Citation (Wal-Mart): https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2012/03/21/wal-mart-to-pay-2...
Citation (Walgreens): https://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/walgreens-to-pay-m...
Citation (Whole Foods): https://www.organicauthority.com/buzz-news/whole-foods-marke...
Citation (Best Buy): https://www.cnbc.com/id/18846852
I could easily pull up several hundred more, but I'm on a VPN routed to another country and having a hard time getting U.S. news results.
"Consumers should feel confident that the price on the shelf will be the same price they are charged at the cash register,” said Attorney General Harris. “Californians who shop at Wal-Mart should know that they have the right to ask for the appropriate discount.”
Are you under the impression that the attorney general of California is making up consumer rights that do not exist as law?
"12024.2. (a) It is unlawful for any person, at the time of sale of a commodity, to do any of the following: (1) Charge an amount greater than the price, or to compute an amount greater than a true extension of a price per unit, that is then advertised, posted, marked, displayed, or quoted for that commodity. (2) Charge an amount greater than the lowest price posted on the commodity itself or on a shelf tag that corresponds to the commodity, notwithstanding any limitation of the time period for which the posted price is in effect."
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySectio...
a) agree to sell at the advertised price (legal)
b) agree to sell only at a higher price (illegal)
c) refuse to sell
If they choose (c), then they're not in violation of the excerpt you quoted, as they're not 'charging' at all.
Without getting into the competency of the current holder of that office...
What you are quoting is criminal law for retail in general. Certain chains that have a track record of overcharging are under consent decrees that specify protections for consumers that go beyond regular law, such as a free first item.
I've no idea what led you to this, nor why you quoted and posted something unrelated to the charge that you've yet to show any law that requires sellers to GIVE THE CONSUMER THE ITEM, FREE OF CHARGE, when mislaeled.
Airlines got especially busted for price advertisements, and are now required to abide by Federal laws written JUST FOR THEM regarding their pricing advertising practices - 14 CFR § 399.84
This isn't because the airlines were/are particularly egregious about false advertising, but, because the cost of a ticket is a particularly complicated equation and what, exactly, should be required to be included in a displayed price needed to be harmonized across the entire industry and I would perhaps argue needs to be harmonized further.
E.g. Delta sells a ticket on a route for $500 all-inclusive. Southwest advertises the same ticket for $300 but doesn't include $300 in taxes/fees/surcharges/whatever in that price. The Southwest ticket is more expensive but in the absence of standardization of what must be included in the advertised price, neither is inherently right or wrong.
The whole system there probably requires some updating now too, with some carriers now doing things like not including any checked baggage, or not including reserved seating.
Are you required by law to price match?
I think morally we should agree that there is a difference between fraudulent pricing and price errors. Are you actually in violation if you accidentally advertise or label an incorrect price?
Some states, yes, even for a minor glitch in pricing.
Basically: First item free if under $10, or gets a $10 discount, rest of items of same product at lowest price. Does not apply if lowest price is 50% or lower than the highest price (which seems too high to me, given that there are legitimate sales at that markdown level.)
For a while, my closest grocery store (part of a local chain) was terrible at keeping pricing information up to date. Occasionally I'd get surprise discounts, but more frequently I'd get charged too much instead. I was going to buy those things anyway, but on the principle of not letting the store screw people over, I started being a stickler about it. And guess what? The store shaped up.
(I assume the mechanism was that the increase in the number of price overrides at the register caused a review, and the store manager allocated more employee-hours to keeping prices in order, instead of treating it as an optional task.)
In all cases the customer was entitled to the lowest advertised price, be that in our flyer or the shelf. Rarely was the issue flyers. Most common cause of mis-marked prices was a stocker not updating the listed price on the shelf. Or an old price tag getting left behind the new price, and thus disappearing.
If anything this was a quality check, it gave the store a chance to catch mistakes without burning customers.
One source of supposed fraud was price tag printers getting left out. In theory a customer could use the printers to print up their own fake price tags, then request the fake price. Hence lectures from security on never leaving printers on shelf's unattended.
https://www.educaloi.qc.ca/en/capsules/price-labelling-and-a...
One of the exboyfriend of my sister was using this law to much to get cheap movies for free at Walmart.