More than 2,000 reports of price gouging in Florida ahead of Hurricane Dorian

Thousands of reports of suspected price gouging in Florida ahead of Hurricane Dorian, including a man paying $10 per gallon for gas and a pack of bottled water selling for $18

• Florida residents are stocking up on goods and gas with the hurricane inbound
• State law prevents price gouging but there have been 2,100 reported instances
• One gas station sold gasoline for $9.99/gallon but claimed it was a mistake 
• Another report saw 24-pack of water being sold for $17.69 as opposed to $6.00 
• State’s Governor has introduced a NO SCAM app for people to report injustices 

By James Gordon For Dailymail.com

Published: 23:55 BST, 2 September 2019 | Updated: 00:06 BST, 3 September 2019

As Hurricane Dorian draws ‘dangerously close’ to the Florida coastline, a number of businesses appear to be taking advantage of the situation and attempting to price gouge customers who have no other option but to pay up.

There have been more than 2,100 reports of such underhand tactics since the state’s Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency last week.

Almost 30 percent of the complaints were submitted via a new ‘NO SCAM’ app, which allows consumers to submit a complaint almost immediately complete with photographic evidence.

Florida residents are stocking up on goods and gas with the hurricane close by

One station sold gas for $9.99/gallon but claimed it to be a mistake and refunded the price hike

Another report saw 24-pack of water being sold for $17.69 as opposed to $6.00

‘I hope you never need it,’ Attorney General Ashley Moody says on the app’s ‘about’ message. ‘But in case you find yourself in a state of emergency, this app will provide you the tools necessary to quickly and effectively report alleged gouging.’

Initially, most of the complaints received by the state’s Attorney General revolved around the price of water and gas but now as residents are forced to evacuate there is a concern over the price of hotel rooms.

One woman told how she saw a 24-pack of water at a wholesale store being sold for $17.69 in Orlando – something that would normally cost about $6.00.

Another complaint came from Robert Shoemaker in St. Petersburg who was charged $9.99 per gallon for premium gas at a Wawa.

Normally, anything priced about $2.39 for a gallon would be deemed excessive. 

Shoemaker told 10Investigates that he was in a hurry, pulled up to the tank, saw that they only had premium and began pumping. He later realized he was paying almost $10-a-gallon. 

Ashley Moody, Florida’s Attorney General the NO SCAM app is for people to report injustices

Almost 30 per cent of the 2,100 complaints were submitted via a new ‘NO SCAM’ app which allows consumers to submit a complaint almost immediately

‘When we learned that a manual error at a few of our pumps temporarily showed a higher price, we found the error, immediately corrected it, identified approximately 13 customers who were impacted by it and are reaching out to each one of them to issue full refunds,’ said Wawa company Spokesperson Lori Bruce.

Bruce said all 192 Florida stores have been notified to review proper procedures.

Shoemaker was reimbursed all of his money but has still filed a complaint with Attorney General Ashley Moody’s price gouging hotline. 

It is illegal for businesses to excessively hike the price of essentials like food, gas, water and hotel rooms during a declared emergency.

‘When there are bad actors, we’re responding and will hold businesses accountable. They need to know that,’ said Florida Attorney General Moody to WTPS.

Businesses who flout the law could face $1,000 fines for each violation as well as a  2nd-degree misdemeanor.   

Customers seeing excessive pricing are advised to take pictures and either call the Attorney General’s Price Gouging Hotline at 866-9-NO-SCAM or upload all information on the AG’s ‘NO SCAM’ app.  

:

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk