Call Kurtis

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) ― We've learned the price is not always right at some big name chains. A search of public records and our hidden camera investigation reveals a pattern of overcharges at Sacramento Valley Kohl's stores.

"Do you trust they're giving you the right price", Kurtis asked a Kohl's shopper. "I'm going to say yes".

But should you? Each county's Department of Weights and Measures inspects price scanners at stores. It's their job to keep stores honest. In county's like Sacramento, Stanislaus, Placer and Solano counties inspectors drop in unannounced and randomly pick products to see if they ring up correctly.

We searched Sacramento County's inspection reports from 2008 which reveal some stores have problems.

Kohl's failed inspection after inspection after inspection.

"It tells me, they don't care," David Lazier of Sacramento County Weights and Measures told Kurtis. He says it shows, "their business model, their business practice (that) sloppiness is okay".

The Kohl's store in Elk Grove failed it's September inspection. The report shows inspectors were charged $44.99 for a set of sheets supposed to be $22.49. It also shows a jacket on sale for $50, rung up $69.99. Inspections reports reveal the Kohl's in Natomas has also overcharged customers, as did a location in Modesto. The store on Antelope Boulevard in Sacramento County failed two inspections in 2008.

The first person Kurtis could find outside the Kohl's Antelope store said she's been overcharged. "It's happened a lot, at least five or six times".

Sacramento County fined Kohl's stores more than $2000 last year, but Lazier says the department store hasn't fixed the problem.

"The information they gave us is we were too busy to get around to get that taken care of, well that's not the consumers problem, that's store management problem," Lazier told Kurtis.

We wanted to know if it was still happening, so we sent in two secret shoppers into the Antelope store with a hidden camera. They randomly picked fifty items and went to the register. When they came out, we compared what they bought with their receipt, and found one overcharge. Our secret shoppers paid $19.99 for a maternity shirt on sale for $18.

When photojournalist Mike Lowry and myself went inside to talk with the store manager about it, we were quickly escorted out. A polite employee told Kurtis, "I'm not allowed to comment on that unfortunately," and asked the photographer, "can you get the camera out of my face, please?" The employee asked us to wait outside until he could give us a corporate phone number to call. That's when we ran into Barbara Blake.

"I was almost overcharged," the senior said as she showed Kurtis the shoes she just bought.

She was almost overcharged on the only item she bought this day. The box says $59.99. It came up $64.99. She caught it.

"I don't like it at all, that makes me mad," said Blake.

Kohl's is now on the radar. The District Attorney's office could go after them. It's exactly what happened to Wal Mart. After finding scanning errors at 164 stores across California, the state went after the discount chain. Wal Mart paid $1.4 million in fines and restitution and agreed to give customers three dollars whenever there's a pricing error.

Remember that phone number the store told us to call. We called it over and over and over again. For more than a month, we've asked for an explanation. To date, Kohl's has said absolutely nothing about the overcharges.

"Stop ripping people off," Blake told Kurtis.

We've been told, Sacramento County Weights and Measures has handed over their reports to the District Attorney's office for review. It's unclear if they're pursuing a case against Kohl's. If you've been overcharged, you can complain to your county's Department of Weights and Measures.

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