Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP) said some of the price lists at eateries were in Chinese and some were not updated with new prices.

CAP president SM Mohamed Idris said repeated surveys on the island showed many eateries were blatantly flouting the Price Control Act 1946/1973.

Idris said it was even more appalling that some put their price lists a far distance away from the counter, ostensibly to prevent customers from being aware of the exact prices of the food they purchased.

“Generally, consumers are often overcharged in these cases and they have no price list to fall back on to argue about the charges on their bill,” he said in a statement here today.

According to CAP’s study, of the 85 food stalls surveyed, 28 did not display their prices. Out of 20 restaurants checked, eight were found to have no proper price lists.

Idris said sundry shops, computer-parts shops and car-parts shops were equally guilty of price list violations.

He said computer-parts shops seemed to be openly defying the price tag rule with at least half of 10 shops visited having no proper display of prices.

Idris said for car-parts shops, three out of 10 did not show price lists.

As for sundry shops, he said six of the 15 visited did not have proper price tags.

Idris said consumers, too, were too trusting of the traders by not demanding to know the prices of the goods they purchased.

He said the government strictly enforced the price tag ruling at all shops.

“The onus is on the seller to keep the buyers informed of the prices. The lack of enforcement has hindered the effectiveness of the law.

“In view of this, CAP calls on the domestic trade, cooperatives and consumerism ministry to conduct a nationwide check for price tag compliance.”