District Attorney Nola Foulston announced today that her office has filed a Consent Judgment in District Court with Hechinger Investment Company of Delaware, Inc., (hereafter "Hechinger") that does business as "Home Quarters" in Johnson County. This Consent Judgment was filed under the Kansas Consumer Protection Act and Kansas statutes relating to inaccurate scanning practices.
On several occasions over the past nine months representatives of the Kansas Department of Agriculture's Division of Weights and Measures, in cooperation with the Office of the District Attorney and the Office of the Attorney General, visited Hechinger's retail stores located within Kansas, for the purpose of investigating, inspecting and reviewing the pricing, signing, price scanning and customer check out procedure of each store.
These investigations found a significant number of discrepancies between the declared and/or displayed price of certain items and the price recorded at the defendant's point of sale register. These discrepancies included both overcharges and undercharges.
Under the terms of Consent Judgment, Hechinger will pay a total of $40,0660.50 in civil penalties, investigative fees and court costs. Company officials and the store managers of those stores cited, have met with representatives of the Kansas Department of Agriculture - Division of Weights and Measures, the Kansas Attorney General's Office and the District Attorney's Office to review these problems and develop a plan to correct them. Hechinger has implemented new procedures in each store and is focusing additional resources and effort into insuring pricing accuracy. The periodic inspections will continue and the stores found in violation in this case will be subjected to more frequent inspections and monitoring.
