$99 for H2O, other gouges add to misery
TALK ABOUT adding insult to injury.
Evacuees left stranded after their lives were upended by Harvey are getting slammed with unscrupulous price gouging, prompting a warning from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for consumers to “be on your guard” for overinflated costs for necessities.
“We’ve seen water up to $99 — for a case of water,” he told ABC News. “We’ve seen fuel prices up to $20 a gallon. We’ve seen hotels jack prices up sometimes six, seven times what they should be charging from their normal rate.”
A Best Buy, one of many companies that came under fire for upping their prices, issued an apology for charging $42 for a case of Dasani water in suburban Cypress.
A store representative told Business Insider that the price hike was a “big mistake,” adding that Best Buy did not typically sell water. An employee priced it by multiplying the price of a single bottle of water, the spokesman said.
“As a company, we are focused on helping, not hurting affected people,” the statement reads. “We’re sorry, and it won’t happen again.”
A Best Western hotel in Corpus Christi was similarly slammed for tripling its prices during the storm.
And loaves of bread were reportedly selling for $15 and fuel for $100 a gallon.
Paxton encouraged consumers to file a complaint in such instances.
“We’re looking at prices over the last three months,” he said. “And if you’ve increased those prices by more than 10%, we’re going to look at it.”
The attorney general added that he’s received more than 500 complaints and 225 emails about such scams and expects plenty more.