A COSTCO customer was left baffled and frustrated after a checkout accident.
Costco charged a man an incorrect rate of sales tax in late July at its Edison, New Jersey branch.
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What seemed like a simple purchase turned into a tax law lesson when Clark resident Ashit Mehta discovered he had been overcharged for his items by NJ.com.
Mehta purchased three sets of lamps, priced at $2.99 each, after a generous $7 discount per pack, along with a pair of jogging pants for $10.99, after a $3 discount .
However, upon receiving the receipt, Mehta noticed a mistaken charge: a $1.99 sales tax had been charged on the full price of the bulbs, not the discounted price he paid.
Mehta incurred a $1.99 tax charge on the original price of the bulbs, $29.97, instead of the correct amount of 59 cents based on the discounted price of $8.97.
Consequently, Costco owes you a refund of $1.46.
According to state law, sales tax should only be applied to the amount a customer pays for a product, especially when discounts are involved.
In Mehta’s case, where coupons were not used, the tax should have been calculated on the basis of the discounted price and not the initial price.
Taxes must reflect the actual amount collected by the seller, in accordance with the New Jersey Division of Taxation.
If the customer uses the manufacturer’s coupon, taxes are applied to the total price, as it is the total amount received by the seller.
However, in scenarios like Mehta’s, where items are purchased at a discount without using a coupon, taxes only apply to the discounted price.
Costco’s oversight resulted in an incorrect tax bill, rightfully leaving Mehta unhappy.
Seeking recourse, Mehta approached the store manager, but was directed to the company.
Mehta added that the manager cited that “he has no control over how the tax is calculated”.
Despite completing an online application complaint with Costco, Mehta’s attempts to rectify the situation remained unanswered.
“Costco is cheating the customer and sucking our money,” Mehta said.
Costco Return Policy
What are the details of the famous return policy?
“We guarantee your satisfaction with every product we sell and will refund the purchase price,” said the return policy States.
There are some exceptions to this 100% satisfaction guarantee, which are:
- Electronics – Returns will be accepted within 90 days from the date the member received the product.
- Diamonds – 1.00 ct or larger must be returned with all original documentation within 48 hours and will be inspected for authenticity.
- Cigarettes and alcoholic beverages – These items cannot be returned by law.
- Items with a limited life expectancy, such as batteries and tires, cannot be returned.
- Special order kiosk and custom installed programs may only be returned or refunded if under warranty repair/replacement.
- Gold bars, silver bars and coins are non-refundable.
- Store Cards are non-refundable.
- Airline and live performance event items are non-refundable.
Costco memberships can be canceled and refunded at any time if the customer is dissatisfied.
“How can be?”
CORPORATE CALL
In Mehta’s case, Joe Moore, vice president of the company’s corporate tax department, said the company implements robust processes to ensure accurate sales tax collection.
“It appears that with this member’s purchase, our product signage at the time did not alert our members that the discount was funded by a third party, resulting in them being overtaxed,” he told the outlet. in an email.
NJ.com also reported that Moore did not respond to a subsequent inquiry into the correlation between product signage and the store’s registration program for sales tax charges.
“While state regulations require consumers to seek tax overpayment refunds directly from the state and not the retailer,” Moore said of the $1.46 owed to Mehta, “Costco will issue tax overpayment refunds to this member and all other similarly affected members. “
Meanwhile, Costco shoppers are frustrated with product prices.
A Costco customer chose to end his membership and transition to Sam’s Club because of a big perk.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
