Top supermarkets like Naivas, Carrefour, and Quickmart are currently being watched closely by the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) following many complaints from customers who say they were charged more at the till than what was showing on the shelves.
The consumer watchdog also looked into claims that some of these retail shops were inflating prices first before putting them on discount, just to make the promotions appear bigger than they actually were.
In one particular case that caught attention, Carrefour was ordered to give a refund to a customer who bought a 5kg bag of rice that was marked as being on promotion, only to find a higher price at the checkout. Similar complaints were also raised against Naivas, Quickmart, and Magunas.
One shopper, Samuel Kinyanjui, reported that he bought an alcoholic drink at a Naivas branch for Sh1,120, yet the item had been advertised on social media for Sh899. Another customer, JME Simekha, also complained to the authority after being overcharged when refilling cooking gas at Quickmart.
After going through all the complaints, CAK said it did not find enough grounds to punish most of the retailers. However, the regulator made it clear that some cases are still under investigation and warned that such practices are not acceptable because they go against consumer rights and break the Competition Act.
On their side, the supermarkets have been defending themselves by saying that the price differences are simply due to human error. They explained that the attendants sometimes fail to update the price tags on the shelves, which leads to the mismatch between what is displayed and what is charged at the till.
An executive from one of the big supermarkets, who did not want to be named, said this is not a new problem and it is never done on purpose. He added that sometimes the error works in favour of the customer when they are charged less than the shelf price, and that most retailers have a policy of giving customers the shelf price when such mistakes happen.
But CAK is not taking any chances, the authority has been making secret purchases of products from various supermarkets to check if there are any hidden tricks, and also to ensure that items are properly labelled with expiry dates and other important information.
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