of a food item «rice» twice, which made her pay 82 dirhams instead of 41 dirhams, an increase of 100%.

She added that she also bought an electrical appliance in a previous discount offer at 105 dirhams, but found its price in the bill at 131 dirhams, a difference of about 25 per cent.

She pointed out that she returned to the port despite her busyness and the distance of the port from her place of residence to recover the price difference, demanding that she also facilitate the procedures for refunding the price difference and make it more quickly, as the procedures took a long time before she recovered her money.

Reductions

The consumer, Rawad Al-Shami, said that he discovered when reviewing the purchase invoice from one of the outlets, that he paid 30 dirhams for one kilo of one type of vegetables, although its price is less than seven dirhams in one of the discount offers, explaining that he paid an undue increase of 328.5%.

He added that he returned to the outlet again to discover, after a lengthy investigation conducted by the outlet, that the employee in charge of weighing in the vegetable department was the one who made a mistake in setting the price.

Al-Shami called on the outlets to work to reduce such errors and facilitate the procedures for refunding the price difference, and make it more fast, noting that the procedures for refunding his money took a long time.

The reasons

For his part, the official in one of the outlets, Ahmed Siddiqui, explained that errors in the invoice are due to several reasons, most notably, the error of the employees of the fund or some departments in registering the «barcode» or calculating it more than once, or not entering the new «barcode» in the case of discounted goods and not changing it, especially in light of the severe congestion during the Ramadan season.

He said that sales outlets, especially large ones, have invested heavily in applying the latest accounting systems to reduce errors related to invoices.

Siddiqui considered that there is also a responsibility on consumers in addition to the responsibility of the outlets, which is the need to read the invoice before leaving the outlet and review prices after placing them in some sections of sales outlets, such as vegetables, fruits, cheese and fresh foods, to reduce errors.

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Rajiv Tamara, an official at another outlet, said it was highly unlikely that the mistakes were intentional, but they could occur in light of the congestion and mega sale campaigns that are witnessing many price changes, asking consumers to avoid shopping in times of great congestion as much as possible.

He added that employees receive intensive training on commodity pricing, and there is continuous supervision and follow-up on their performance.

Reduce error frequency

Retail expert Devi Nagpal said billing errors at outlets are still frequent, despite consumer complaints about these errors over the past years.

Nagpal called on outlets to hold wrongdoers accountable to reduce the frequency of errors and shorten the procedures for recovering money to encourage consumers to claim their rights, pointing out that the intense competition between outlets, especially in the Ramadan season, imposes this, especially since consumers may turn away from the outlet where errors occur in bills and delay in recovering the price difference.

Nagpal also called on consumers to review the bill before leaving the outlet and not hesitate to return to the outlets to get their right, no matter how small the amount.

Consumers called for easier procedures to refund the price difference and make it faster in the event of an invoice error.