According to the consumer association, the supermarket chains Albert Heijn and Jumbo are the most likely to get the asking prices wrong. Consumers apparently pay more at the checkout than stated in the store.

The union checked the prices of 90 supermarket offers. In addition to Albert Heijn and Jumbo, Aldi, Plus and Lidl, three branches of the supermarket chains surveyed were visited.

smoked salmon and batteries

At Jumbo, the price of 31 products at the checkout apparently differs from the promised discount price on the shelf. That happened 22 times at Albert Heijn.

One example is Jumbo’s smoked salmon. A price of EUR 4.99 was promised in the refrigerator, but EUR 5.99 was then charged at the checkout. At Albert Heijn, consumer association mystery shoppers paid €8.99 for batteries, while the price tag in the store said €5.39.

At Aldi, Plus and Lidl, the few mistakes almost always went in favor of the customer, says the consumer association. As a result, customers paid less for promotional products at checkout than originally expected.

Digital Shelf Cards

In a reply to the NOS, Albert Heijn says that she finds it important that there are no differences between the shelf information and the cash register. “Over the past year we have taken major steps to equip our range with digital shelf maps, which eliminates incorrect prices. For example, 95 percent of shelf cards are already digital. Unfortunately, the results of the survey paint a different picture for specific offers. is unacceptable and we will resolve it as soon as possible.”

Jumbo “regrets the deviations” and promises improvement. “We want to significantly reduce the number of price differences between the price on the shelf and the price at the checkout. We will keep the consumer association informed.”

“Error unacceptable”

Sandra Molenaar, Director of the Consumers’ Association: “These kinds of mistakes are unacceptable, especially now that everything is becoming more expensive and consumers are looking for deals. The price the store advertises must also be the price you pay at the checkout.” . see that this is possible, other supermarkets can learn from this.”

The question remains how much the promise of recovery is worth. The consumer association regularly conducts such investigations, also in 2020 and 2021, and the result was roughly the same: AH and Jumbo in particular have something wrong with the logistics of the price tags.