Safeway was hit with a huge fine today, as a federal judge ordered the company to pay customers $42 million after overcharging them for years. From 2006 to 2011 the Pleasanton-based company misled online shoppers — a charge the company denies — by telling those who visited the website that prices online were the same as in nearby stores.
The company had apparently added a 10 percent premium to all goods ordered online, despite telling customers that “the prices charged for Safeway.com products will be those charged in the physical store where the groceries are delivered,” the Chronicle reports U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar as saying.
The $42 million represents both damages ($30.9 million) and interest ($10.9 million).
The company plans to ask the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn the original decision finding the company guilty, the Chronicle reports.
Related: SF's Sketchiest Safeways, Ranked
