Some claiming stores hiked up prices before Irene

BALTIMORE - You heard the warnings everywhere last week, telling you to stock up on bottled water, batteries and ice because Irene was on her way. But some think the high demand gave stores a chance to gouge customers and because Maryland is missing an important law, some believe it's possible.

In times of crisis, a grocery cart is the first thing you cling to. But chances are as you cruise the store aisles, you're not keeping an eye on costs. Towson’s Karen Starliper knows why. She explains, "When you're seeing Hurricane Irene barreling down the coast, you're not thinking let me pop over to a different store and see if I can get a better price."

And with little time to comparison shop, some feel it's easy to get gouged. Starliper says she felt it while shopping last week. Two days before Irene, she says she bought snacks and supplies for a relief effort. The next day, she says she saw the same items, with a higher price, "I did a little double take and looked and they were $8.88 for the same chips in the same location in the same featured area. So it's not even 24 hours later and there's a $2 increase."

Karen's not alone. One angry ABC2 viewer posted a picture of cases of water at a local Kmart. They were priced at $11.99, much higher than what other stores were offering. The stores manager says they can’t change pricing at the local level and that that’s the typical price for a case of that brand of water, but we found it selling for far less at other stores.

Stories like that angered Rosedale’s Judy Muskauski, who tells ABC2, "A real person with strong morals will give you their last gallon of water rather than charge you triple for it."

Muskauski was so outraged by pre-Irene price gouging; she went to the Maryland Attorney General. Assistant Attorney General Karen Straughn says their office is fielding complaints about people being overcharged. But instead of the gas gouging they’ve heard before, this time people are complaining about being overcharged for things like water, dry ice and snacks. Straughn says, "They're not paying it because they want to pay it. They're paying it because they're forced to pay it and that's not what should be happening."

If you feel you've been ripped off, Straughn says the AG’s office can help you get money back through mediation with the business. But they can't fully crack down on crisis capitalists because Maryland has no laws on price gouging. Bills tackling the issue have been pitched in the Maryland legislature as recently as 2009 by State Senator Catherine Pugh, but no gouging legislation has survived.
Still, Straughn says they can try to help in other ways, “There are ways we can attack it. It just would be a lot better and easier if we had a price gouging statute."

But until that happens, shoppers like Muskauski and Starliper say they'll loudly spread the word about stores they feel are overcharging, taking to social networking to scream shame on you. Muskauski says, “It’ll be in all caps, big bold letters. Absolutely. Shame on you is putting it mildly."

If you want to report price gouging, call the Attorney General’s Hotline at 410-528-8662.