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OLYMPIA, Wash. - Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown on Monday announced a lawsuit against Boise-based Albertsons Companies — which owns Albertsons, Safeway and Haggen — for "deceptive" buy-one-get-one-free (BOGO) deals, which the state argues overcharged Washingtonians more than $19 million over the course of five years.
Brown filed the consumer protection lawsuit on Monday, saying the grocery giant overcharged Washingtonians in more than three million transactions over a five-year period.
The backstory:
According to the Attorney General's Office, Albertsons-owned stores "enticed" consumers with BOGO deals on staple items like bread, cereal, produce and olive oil. The state claims that the stores then artificially hiked the prices of goods leading up to the BOGO deal, then lowered the prices some 30 days after the deal ended, overcharging customers who shopped in the meantime.
The AG's Office claims, as an example, a Gig Harbor Albertsons raising the price of olive oil from $6.99 to $10.99 ahead of a BOGO deal. Once the deal ended, the store quietly returned the price back to $6.99, the complaint alleges.
What they're saying:
"We’re not going to stand for people getting fleeced by these deceptive practices," said AG Brown. "That’s why we’ve filed this case. We want to make sure we’re protecting people’s pocketbooks, and we all know that affordability is a major issue these days. We’ve got to push back when companies are misleading their customers."
The AG's Office says Albertsons raked in around $19.7 million by overcharging customers.
The state also points to a 2016 class action lawsuit in Oregon, when Albertsons paid $107 million to settle another civil protection complaint regarding BOGO deals.
What's next:
The AG's Office is asking the court to block Albertsons from "unfair and deceptive" BOGO promotions, pay restitution to customers and pay civil penalties to the state.
Albertsons Companies owns and operates all Albertsons, Safeway and Haggen stores in Washington, totaling around 225 grocery stores across the state.
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The Source: Information in this story comes from the Attorney General's Office.