Best Buy accused of price gouging on bottled water

Hurricane Harvey has left hundreds of disgruntled consumers in its wake, who have lodged complaints of price gouging, Grit Post reported.

''The Office of the Attorney General currently has received 550 complaints and 225 emails sent to an emergency address set up for consumers, and more are coming in pretty consistently,'' Kayleigh Lovvorn, a media relations official at the Texas attorney general, told Grit Post. ''We expect more complaints in the wake of the storm regarding home repair and construction fraud/price gouging.''

''We have received complaints from consumers as well as some of our employees and investigators in the area concerning price gouging happening with hotels, grocers, fuel providers and (most frequently) fresh water. Unfortunately, price gouging like this can be common following natural disasters,'' she continued.

Texas attorney general Ken Paxton told Fox News that while a normal perpetrator of price gouging would be slapped a $20,000 fine, anyone who overcharges a senior citizen on necessary goods will face a fine of $250,000.

Paxton tweeted: "If you gouge somebody that's over 65 the [fine] is up to $250,000."

Houston resident John McGovern told Grit Post that a Best Buy on Highway 290 in Cypress was selling packs of bottled water for $42.96 each.

According to some commentators, apart from being illegal, it looked like a display of heartless money-grabbing at a time when people were about to lose their homes, their possessions and even their lives during Hurricane Harvey.

Best Buy told media website CNet commentator Chris Matyszczyk that this happened at one specific Houston-area store on just that one day.

A Best Buy spokesman said, "This was a big mistake on the part of a few employees."

The retailer said it did not normally sell packs of water, which made the way this Best Buy tried to achieve a bulk sale somewhat more painful, Matyszczyk commented.