Gas stations, hotels top Helene price-gouging list

Complaints included exorbitant hotel rates, inflated gas prices and high charges for convenience store items

The following article appeared in the October 2, 2024, edition of The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with smart and original local news for Charlotte. We offer free and paid subscription plans. More info here.

---

Complaints include $1,500 for a night at a Super 8; $40 for water, chips and a Slim Jim, records show

Hotels and gas stations were among the biggest targets of price-gouging complaints as last week’s storm blew through Western North Carolina, according to a Charlotte Ledger analysis of data from the N.C. attorney general’s office.

The state provided details on 61 complaints related to Hurricane Helene filed between Friday and Monday — many involving businesses in the counties near the rural mountain areas that were hardest hit.

Residents gave the state examples of jacked-up rates on hotel rooms, surging prices of gas and higher-than-usual charges for snacks at convenience stores. A Cornelius resident even filed a complaint about I-77 Mobility Partners, which operates the toll lanes between uptown and northern Mecklenburg, alleging that the toll prices were five times higher than usual with I-40 closed and traffic redirected to I-77.

Some of the other examples of complaints filed with the state: