The abolition of the paper receipt, postponed a second time by the government in August or September, could have facilitated the scam of hundreds of customers of a Casino supermarket, Montceau-les-Mines (Saône-et-Loire) . The store has just been sentenced by the repression of fraud to a hefty fine of 87,300 euros for “failure to display the prices of products, preventing the consumer from making an informed purchase”.
Several customers have repeatedly complained that the prices of products displayed on the shelves were not the same as those they paid at the checkout. Each time, the difference was against the consumer. “Fortunately they were extremely vigilant, hello Emma Leoty, lawyer specializing in consumer law. It is neither more nor less than a misleading commercial practice in contradiction with the commercial code. “Legally speaking, the advertised price must be the price charged,” insists Sabine Bernheim-Desvaux, professor of consumer law at the University of Angers (Maine-et-Loire).
“The consumer must be extremely vigilant”
In the event that the consumer notices, when going to the checkout, a difference in price compared to that which he observed in the stalls, he can “claim to pay the lowest price”. In theory, the customer can refuse to pay the bill if he notices an error. “But, of course, it is often very difficult to impose it on the professional opposite”, underlines Sabine Bernheim Desvaux. “You can also put him on notice to obtain a refund within eight days,” adds Emma Leoty.
The responsibility of the store is not engaged when it is “a gross error”. For example, if a computer is displayed at 34.90 euros, instead of 349 euros, after a glaring hiccup in the labeling. “Furthermore, even in supermarkets, the differences between the price displayed and that charged are more a matter of awkwardness than of an organized system”, raises the professor.
Inflation and ongoing trade negotiations lead to frequent variations, sometimes weekly, making daily shelving difficult. “With the thousands of references present in a supermarket, the error happens”, points out Sabine Bernheim-Desvaux. “The consumer must be extremely vigilant,” warns Emma Leoty. Especially with the end of the receipt scheduled for August 1st. Customers will then have to scan it on the Internet or in their mailbox… while remembering the price displayed on the shelves. “In short, concludes Sabine Bernheim-Desvaux, an almost impossible mission…”