Woman Overcharged Numerous Times For Wal-Mart Products Wins Suit

POSTED: 4:49 pm EDT April 14, 2008
UPDATED: 3:34 pm EDT May 29, 2008

DELMONT, Pa. -- A Pittsburgh woman who accused the Delmont Wal-Mart store of overcharging its customers has won her lawsuit.

Mary Bach had already won a lawsuit against Kmart for charging sales tax on toilet paper. But she then turned her focus to Wal-Mart.

Bach, a consumer advocate, said she couldn’t pass up the $3 clearance pants she found at the Wal-Mart in Delmont. But when she got to the register, Bach said she noticed she was being charged $5 instead.

After alerting managers, she said they adjusted the price. But Bach went back to the store three separate times, each time buying the same pair of pants. She said each time, she was again overcharged.

"They charged me $5 a second time, and my point of view as a customer, they had a week to correct the situation," she said.

After Bach's last purchase, she did not get a refund. She then sued Wal-Mart, accusing the retailer of violating the unfair trade practices and consumer protection law.

In November, Bach won her lawsuit against Kmart for charging her sales tax on nontaxable items on more than one occasion.

"If I were to steal something from a store, it would certainly be shoplifting," she said. "I would be prosecuted. Stores can charge customers too much, shrug their shoulders and call it a mistake and I say a mistake should happen once."

Bach has laminated a copy of the check of the money awarded to her in the Kmart suit. But more importantly, she said, she just wants to warn other consumers to be vigilant when shopping.

"We've got to be smart with our dollars and make sure the merchants are charging us the correct price, the promised price," she said.

In both cases, Bach sued for the allowed minimum of $100.

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