Attention shoppers: Overcharged for an item at checkout? You might be able to get it for free

Planning to spend big this holiday season after last year's lockdowns? It pays to check your bill before leaving the store. 

Not only might you catch a mistake, but if you were overcharged for an item, you may also be able to get it for free or at a discount.

More than 7,000 retail stores in Canada — including many large chains — are members of the voluntary Scanner Price Accuracy Code.

Managed by the Retail Council of Canada (RCC), the code mandates that when shoppers are overcharged for certain items scanned at checkout, they're entitled to compensation.

"I love it," said Roxanne Joshua, of Newcastle, Ont., who learned about the code more than a decade ago. Over the years, she says she's been compensated about 150 times after catching pricing errors at the till.

"It's great for a couple of reasons," she said. "One, obviously, I get free items or discounted items. But two, it also keeps the stores accountable."

Canada's Price Accuracy Scanner Code has been around for nearly two decades, however, many shoppers still don't know about it. The code was created in 2002 by retail organizations to foster consumer confidence as stores began to adopt scanning devices at checkout.

"There was an element of lack of trust of machines reading barcodes," said Greg Wilson, the Retail Council of Canada's director of government relations in B.C.

The code applies to participating retailers across the country, except in Quebec, which has provincial laws covering retail pricing errors. 

Here's how the code works: When a customer alerts the retailer that the price of an item scanned at checkout is higher than the advertised price, participating retailers must honour the lower price. 

On top of that, if the item costs more than $10, the customer gets a $10 discount. If the item costs less than $10, the customer gets the item for free. 

On Monday, Karen Mellow, of Leamington, Ont., purchased a Roku streaming device at Best Buy. The advertised price in the store was $44.99, she said, however, when the cashier scanned the item at checkout, she was charged $64.99. 

When Mellow pointed out the error and mentioned the code — of which the store is a member — she said she was charged the lower price and got the $10 discount.

"Instead of $65, I paid $35," she said. "[The code], to me, ensures a retailer is trying to be honest."