This does not necessarily point to a faulty meter. Snow is a difficult subject, and with black-and-white film the result depends on the whole Zone System workflow: film speed calibration, development, and printing—not just the spot reading.

A spot meter reads whatever you point it at as a midtone unless you deliberately place it on a higher zone. In practice, many photographers give bright snow extra exposure compensation relative to the meter reading—one community answer suggests about +2 1/3 stops (for example by rating the film at ISO/5) and then exposing from the snow reading.

If your negatives are consistently too dense when placing snow on Zone VIII, the most likely issue is calibration of your personal film speed/development/printing process rather than snow requiring automatic underdevelopment every time. The Zone System assumes a standardized, tested workflow that produces printable negatives with minimal burning and dodging.

So: meter clean snow carefully, place it consistently, and test your film speed and development for your process. Snow itself is not trivial, but repeated over-dense highlights usually suggest your system needs calibration more than your meter is broken.