What he said:

Spokesman Dan Fogleman said Monday evening that although he has no idea what Connecticut sales tax law is, his company is following it.

What his replacement would later say after the Connecticut AG asked him to please, try again:

“We thoroughly reviewed our practices and have taken steps to ensure that our associates are fully complying with Connecticut law when processing even exchanges,” [Wal-Mart spokeswoman] Ashley Hardie said in an e-mail.

I don’t know who this “Ashley Hardie” is, or what she did with my main man Dan, but I really don’t care for her “thorough reviews” or her guarantees that “steps are being taken” to insure compliance. In fact, I’d greatly appreciate it if she just started opening her mouth and letting the words flow, much like Dan used to do. Dan was so much more fun. Dan doesn’t know Connecticut law, but did Dan let that stop him? No. No he didn’t. Dan sat in Arkansas and spun tales of big, benevolent Wal-Mart spreading cheer and helping people afford Christmas, completely incapable of breaking any law known to man. And even if they did, he said, its Connecticut’s fault for having such CRAZY laws in the first place. Well, actually, that was Wal-Mart and not just Dan that said that:

Wal-Mart Stores even had posters behind courtesy desks blaming the state for its policy. “State law PROHIBITS Wal-Mart from refunding SALES TAX to any customer returning or exchanging merchandise without an original purchase receipt,” the “tax refund laws” posters said.

Unfortunately, that isn’t what the law says:

However, state tax laws clearly say the opposite, state Consumer Protection Commissioner Jerry Farrell Jr. said Wednesday in an interview explaining the out-of-court settlement he reached with Wal-Mart. State laws mandate that if a company has an exchange policy, it cannot charge a second sales tax on the new item. Wal-Mart’s website clearly says it has such an exchange policy.

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California Attorney General Jerry Brown - a former California Governor, CA Secretary of State, Mayor of Oakland, and President of the Patrick Stewart fan club - announced a settlement with Wal-Mart today in which the retailer was fined $1.4 million and ordered to implement a “get it free” program for California consumers. This after an investigation found that the store overcharged for numerous items at checkout.

Actually, the investigation and settlement announcement was a joint venture with San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, who has a much shorter but waaaaayyyyy more interesting Wikipedia entry than AG Brown. In fact, Dumanis, a Republican, is the first openly gay or lesbian District Attorney in the county, and the first Jewish woman to hold the post. Fancy that.

Anyway, back to the story we’re here to tell. Apparently, Investigators conducting random price-checking across the state found that 164 Wal-Mart Stores in 30 counties had made scanning errors. On average, customers who were overcharged paid an extra $8.40 at checkout.

Christine Gasparac, a spokeswoman for Brown, said state investigators concluded that “these were systemic problems,” not just run-of-the-mill mistakes.

“Systemic problems” might sounds bad to some, but one person’s systemic problems are another person’s financial opportunity. As the LA Times blog puts it - if Wal-Mart’s price scanners are wrong, you can make a quick $3. So the moral to this story - and every blog post I write today will have a moral - is to shop at Wal-Mart, cross your fingers that their registers go insane, and then collect a cool handful of George Washingtons.

Wal-Mart now promises to give back $3 to customers any time a pricing mistake is discovered. If the mispriced item sells for less than $3, you get it free. The refund program begins immediately and will last for four years, but it’s up to shoppers to spot any disparity between what a product is listed for on the shelf and what’s rung up by the price scanner.

The company was also ordered to pay $1.2 million in penalties; $190,621 to reimburse costs to numerous state agencies and prosecutors’ offices; and $50,000 to a consumer-protection prosecution trust fund.

Wal-Mart to pay $3 if price-scanning errors occur [Sacramento Bee]

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We blogged about this yesterday, what with the double taxation in Connecticut and the various state officials telling Wal-Mart to stop. Well, the Hartford Courant obtained a copy of CT AG Blumenthal’s letter to Wal-Mart, and here it is. A sampling:

Please review with your Connecticut stores whether they are complying with Connecticut law, and report back to me your findings. If they are not complying, please report to me how you intend to refund customers for sales tax erroneously charged, and how you intend to ensure that your store and employees comply with Connecticut law in the future.

I return, yet again, to my favorite quote from yesterday‘s article:

[Wal-Mart] spokesman Dan Fogelman said Monday evening that although he has no idea what Connecticut state tax law is, his company is following it.

Dan and Wal-Mart better do their homework…

Connecticut Attorney General letter to Wal-Mart

George Gombossy and the Hartford Courant continue to follow this issue, which has taken a turn in favor of the consumer. Numerous complaints made to the Courant caused both Governor Rell and Attorney General Blumenthal to take notice. The complaints were from consumers charging that major retailers have been violating state law by charging a second sales tax when merchandise paid for with cash is exchanged. Governor Rell ordered the state revenue department investigate the practice, and now AG Blumenthal has sent a letter to Wal-Mart telling the company’s general counsel in an oh-so-kindly way to please knock it off with the double taxation.

“Wal-Mart should refund any consumer who was denied a refund of sales tax on returned goods or charged a sales tax on even exchanges,” Blumenthal wrote to Sam Reeves, Wal-Mart’s division general counsel.

My favorite part of this story so far though has come from our good friend, Wal-Mart spokesman Dan Fogelman, who defended Wal-Mart’s policy.

Spokesman Dan Fogleman said Monday evening that although he has no idea what Connecticut sales tax law is, his company is following it.

That’s right - despite his cluelessness to the law and the company’s refusal to discuss why the accusations of so many customers are wrong, Fogelman can guarantee Wal-Mart is following state tax law to the tee. I love blanket statements with nothing to back them up.

Blumenthal Targets Wal-Mart on Sales Tax [Hartford Courant]