Did you buy bread from Loblaw’s between 2001 and 2015? You may qualify for a cash rebate from the supermarket giant. There’s a new $500 million fund to compensate customers who may have paid more than $1.50 a loaf too much…
The $25 special rebate card Loblaw’s gave out previously, to assuage consumers after
the bread price fixing scandal initially broke. NOT the same as a ‘cash refund’.
Loblaw’s settled a pair of class action lawsuits last week, both connected with its previous guilty plea to bread price fixing. other major major supermarket chains and a major bread maker were also charged. Canada bread has also plead guilty and paid a $50 million fine. Loblaw’s got off on criminal charges in return for a promise to cooperate with the Canadian Competition Bureau investigation.
But Loblaw’s and its parent company, Weston Ltd., have now jointly agreed to rebate customers who were ripped off.
How do you apply?
Millions of Canadians could be in line for a rebate. But the nuts and bolts of the payout program are far from finalized. How do you manage a financial operation of that magnitude. The logistics involved in printing and mailing such a volume of cheques are already well refined – by governments and banks who have been communicating with constituents and customers. The problems and questions reside in the way Loblaw’s proposes to handle your rebate request.
The chain previously paid out more than $96 million in rebates using special cards, which worked like prepaid credit cards. But those could only be used at Loblaw’s, when paying for your latest grocery run. This time. I’m betting many Canadians will not settle for simply ‘giving Loblaw’s back their own money’ in return for sort-of-discounted groceries.
Yes, the ‘special card’ plan would have value for consumers. But it benefits Loblaw’s more, because it significantly minimizes the company’s actual outlay. The company wouldn’t really be paying out any-thing like the full $500 million, cash. So… Would they, then, be breaching the terms of the agreement?
My take
I wonder what the small print in the agreement specifies about the nuts and bolts of the payout?
Let’s all keep an eye on the details of the settlement pay-out, as they emerge over the coming weeks and months.
I hope some watchdog – I nominate the r/loblawsisoutofcontrol Reddit group – takes up the challenge of keeping Loblaw’s on the straight and narrow with respect to the legally-mandated $500 million rebate payout…
~ Maggie J.