About 18 percent of home-improvement stores failed a price-check sweep conducted by the Cuyahoga County Department of Consumer Affairs in anticipation of the summer home-improvements season. Most of the pricing errors found by the county’s Weights and Measures inspectors favored consumers.

The single highest overcharge was $2.74 for a paintbrush at a Sherwin-Williams store in University Heights, while the largest undercharge was $7.59 for a safety vest at Lowe’s Rocky River store.

“Consumers often rely on posted prices to make buying decisions,” said Sheryl Harris, Director of the county’s Department of Consumer Affairs, in a release. “By law, the prices posted on shelves and signs must match the prices that ring up at the register. Discrepancies mean someone – the store or the customer – is losing money.”

The department’s Weights and Measures inspectors checked posted prices of 975 items at 27 home-improvement and paint stores against the scanned prices – the prices that ring up at the register. Five stores failed the test, meaning they had more than the allowable number of errors.

Although the highest dollar error – the $7.59 undercharge – was found at Lowe’s Rocky River store, that store passed the test because all the other prices checked scanned correctly.

Inspectors require stores to immediately correct any errors. Stores that failed will be inspected again. Stores are never given advance notice of a Weights and Measures inspection.

Stores that failed the test are:

--Sherwin-Williams stores in University Heights (80 percent) and Woodmere (84 percent)
--Home Depot in Cleveland Heights (94 percent)
--Ace Hardware stores in Garfield Heights (88 percent) and Westlake (92 percent).

Stores that passed are:

--Ace Hardware stores in Independence (100 percent), Middleburg Heights (100 percent), North Royalton (100 percent), and Rocky River (100 percent).
--Home Depot stores in Brooklyn (100 percent), Euclid (98 percent), Highland Heights (100 percent), Maple Heights (98 percent), North Olmsted (100 percent), Rocky River (100 percent) and Strongsville (98 percent).
--Lowe’s in Bedford Heights (100 percent), Brooklyn (100 percent), Rocky River (98 percent) and Strongsville (98 percent).
--Sears in Parma (100 percent)
--Sherwin-Williams stores in Berea (100 percent), Fairview Park (100 percent), Mayfield Heights (100 percent), North Randall (100 percent), Parma (100 percent) and Shaker Heights (100 percent).

Contact the Cuyahoga County Department of Consumer Affairs at 216-443-7035 or visit their page if an advertised price rings up higher at the register or if a sale price isn’t reflected on your receipt.