Reports of water price gouging

WESTON, Mass. -- The Attorney General's office has received 99 phone calls from people who thought they may have been victims of water price gouging.

Sandy Kane says her 22-year-old son was charged six times more than he should have been for a case of water at the Somerville Market Basket on Saturday night.

"Frustrated, aggravated, it isn't right," Kane said.

Instead of the $3.99 sale price, her son was charged $23.76 for a 24-pack of bottled water. The Kane family has since contacted the Attorney General's office.

The store says the Kane's claims are false.

Another phone call came from Mayor Menino's driver, who was charged $16.00 for a pack of water that contained 32 individual bottles at a Tedeschi's in Hyde Park. The mayor's office says a case like that should only cost $9.99.

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The store's owner, however, said he was just trying to help the community. The store does not usually sell cases, but he said so many customers had come in asking for cases that employees at the store took individual bottles and made the cases themselves.

He went on to say that if anyone who purchased water there feels they were overcharged, to please come in and talk with him.

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