Annette:
I have been impressed reading info on your site but am also confused about the MI Bounty Scanning Law. I live in MI and recently stocked up on kid’s clothes that were on clearance at Kohl’s.
The pants were marked $16.00 as the original price and had a $6.00 clearance sticker on them. A sign above all of the clothes also indicated that the clearance items would be 50% off as well, which would make the pants $3.00. As anyone with toddlers knows, shopping with children is a chore so I paid, grabbed my bag and left without really looking over the receipt.
When I got home, however, I noticed that I was charged $7.99 for one pair of pants and $4.80 for 3 other pairs when they all should have been $3.00 per the clearance sticker and sign.
The next day, I went back to Kohl’s to get my price adjustment on the 4 pairs of pants and then re-bought them at $3.00 each. She handed me my new receipt and when I asked her about the MI Bounty Law, she told me that it didn’t apply to clearance items only items that were overcharged on the regular price. She said that since the pants were originally listed at $16 that I would’ve had to been charged $17 to qualify for the MI Bounty fee.
I was always under the impression that if an item has a stickered price on it and you are charged more than that price listed, you are entitled to the Michigan bounty. Since the pants were marked $6 and I was charged $7.99, wouldn’t this apply or is it excluded since it was a clearance item?
Please let me know as I have been trying to obtain a clear definition of the MI Bounty Law and can not find anything regarding clearance items.
Thanks, Annette.
I look forward to hearing from you soon (and hopefully going back to Kohl’s for my $5!!).
Shelley
Dear Shelley,
I have read through the Michigan Scanner Law until I could go blind from reading, and have been unable to find anywhere in the document that excludes “sale items,” though people are told repeatedly by stores that they are excluded.
Please print off a copy of the law, take it with you back to Kohl’s along with your receipt and make them show you where sale or clearance items are excluded. Then cheerfully ask for your refund.
Be sure to let us know how you make out.
Best wishes,
~Annette
I was at Meijer and bought 2 sippy cups. Both had “mark-down” stickers on them. The regular price was also marked on the sticker as $5.99. The sticker mark-down price said $3.29 on both. I scanned each one at the “self-scanning” machine along with several other items. I got my receipt and was looking it over and saw that one sippy cup scanned at the marked-down price of $3.29 but the other sippy cup scanned at $5.99. I immediately went to the service desk and told her I was overcharged and inquired about the price scanner law. I said she owed me not only a refund of the overcharge but also the bonus amount for 10 times the overcharge. The service clerk told me that I would only get the difference in the overcharge but not the penalty bonus because it was a “clearance” item. I walked away confused because I thought a “clearance item” IS a sale item! Do I get the bonus penalty?????
No, clearance items are excluded.