AUSTIN, Texas, July 2 (UPI) — In a Youtube video released Wednesday, Whole Foods co-CEOs Walter Robb and John Mackey apologized for occasionally overcharging customers.
The announcement is a response to a New York Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) investigation that revealed the overstating of weights on various prepackaged products in New York Whole Foods stores.
The CEOs conceded that due to the hands-on approach that the company takes for its food items, a small percentage of weighing errors may have affected the stores’ fresh products, including sandwiches, squeezed juices and hand-cut fruit. Robb stressed that the mistakes were understandable, while Mackey detailed steps that the company will take to fix the problem.
Whole Foods will retrain store employees nationwide, Mackey said, and the company will implement a third-party auditing system to ensure the correct weighing of food. Results of the audit will be made public in 45 days. Any item that a consumer believes is mispriced against their favor can notify a cashier and get the item for free.
The DCA claimed that its findings were indicative of a “systemic” overpricing problem. The investigation surfaced about a year after Whole Foods settled for $800,000 another overcharging case in California.
In May, the company also announced its plans to launch a new chain of low-cost stores designed to attract millennial consumers.
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