Whole Foods Pays Piddly Fine For Overcharging Customers

(RTTNews) - Whole Foods Market Inc. (WFM) has agreed to pay $500,000 to settle charges by authorities in New York that the supermarket chain routinely overcharged customers for some pre-packaged products sold at its New York City stores.

The New York Department of Consumer Affairs or DCA said that Whole Foods agreed to pay the amount and settle the agency's investigation into the supermarket's mislabeling of pre-packaged products. The company has also agreed to adhere to strict standards to prevent customers in the city from being overcharged.

The agreement requires Whole Foods to conduct quarterly in-store audits of at least 50 products from ten different departments at all its New York City stores to help ensure products are accurately weighed and labeled.

If DCA inspectors identify mislabeled pre-packaged foods at a Whole Foods Store, that store must immediately remove all mislabeled products. Within 15 days, the company must check the accuracy of that product's pricing as well as 20 other products from the same department, at all New York City stores.

Further, the agreement requires Whole Foods to implement policies and procedures that require employees to individually weigh each package and label the package based on the weight of the actual contents.

The company is also required to conduct training for all employees in New York City who are involved in weighing and labeling products.

Whole Foods admitted to making mistakes, but said there was "no evidence of systematic or intentional misconduct" by anyone in the Northeast region or the rest of the company. The company also said that the DCA has misrepresented this agreement.

"While WFM refused to consider the DCA's initial demands of $1.5 million, we agreed to $500,000 in order to put this issue behind us so that we can continue to focus our attention on providing our New York City customers with the highest level of quality and service," Whole Foods said in a statement.

The DCA launched an investigation into Whole Foods in June after finding that the company's New York City stores overcharged customers by routinely overstating the weights of its pre-packaged products.

A similar probe in California, which began in 2012, also found pricing irregularities in the state's Whole Foods stores. In 2014, Whole Foods agreed to pay about $800,000 in penalties after a civil consumer protection case was filed on behalf of the people of the state.