Consumer NZ is calling out the big supermarket chains after it said it was sent more than 300 examples of "dodgy supermarket specials" from shoppers.
It included 78 examples of "specials" which weren't an opportunity to save, 54 examples of customers being charged more than the shelf price, and 18 "dodgy" multibuys — when products would have been cheaper to buy separately.
"The volume and frequency of misleading pricing and promotions on our supermarket shelves is concerning," Consumer NZ chief executive Jon Duffy said.
It comes after the group asked for examples of "misleading" pricing.
He said it shared its findings with the big supermarket chains — Woolworths, which owns Countdown — and Foodstuffs, the operator of New World and Pak'nSave.
Woolworths pointed 1News to an 'open letter' posted on the Countdown website last month, where it said its staff worked hard to ensure its pricing was accurate but errors sometimes did happen.
Managing director Spencer Sonn said he was reminding staff of the importance of accurate ticketing, and its refund policy — a customer can ask for a full refund for an item if the price was wrong, and keep it for free.
Emma Wooster, head of public relations at Foodstuffs NZ, said it had been asking for further details about issues Consumer NZ said it found in its stores. Consumer NZ said it had provided seven examples.
"Over the same period Consumer NZ say they've been collecting examples, our stores will have completed 100 million customer transactions," she said.
"The majority of the seven examples appear to be instances of differences between brand-wide prices and store specific prices, which led to unintended consequences on the ticketing displays. However, the customer received the best price at the point of sale."
It had made progress on simplifying promotions and pricing, and publicly reporting on it, as well as updating Consumer NZ.
Last year, the Government released its response to a Commerce Commission market study into the retail grocery sector, which found competition wasn't working well for consumers.
The Government has since passed amendments to the Commerce Act to deal with restrictive covenants over land and leases, in a bid to increase competition.
Fair Go investigation
Earlier this year Fair Go also investigated the issue of supermarket pricing. It was told by the Commerce Commission that it had launched one supermarket prosecution in the last 15 years.
It saw the company that owns Pak'nSave Māngere fined $78,000 in 2020 after pleading guilty to six charges under the Fair Trading Act for pricing errors that weren't immediately fixed after mystery shoppers pointed them out.
"It doesn't matter whether it was deliberate or an accident; if it's showing one price on the shelf and they're trying to charge you another price, that is a misrepresentation," associate professor Alex Sims, an expert in commercial law at Auckland University's School of Business, told the show.
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