Woolworths shopper is shocked after she was charged $855 for half a leg of ham

Shopper is shocked after she was charged $855 for half a leg of ham at Woolworths – but gets to take it home for FREE thanks to a loophole

  • An Australian shopper has walked away from Woolworths with a free leg of ham 
  • Jenny, from ACT, was charged whopping $855.76 instead of its retail price of $57
  • After employee rectified the error, she took the ham home without paying a cent 
  • Customers are entitled to a free product if the item scans at an incorrect price 


A shopper has walked away from Woolworths with a leg of ham for free after she was charged a whopping $855.76 instead of its retail price of $57.

Jenny, from ACT, was scanning her grocery items at a self-serve checkout when the eye-watering price of the half a leg of ham popped up on her screen.

After an employee rectified the error, she was given the ham at no charge because the item scanned at a higher price than what was advertised on the label.

Under the supermarket giant’s ‘Scanning Code of Practice’, customers are entitled to receive an item free of charge if the scanned price of an item is greater than the shelf price displayed.

A shopper has revealed how she walked away from Woolworths with a free leg of ham after she was charged a whopping $855.76 instead of its retail price of $57

The shopper couldn't believe her luck after she was able to take the ham home for free

The shopper couldn’t believe her luck after she was able to take the ham home for free

‘Wow that’s an expensive ham,’ she wrote in a Facebook group, laughing. 

‘I didn’t pay for it. I called them over, they took it off and they gave it to me for free… $57 was the price.’

A Woolworths spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia: ‘We take pride in offering our customers a great experience in our stores, and we’re glad our team were able to resolve this for the customer on the spot.

‘Technical errors such as this are rare, and we’re looking into what may have caused this.

‘We apologised to the customer for the inconvenience caused by this error and have received no similar reports at this time.’

Under Woolworths' Scanning Code of Practice, customers are entitled to receive an item free of charge if the scanned price of an item is greater than the shelf price displayed

Under Woolworths’ Scanning Code of Practice, customers are entitled to receive an item free of charge if the scanned price of an item is greater than the shelf price displayed

After sharing her post on social media, many applauded her for scoring a freebie, while others saw the funny side to the pricing error. 

‘For that price, I bet it was a Peppa Pig,’ one wrote, while another joked: ‘For that price, you’d wanna make sure it’s a daddy pig.’

One added: ‘The price is approximately 105 kilos worth of ham,’ while another said: ‘Does it have a gold bone?’

Many asked whether the shopper had to pay for the item first to be entitled for the free ham, with one saying: ‘It’s free if you paid for it. They would have had to refund you the whole $855.76.’

However, a supermarket employee confirmed this was not the case, saying: ‘We have been trained, it shouldn’t matter if paid or not, it should be a free item.’

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