SAN DIEGO -- A recent survey by the San Diego County Department of Weights and Measures may have you paying closer attention to your items as they are being price-scanned.

The survey showed 25 percent of inspected stores in the county had pricing accuracy errors. The department said because of their limited manpower, consumers should be their own firs line of defense.

"Keep track of the charge you expect to pay, what it said, especially sale prices and then check your receipt at the register" said Bob Atkins, sealer of the County Department of Weights and Measures. "We can only do so much with our staff of three inspectors, so we have to rely on the consumer to do their part."

10News spoke to several local shoppers and told them about the county's findings. Most shoppers told 10News they still like the scanners.

"I think the scanners are great because mostly they will show you on the monitors what's coming up and you can see it; it's big enough print," said shopper Davee Kaplan.

It is a law that stores must have easy-to-read monitors that face the shopper when they check out. When asked about the rate of errors, Kaplan said, "Probably no more than when they didn't have scanners and people were plugging them in by hand."

Atkins urges consumers to speak with a store manager right away. He said stores would much rather deal with customers than the Department of Weights and Measures.

"Keep track of the charge you expect to pay, what it said, especially sale prices. Then check your receipt at the register," said Atkins.

If you have a problem with pricing errors at a store and you feel the store management isn't resolving the situation to your satisfaction, call the Department of Weights and Measures at 888-878-3722. To see a list of the stores that are the worst pricing error offenders, visit www.sdcounty.ca.gov/awm/violations_scanners.html.