Best Buy (BBY) has apologized after a viral photo taken at one of its stores in Houston appeared to show a case of water selling for $42 during Hurricane Harvey.
The photo, which was posted to Twitter Tuesday, showed 24-packs of bottled water selling for $42.96 and led to accusations the store was price gouging in the wake of extensive flooding and destruction wrought by the storm, CNBC reports.
The electronics retailer said the signage was a mistake made by some of their employees. According to Best Buy, the pricing error came about because the company doesn’t usually sell bottled water in bulk.
“This was a big mistake on the part of a few employees at one store on Friday,” a Best Buy spokesperson told CNBC. “As a company we are focused on helping, not hurting affected people. We’re sorry and it won’t happen again. Not as an excuse but as an explanation, we don’t typically sell cases of water. The mistake was made when employees priced a case of water using the single-bottle price for each bottle in the case.”
Since Hurricane Harvey made landfall on Friday, it has brought with it record amounts of rain and caused billions of dollars in damage. There have been 17 confirmed deaths and tens of thousands of people have had to flee as severe flooding deluges homes.
