Dollar General accused of overcharging shoppers for years in FTC and state lawsuit

Customers looking for bargains at Dollar General may want to take a closer look at their receipts.

The discount retailer is being sued by the Federal Trade Commission and 20 states over allegations that some stores repeatedly charged more at the register than the prices posted on shelves, tags and advertisements.

The federal complaint, filed in Tennessee, says the practice continued for years and cost shoppers millions of dollars.

That accusation is especially awkward for a company that markets itself as a place where every dollar should go further.

Dollar General has more than 21,000 stores across the country and serves many low- and fixed-income shoppers who depend on the chain’s advertised prices.

According to the FTC and the participating states, this was not an isolated issue involving a few misplaced stickers, but a broader pricing pattern that left customers paying more than they expected.

The complaint says the company received tens of thousands of consumer complaints about items ringing up above the advertised price. It also cites failed state inspections and undercover visits by FTC investigators.

During those undercover checks, investigators allegedly found products scanning at higher prices than those shown in stores.

The lawsuit also claims Dollar General knew about the discrepancies but did not install enough safeguards to prevent them.

The FTC says the alleged conduct amounts to deceptive pricing and violates federal and state consumer protection laws.

The agency is seeking financial relief and other remedies, though a court has not yet ruled on the case.

The complaint was authorized by a 2-0 FTC vote and filed in the US District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.

Twenty states joined the action, including California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina and Tennessee.

The case is particularly uncomfortable for Dollar General because the chain has already faced pricing enforcement in several states.

Since 2019, the company has paid $6 million in settlements with six states over inaccurate pricing, according to the complaint.

Regulators say the latest lawsuit shows those earlier actions did not stop the alleged problem.

The figures cited in the complaint help explain why regulators are treating the matter seriously, with the FTC saying tens of thousands of complaints indicate the issue affected shoppers nationwide.

The agency argues that Dollar General effectively put the burden of catching pricing mistakes on customers who may not have the time or money to check every item at checkout.

That frustration was echoed online, where one Reddit user said shoppers have to inspect everything closely so that an item marked with a low price does not suddenly ring up for much more.

Another commenter said the same thing had happened to them at Kroger, while others described photographing shelf prices before heading to the register.

One Reddit commenter put the irritation more bluntly, saying retailers can make refunds easy once an error is caught but may never correct the underlying computer-system price.

There was also discussion of price-error laws, with commenters sharing examples of rules that can entitle shoppers to refunds, discounts or even free products depending on the state.

Those rules vary by location, however, and a pricing dispute at one store does not automatically mean a shopper is entitled to a free item everywhere.

The FTC complaint also includes redacted sections about what Dollar General allegedly knew regarding its pricing practices, leaving some details hidden for now.

Dollar General did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the allegations.