Home Depot will pay $2 million in settlement for overcharging its customers after it was discovered that there was some discrepancy in the payment received from them. The company agreed to pay these settlements when it was revealed that the shelf price of its products was higher than the price that customers paid after they had shopped and were at the payment point. The company has admitted no wrongdoing but has agreed to pay the settlement, which will amount to $2 million.
How will the settlement be distributed?
Home Depot customers looking forward to receiving a settlement fee for the company’s wrongdoing may be disappointed as the settlement terms do not cover the customers receiving any payment. The settlement will be used for an entirely different purpose.
To begin with, the settlement will allow for $1.7 million of the settlement fee to be distributed and received by the District Attorney’s offices of San Bernardino, Sonoma County, Alameda, Orange, Los Angeles, and San Diego. These offices played an instrumental role in ensuring that the settlement agreements were reached.
Also, other parts of the settlement agreement will be distributed. To paint a clearer picture, $177,251.28 will also be channeled to consumer regulators in the same counties as the ones mentioned above, including that of Sacramento.
More than this, there will also be a one-time payment of $50,000 to a non-profit watchdog focused on agricultural consumers, and a trust fund that supports the prosecution of companies who, like Home Depot, have unlawfully benefited from their customers.
Preventing a repeat offense
The ruling was made on August 26 by Judge Richard S. Whitney. He also gave room and set measures in place to prevent the possibility of Home Depot ripping off its customers in the future. The measures that were put in place include:
- Home Depot must now sell its product at the lowest possible price in all its California stores.
- The company must also go a step further to ensure that it appoints an executive-level internal price watchdog that ensures its prices are not exorbitant or overcharged to its customers.
- Every price manager in its California stores must also have price agency checks to monitor the prices they put out.
- The company must also go a step further to ensure that all records of its price accuracy are made known and available to prosecutors.
The company has agreed to these conditions involved in the settlement. It will maintain consistency in its pricing for customers while also ensuring that it updates the timing of its price range to prevent another lawsuit that will result in settlements.
