photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Home improvement chain Lowes will pay over a million dollars to settle a consumer protection case for price overcharges and false advertising.

Sonoma County District Attorney Carla Rodriguez, along with five other DAs across the state, announced the settlement in the case.

They alleged the retailer unlawfully charged customers prices higher than their lowest advertised or posted price.

The judgment also requires the retailer to pay just under $90,000 in costs and restitution to cover the various counties’ weights and measures investigations.

A county weights and measures department is responsible for doing price verification audits on a retail business, according to Andrew Smith, Agricultural Commissioner and Sealer of Weights and Measures for Sonoma County. 

"We collect the information that we've been to the store and we've inspected a certain number of items and found a certain percentage of those items that are overcharges," Smith said.

Smith said his department audited the Lowes in Cotati, and that his department constantly conducts audits of various business and retailers. Some random, others based on a consumer complaint. 

"And when we see something that seems to be a pattern with a specific retailer or business, we talk to counties in other portions of the state, and we will put all of our work together," Smith said

Then, it's up to a district attorney's office, like in Sonoma, to request all of the information related to a specific retailer to build a case showing a pattern of overcharges across a wider regional area or the state.

"Depending on the number of overcharges found, there may be administrative civil penalties leveled," Smith said.

In the case of Lowes, the retailer was required to pay over $1 million dollars in civil penalties.

Smith said consumers have the right to get the lowest advertised price.

"We have an online portal where someone can lodge a complaint, and they can do that anonymously," Smith said. That portal can be found by navigating to the Department of Ag, Weights and Measures homepage, scroll down to the "Mission" section and click on the big red banner that says, "have a question or feedback for our department, click here!"

Last year, Home Depot settled a similar case for alleged violations of California’s Price Accuracy, False Advertising Law and Unfair Competition law. An August, 2024 stipulated judgement required Home Depot to pay just under $2 million dollars in restitution, investigation costs and civil penalties.

According to Sonoma County's District Attorney's office at the time, "the problem is often called a 'scanner violation,' which is when the price on the item, or on the item’s shelf tag, is not the same once the UPC code is scanned at the point-of-sale device or register."