Kirk Bennett had just finished shopping at a grocery store in an on-island Montreal suburb when he noticed something off on his receipt.
He had a 62-cent charge for “PC CHARITY” from the Maxi grocery store in Dorval, Que., and he said the cashier never asked him if he wanted to make a donation.
“We were kind of dismayed at that,” he said. “We thought at least they should ask.”
It’s not a lot of money, he acknowledged, but it’s the principle.
CBC News spoke to a dozen Maxi shoppers on Friday in the Montreal borough of LaSalle. Only one said their bill had been rounded up for a charity donation. In this case, it was six cents. The rest said it has never happened without asking.
But CBC has spoken to other shoppers who had the same experience as Bennett at Dorval’s Maxi in recent weeks.
Several people have taken to social media to complain about small charges that they didn’t agree to, often a dollar or less. People tend to agree it’s not about the amount but the principle and, they say, it could add up over time.
In a statement, Maxi’s parent company Loblaw admitted there have been reports about unauthorized donations on some customers’ bills during their current fundraising campaign for President’s Choice Children’s Charity.
However, the company calls these cases isolated incidents as its standard practice is to ask customers if they’d like to donate.
“We learned early in the campaign there was a system issue and potential for human error, where some customers were automatically charged,” the company says in an emailed statement.
“We immediately fixed the issue, retrained our store teams and corrected the process.”
Expressing regret, Loblaw says customers who were charged without permission can contact the service team for a refund if one wasn’t automatically issued.
Option consommateurs, a non-profit consumer advocacy group, advises people who have been charged to head back to the store and ask for a refund and that people could even go as far as opening a file in small claims court, assuming the charge is worth the trouble.
Sylvie de Bellefeuille, a lawyer with the organization, said a retailer cannot charge more than the advertised price. To charge someone like this, it would need to be very clear when customers enter the store that they should expect an extra charge.
“The first thing to do would be talk to the grocery manager,” said de Bellefeuille, noting the next step is to contact the Office de la protection du consommateur, which is responsible for enforcing these laws in Quebec.
Taking a retailer to court may be considered if there’s evidence overcharging has been a regular practice for some time, she said.
“It really depends on the situation,” she said.
As for Bennett, he’s keeping an eye on his receipts and even considering shopping elsewhere.
“We will always watch our bill very closely at Maxi,” he said.