Alert: Texas Walmart Shoppers Were Overcharged at Self Checkout

With the cost of groceries going up in the last four years, consumers are really counting every penny so they are able to make ends meet and pay their bills. It's not your imagination that everything just seems to grow more and more expensive.

When comparing 2020, the first year of the COVID pandemic in America, to today's grocery costs, the price has gone up 24.6% overall.

Depending on who you talk to in Louisiana shopping at Walmart is either a necessary evil or it's the greatest retail adventure on the planet. With some 138 Walmart locations in the state, we're pretty sure folks from Shreveport to New Orleans and Lake Charles to Lafayette and Monroe have all visited the mega-retailer at some point in the past few weeks.

And while you were shopping at Walmart over the past few weeks I feel fairly secure in suggesting that you paid for your purchases at a self-checkout kiosk. You've probably heard rumors that the self-checkouts are going away. Walmart says it's to help with loss prevention but maybe it is to avoid embarrassing technical glitches such as the one the giant retailer is admitting to.

Bloomberg was the first to report that some 1,600 Walmart locations in the country were not charging the correct prices for items that customers were buying. In many cases, the price being charged was too high. It should be noted there were also cases where the self-checkout undercharged the customer too. Here is one woman's experience:

This "technical glitch" was first reported on March 19, 2024. It reportedly continued for "at least several days". Walmart confirmed the glitch in a statement that was made to Reuters. The retailer cannot say for sure how many shoppers were affected. Nor can Walmart confirm which stores were impacted.

But since the "issue" was reported to be caused by an internal system failure that blocked or delayed price data from flowing to the self-checkout kiosks it is a fairly safe assumption that many of you reading this narrative were overcharged during your Walmart shopping trip.

Earlier this year, Walmart reached a settlement for $45 million over the cost of some citrus fruit.

What Do I Do If I Was Overcharged by a Walmart Self-Checkout Kiosk?

There is a good news/bad news answer to this question. The good news is that Walmart says 80% of customers who were overcharged have been fully refunded. Those customers likely used a credit card and the refund was made directly to the card you used. Check your statement to see if that happened.

The only other recourse you might have would be if you happen to have saved your receipts. Then you might be able to show what you were charged and the date you were charged that amount. This would be one of those scenarios where you really have to decide if it is worth your time to go through the hassle.

You might spend hours proving you were overcharged just a few pennies, but then again you could have been overcharged a lot, so you make the call, and good luck with Walmart customer service. They are always so delightful when you ask them for your money back.