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The Commerce Commission will file criminal charges against Woolworths NZ, Pak’nSave Silverdale, and Hamilton’s Pak’nSave Mill Street for alleged inaccurate pricing and misleading specials. 

The commission said these supermarkets may have breached the Fair Trading Act. 

”Shoppers should have confidence that the price they see will be the price they pay, and specials really are special,” Commerce Commission deputy chair Anne Callinan said. 

She said supermarkets had been on notice about the importance of accurate and clear pricing and specials, but the commission was not satisfied progress had been made. 

”Pricing accuracy is a consumer right and an expectation of a competitive market. The major supermarkets are large, well-resourced businesses that should invest the time and effort to get pricing and promotions right. 

“The charges we’re filing against major supermarket brands are to remind all supermarket operators that we expect them to fix ongoing pricing accuracy issues and implement better processes to prevent issues like these in the future.” 

The commission said charges would be filed separately against Woolworths NZ, Pak’nSave Silverdale, and Pak’nSave Mill St. 

“Pak’nSave Silverdale and Pak’nSave Mill St take this matter seriously and have co-operated fully with the Commerce Commission in relation to its investigations,” a Foodstuffs spokesperson said. 

“Foodstuffs North Island’s stores process millions of transactions a day, and while errors are relatively rare, we agree that any inaccurate pricing is unacceptable. 

“We’re working hard to ensure that the price customers see on shelf is always what they pay at checkout, and that all specials offer clear savings. 

“If a customer believes they haven’t been charged the correct price, we encourage them to let our store teams know so we can refund them directly if they’ve been overcharged, or they can contact our customer service team.” 

In September, the Commission confirmed it would pursue a mandatory code to regulate the wholesale market for groceries, even as it launched an inquiry into whether further, more aggressive regulation was needed. 

The purpose of these mandatory measures was to improve competition by allowing other grocery retailers to benefit from the buying power of supermarkets.