Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown has filed a lawsuit against the corporate owner of Albertsons, Safeway, and Haggen. He’s accusing the grocery chains of overcharging and being deceptive on their ‘buy one get one free’ (BOGO) deals. The owner, Albertsons Companies, operates 225 retail grocery stores across the state.
According to the complaint filed in King County Superior Court, the stores hike prices of certain products leading up to a BOGO promotion, overcharging customers who purchase in the interim and then lower the cost when the deal is done.
Brown says this practice makes consumers think they’re getting a second item free, but they’re just paying an inflated price for the first item.
“We’re not going to stand for people getting fleeced by these deceptive practices,” Brown said. “That’s why we’ve filed this case. We want to make sure we’re protecting people’s pocketbooks, and we all know that affordability is a major issue these days. We’ve got to push back when companies are misleading their customers.”
The complaint alleges that a Gig Harbor Albertsons once hiked the price of a bottle of olive oil to $10.99 for a BOGO promotion from $6.99 a week earlier, an increase of 57% and then returned it to its original price when the deal was finished.
From October 2019 to May 2024, the Attorney General claims stores overcharged Washington consumers on more than 3 million transactions.
This is not the first time the defendants have been accused of this practice in Washington. According to the Attorney General’s Office, the companies also settled a proposed class action case filed in 2023 in federal court related to deceptive BOGO promotions our state. KIRO 7 News has reached out to Albertsons Companies for comment on the lawsuit and is waiting to hear back.
©2026 Cox Media Group
