Major Grocery Chain in Illinois Accused of Overcharging

If the accusations are true, this could spell big trouble for a major grocery chain that has 24 locations in Illinois that has just been accused of overcharging by a major national site.

Nearly everyone has signed up for a grocery store membership card that offers "bargains" to shoppers. I am not aware of any Illinois grocery stores that don't have some kind of loyalty or membership program. Consumer Reports has just laid down some serious allegations about one major chain saying they've discovered unfairness in how it treats its members.

What Illinois grocery store chain has been called out by Consumer Reports?

They have accused Kroger of creating secret member profiles that attempt to assess a customer's income level. It allegedly tries to determine if you are really loyal to Kroger and if you would be likely to purchase "premium brands". Their research has determined "a shopper deemed to have less education or with a lower income, for example, could end up getting fewer of Kroger’s best discounts". Part of the problem is these profiles are apparently not always accurate.

I checked Kroger's store locator and they currently have 24 places in Illinois. Consumer Reports goes on to say that they had a different investigation that found some shoppers at Kroger in Illinois had paid full price for items that were advertised to be on sale. The investigation is worth a full read as there are other details about customer data being sold, too.

It will be interesting to see if Kroger responds to these allegations and can clarify if Customer Reports investigation is accurate or if there is another explanation. If nothing else, it should inspire all Illinois grocery shoppers to pay more attention to their items being rung up at checkout to make sure they're getting the prices they should.