Customers of supermarket chain Delhaize have for months occasionally been paying for products they did not buy VRT’s consumer programme “WinWin” has discovered. The cause of the problem lies with Delhaize's checkout system. Customers who do not notice the error in time are sometimes paying up to tens of euros for products they never bought. Delhaize has apologised and says it is working on a solution.
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Delhaize admits charging customers 'ghost products' for months
Colin Clapson
Published:
When you scan or have certain branded products scanned at a Delhaize supermarket, a random extra product occasionally appears on your bill. The problem can crop up when a package has a data matrix printed on it in addition to the regular barcode. A data matrix is a small square code made up of blocks, which looks similar to the better-known QR code.
When you self-scan the codes or they are scanned at the checkout, Delhaize's system sometimes registers not only the real product, but also a random additional product. The software simultaneously links the data matrix to a random product from the range. That extra amount then appears on your ticket. If you or a checkout assistant fails to notice the problem, you may be paying dozens of euros more than you ought to. Proving afterwards that you did not buy something, but paid for it, is not obvious.
Delhaize: "We want to apologise"
At Delhaize, the company says it has known about the IT problem for some time. Although spokesman Roel Dekelver is keen to stress that it only concerns a limited number of cases.
'The problem is not easy to solve. We are trying to find a solution in various ways, but the key has to lie mainly in adjusting our own system. Our IT department is looking at how to get this small bug fixed as soon as possible. In the meantime, should things go wrong, we advise our customers to speak to a cashier immediately,' the spokesperson added.