Safeway's Scanning Policy

In the past I've posted about Safeway's policy on over or undercharged items. As you know, if you are under or over charged for an item, you will get it for free.

I recently learned a few new things:

1. If you tell them you were overcharged while you are still in line, they won't honor it. You need to wait until they print the receipt and hand it to you. Then you can go to customer service to get your refund.

2. There is a "limit of one" free product, and you get the rest for the accurate price. I previously thought the limit of one free product meant that if you are over charged for two wheat thins, for example, you only get one free, but that you can get multiple different products for free. However, Safeway HQ says they think the limit of one applies per receipt. The policy doesn't say this, and doesn't provide any additional information. There are obvious ways to get around this ridiculous policy.

3. The policy does not only apply to ads and store signs, it also applies to pin tags, expired club tags/signs, mailers, and checker errors, including misidentified produce. That's important to know since I've had a store deny me free items because they said their policy doesn't guarantee against worker errors, just scanning errors.

4. Very few Safeway employees know about this policy so you need to carry their policy around with you- it's posted below. Print it and stick it in your coupon holder.

5. Their policy states that they will "gladly" refund your money. If they're not "glad" but are "mad" then get their name and write to Safeway.


Policy:


Dear Ms. Grosser:

Thank you for your recent correspondence regarding your local Safeway store.

You inquired about the Safeway’s policy on overcharges on items. For your convenience, relevant information is provided below:

We guarantee the accuracy of our electronic checkout system. Safeway will give a customer the item free, if the price on their detailed receipt is different (higher or lower) than indicated in ads or shown on the shelf price tag. Limit of one. (The customer will only receive one of the items for free with the remaining items at the correct price).

This does not apply to liquor, tobacco, or fluid milk items. The reason for this is there is a federal tax that must be paid on these items. In these cases the customer would get the item at the sale price instead of free.

In addition to posted shelf tag prices, this commitment to pricing integrity also includes mark down stickers, signs, pin tags, expired club tags/signs, in-store ads, mailers (without posted retractions) and checker errors including misidentified produce. This Accu-Scan Guarantee Policy will be reviewed with all checking personnel. When a pricing discrepancy is brought to a store associate's attention, the cashier will gladly give the item to the customer for free and then promptly notify the person in charge so that the error can be corrected.

Please note: If a customer is overcharged on a BOGO special, not only will they receive the free item, they will receive the overcharged item free as well. Limit of one.

You also expressed your concern regarding the quality of service provided by our associates at the Customer Service Desk and one of our Managers. Thank you for taking the time to bring this matter to our attention. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced. It is not our intention to upset our valued customers, but to provide them with excellent customer service.

Your comments are important to us and have been forwarded to the appropriate department for further review and consideration. Thank you for your patience.

If you would like to discuss this further, please reply to this email or call our toll free number at 1-877-723-3929 and reference contact I.D. 16105281. One of our associates will be happy to assist you.

We appreciate your business and look forward to seeing you soon. Thank you for shopping at Safeway.


Sincerely,

Safeway Customer Service Team