Wrong weights on veggies at supermarket? FairPrice says ...
NTUC FairPrice is investigating whether some items at its Bukit Batok outlet have been mislabelled, possibly due to a faulty weighing machine.
In a letter published on The Straits Times website on Tuesday (Nov 10), reader Ng Chong Kee said that a broccoli he had purchased from the FairPrice outlet at Bukit Batok MRT station was 136g lighter than what was stated on the label.
According to Mr Ng, he paid $2.32 for the broccoli.
He had said the difference in weight would result in a lower price of $1.38 - a price difference of $0.94.
He said he informed his neighbour, who had also purchased items at the same FairPrice outlet.
The neighbour also had her items re-weighed (the information below is from the original letter):
1) carrots originally weighed 0.836kg and priced $1.59 (reweighed as 0.694kg and repriced at $1.32, difference: $0.27)
2) broccoli originally weighed 0.874kg and priced $6.03 (reweighed as 0.732kg and repriced at $5.05, difference: $0.98)
3) red chilli originally weighed 0.280kg and priced $1.45 (reweighed as 0.142kg and repriced at $0.74, difference: $0.71)
The weight difference would result in a total price difference of $1.96 for the three items.
When approached for comment, NTUC FairPrice told The New Paper it is "conducting a thorough investigation on this feedback together with our vendor and the authorities".
NTUC FairPrice's director of corporate communications, Mr Jonas Kor, apologised to the reader and said that all weighing scales are regularly verified for accuracy by a government certified vendor.
He also said unannounced checks are conducted on stores by authorities to ensure that the scales comply to industry standards and guidelines.
"To safeguard the interests of our customers we also have in place a policy where we will honour a full refund or exchange for products that have been inaccurately labelled," said Mr Kor.
"We assure our customers that providing accurate labels and information on our products is of paramount importance," said Mr Kor. "We apologise to Mr Ng and his neighbour for the inconvenience caused over this incident. We have in the meantime suspended the use of that particular weighing machine in the store."
Update
In a statement issued on Thursday (Nov 12), NTUC FairPrice said that they have completed their investigations Mr Ng's claim and found that the issue was isolated to one weighing machine at the FairPrice outlet at Bukit Batok MRT.
They found that the reason for the weighing error was due to a tray that was not aligned properly.
The error was rectified immediately.
Their records show that the affected weighing machine had recently been calibrated but they decided to send it to be re-checked and verified by the authorities.
We assure customers that no other scales in the store were affected. For added assurance, we have also instructed all our stores island wide to recheck their weighing scales and to re-weigh all produce to ensure accuracy. Additional measures have been implemented to ensure that such an error does not occur again. - Mr Jonas Kor, Director, Corporate Communications, NTUC FairPrice.
NTUC FairPrice said that customers who have purchased a product that is inaccurately labelled can exchange it or get a full refund.
If the customers have any feedback of enquiries, they can contact NTUC FairPrice at their customer relations hotline 6552-2722 or email them at general.feedback@fairprice.com.sg.
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