Update 7/2/2015, 5:25 p.m.
Whole Foods has admitted they've overcharged, and released an apology video. This is all after a week of their denying all charges.
Co-CEO Walter Robb says the corporation made "some mistakes," and that sometimes "the mistakes are both in the customer's favor, and sometimes not in the customer's favor."
Really, Walter Robb? Grotesquely and illegally overcharging your customers on all of your products does not sound like it's "sometimes in the customer's favor," to us. But hey, maybe that's just us.
To rectify the problem, the chain plans to incorporate a third-party auditing system, because apparently they're not capable of not stealing from their customers on their own.
http://youtu.be/UWUn2LYSb6g
6/25/2015, 11:21 a.m.
Whole Foods is a luxury grocery store and everyone knows that.
It comes as no surprise that when you reach the check out counter at Whole Foods, you have to hold your breath when you see the number on the cash register. That's just an occupational hazard of shopping there.
Or is it?
What's unexpected is that these high-priced foods might not just be high-priced. They might be illegally high-priced.
According to Gothamist, an investigation is underway by the city's Department of Consumer Affairs, and they've uncovered some devious prices-- revealing that customers have been sneakily overcharged on Whole Foods' already pricey food.
In a press release, the DCA reported Whole Foods was overcharging by $4.13 per customer on packages of chicken tenders, which they buy in groups of eight. That equates to Whole Foods was making $33.04 of illegal revenue for every eight pack of chicken tenders.
The press release also reported that Whole Foods was marketing products with mislabelled weights.
"89 percent of packages tested did not meet the federal standard for the maximum amount that an individual package can deviate from the actual weight," the DCA said.
The investigation additionally found that customers were regularly overcharged for nuts, snack foods, and other groceries.
An anonymous Whole Foods employee told Gothamist that the company was aware of the labeling issue, but didn't want to pay a full-time employee to check price signs and tare weights.
"So they replace these people who actually know what they are doing by making the position a part-time one with cheaper employees," the anonymous Whole Foods employee said. "[the part time employees] are still barely trained and have almost no idea what the f*ck they are doing."
Data collected by the New York Daily News reported that the Union Square Whole Foods was the most deceitful location of any story in NYC since 2014. Following closely behind were the Tribeca and Brooklyn locations.
And since they were fined nearly $800,000 in California for similarly fraudulent charges last year, we're bummed Whole Foods didn't learn their lesson.
The DCA hasn't announced how much Whole Foods will be fined for their current allegations, but the Whole Foods' anonymous employee said the city of New York City is asking for "way more" than they were charged in California which is great and all...
But it doesn't help us get our money back now, does it?
Check out The Struggle Is So Real: 8 Rigorous Stages of Shopping at Trader Joe’s.
[via USA Today]