North Carolina joins ‘overcharging’ lawsuit against Dollar General

North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson and 19 of his colleagues in other states announced Tuesday they’re suing Dollar General for overcharging customers. The bargain retailer is accused of raising prices for products at the register without updating sticker prices on shelves.  

At a press conference Tuesday, Jackson called Dollar General a habitual offender that has been “ripping people off,” even after being told repeatedly to resolve the problem.

“They are illegally overcharging families and they have been, we believe, for years, so today, we’re taking them to court to stop this behavior,” Jackson said. 

The lawsuit is part of a multi-state complaint against Dollar General that includes the Federal Trade Commission. In addition to North Carolina, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah and Wisconsin also joined the lawsuit. 

“Dollar General has betrayed the trust of millions of American consumers and imposed significant financial harm on communities and consumers who are already struggling to make their paychecks last,” Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement.

Dollar General denied in a statement that it has ”willfully disregarded the affordability needs of our customers.”

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” it said. “Our goal is 100% accuracy between shelf and register prices in every store.”

The retailer acknowledged that price discrepancies do occur, but said “store teams are instructed, empowered, and expected to make things right for the customer” when mistakes happen.

However, Jackson said the NCDOJ, through its consumer protection division, has uncovered internal documents that show Dollar General was aware of the overcharging, “knew that it was systemic and chose not to fix the problem.”

“That means they’ve broken the law,” Jackson said. “That means we have good evidence for a strong case that directly impacts families in North Carolina.”

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Jackson said the overcharges are sometimes a dime, a quarter or a dollar or more. 

“Sometimes people catch it,” Jackson said. “Usually they don’t. Usually they just pay the extra money. They go on about their lives. 

Dollar General operates more than 1,100 stores across the state, and in some rural areas, it’s the only local option for basic goods, food and supplies.

Jackson said NCDOJ will ask the court to order Dollar General to take verifiable action to stop overcharging customers. The NCDOJ will also seek penalties. 

He noted that the N.C. Department of Agriculture recently fined 10 Dollar General Stores in Eastern North Carolina for overcharging customers. The Department of Agriculture regularly conducts inspections to ensure that sticker prices match prices at the register. 

Those 10 stores are in Hertford, Pamlico, Carteret, Transylvania, Craven, Onslow, Buncombe, and Scotland counties. In addition, Dollar General stores have also failed audits in previous years in Franklin, Alamance, Transylvania, Montgomery, Brunswick, Hyde, Lee, and Moore counties. 

Jackson said the families that Dollar General overcharged deserve money back. He said it’s too early to say how that would take place.

“Ultimately, that’s going to be a question for the court and part of our advocacy to the court,” he said. “There are some different ideas in play here, but I can tell you, our consumer division routinely finds a way to get customers their money back when they’ve been ripped off.”

Jackson urges Dollar General customers to check their receipts before leaving the store and to demand that the store correct the price if they’re charged more than the price on the shelf. Complaints can be filed with the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Standards Division using this complaint form or at 984-236-4751.