This guy plans to live for a whole year without spending any money at all. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Not a sausage. I dunno about you, but I reckon life’s way too short for such show-boating fugality. I don’t think its possible either, but we’ll see.
Quinn Heatlhcare were first out of the blocks with their 16 per cent price hike announced this morning. The VHI will follow shortly and it can’t be long before the insurer formerly known as Vivas comes up with their own increase.
Good times.
UPDATE, FRIDAY 12.20: Not to be outdone by their main rivals, the VHI has just announced its intention to up its prices by 23 per cent.
Sigh.
What is going on at Tesco? A number of readers have got in touch with us expressing concern at price hikes in the store in the run-up to Christmas. First up was Darragh from Rathfarnham. “Is it just me or has Tesco increased the price of a huge range of items in its stores over the past month or so?,” he asks.
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So, I had to ring Bank of Ireland today because my newly issued laser card was acting most peculiar and wasn’t being read by some atm machines. I explained the problem to the lady on the other end of the phone and she said a new card would be reissued and would be with my branch in three working days. Grand so, I said and was about to hang up when she said something along the lines of:
“Now, unfortunately Mr Pope, there will be charge of €5.90 attached to re-issuing the card and it will be taken directly out of your account but I am sure if you explain the situation to your branch they will credit the money back to your account.”
“Sorry, what? A Bank of Ireland card is faulty. And I have to pay the Bank of Ireland to re-issue it?”
Long pause. She then suggested she could fax the branch explaining the situation and asking them to waive the charge “considering the circumstances” but could offer nothing by way of guarantee that the charge would, in fact be waived.
I asked when the charge had been introduced as I’ve had to have the bank re-issue my cards on more than one occasion because I am very fond of losing my wallet and had never been hit with such a charge before.
Today.
How pleased am I to be amongst the first people hit with this ridiculous, spurious and – in this case, at least – completely unfair charge.
I know times are hard guys and your share price has completely tanked and the wolves are at the door but you’re not going to make things better by introducing charges like this.
Today the British government announced a 2.5 per cent VAT cut in an effort to stimulate the economy. The markets loved the move and saw their biggest one-day gain ever.
The perceived wisdom in the US, meanwhile, is that tax increases are a big no no during times of recession.
And in Ireland? Our Brian increased VAT rates and introduced new taxes (sorry, levies) in his budget in an effort to, er, stimulate I suppose, the economy. How’s that working out so far, I wonder?
It’s going to be a long recession.
WHILE IT MAY sound peculiar that people who contact the National Consumer Agency (NCA) to complain about rip-off prices have to fork out as much as €3.50 for a 10-minute call to one of its agents, that can be the case if the call is made using a mobile phone rather than a landline.
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Do you think people should shop locally “in the national interest”? Siptu does. For years we have been ripped off and charged 30, 40 or even 50 per cent more than people living in the US and the UK for exactly the same products and had little choice but to pay up. Now, that times are harder, Siptu, is trying to guilt people into rejecting the allure of New York and Newry and buy Irish this Christmas.
“We know how hard pressed families will find it to make ends meet in these particularly difficult economic circumstances and they will rightly be looking for value for money, Siptu’s Jack O’Connor said today. “Buying Irish this Christmas is in the national interest in a very definite economic sense as well as being patriotic,” he claimed. “The cost of not doing so is far greater than the short term benefit from any particular price differential.”
He joins the Lord Mayor of Dublin Eibhlin Byrne who recently urged people to “show civic patriotism and make a special effort to do some focused shopping in the city.”
Hmm, while obviously widespread job losses brought about by a massive transfer of business overseas would be disastrous, it’s hardly fair to expect hard-pressed consumers to continue to pay very high prices if bargains are to be easily found elsewhere. Surely the responsibility lies with retailers to drive prices down, even if it is as the expense of diminished profits in the short term?
MONDAY UPDATE irishtimes.com poll question today is asking: Do you think it is fair to ask consumers to forgo better value in the North or overseas in order to support the Republic’s retailers during the recession?
So far, the answer is a fairly comprehensive no…
The global economy might be collapsing faster than you can say “Bubble? What bubble?” but at least there are some good news stories out there. You just have to look very, very hard to find them.
And speaking of spam, has anyone else noticed a dramatic decline in the amount of the electronic stuff about the place of late? It’s all because of the shutdown of a major spam hosting network. The break won’t last long though. . . and the scammers will be back up and running by the weekend.
* Friday update (to please no-one but myself!) I’ve just re-read this post and realised I’d used the word apparently twice in the same sentence. Sory about that - I’ve taken both away now.
A reader from Dublin ordered a new battery for his Dell laptop computer earlier this summer using the company’s website. He waited and waited but nothing ever came. He first placed the order on June 18th and was given a delivery date of July 2nd.
However, on July 25th, he received an automatically generated e-mail from the company which said that it realised “just how long you have been waiting for your order - and we are endeavouring to deliver it to you as soon as possible”. It continued that “there has been a further delay at our suppliers which means you now have a new revised estimated delivery date”. The new date was set for August 11th, nearly two months after he had first placed the order.
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A lot is being asked of the dramatically unfestive 60ft “Christmas tree” which was unveiled on Dublin’s O’Connell Street last week. Made up of nearly 100,000 energy-efficient bulbs, the unorthodox tree was put in place weeks earlier than usual in order to get people in the mood for the festive splurge by running up credit card bills.
The tree was turned on by Lord Mayor Eibhlin Byrne. She called on Dubliners to do their civic duty by ignoring the allure of Newry or New York this year and spending whatever money they have in Dublin, despite the fact that it might not be the most competitively priced place in the world.
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I got this mail this morning. Apparently there’s a handy 800 grand waiting for me in a FedEx office in Ghana! But where’s the back story - where’s the bit about the diposed dictator and his suitcase of diamonds or the wealthy dowager dying of cancer? Sometimes I think these scam artists hearts aren’t really in it anymore. Yes, I’m talking to you Rev Cheese and Ms Yates Stephanie
“Greetings!
Your Confirmable Bank Draft of $800.000.00 United States Dollars has been deposited with FEDEX COURIER SERVICE, West Africa because you did not respond to my first email and I was traveling out of the country for a 3 Month Course and I will not come back till end of January so contact them. Contact Person: Rev Thomas Cheese Email Address: fedex147@live.com
Phone Numbers : +2348059324364
I have paid for the delivering Charges except their Security Keeping Fee of $305 which they said no because
they don’t know when you will contact them in case of demurrage. so you are to pay the $305 as soon as you
contact them. Finally, make sure that you reconfirm your Postal address() and Direct telephone number.
Yours Faithfully, Mrs.Yates Stephine”
The virulently anti-EU sections of the British media will no doubt be dismayed to learn that crooked, bent or twisted fruit and vegetables which is perfectly edible will be back on the menu across Europe. The carrot that the conservative press used to such affect to beat EU bureaucrats has been taken away from them “This marks the new dawn for the curvy cucumber and the nobbly carrot,” said EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel. “We simply don’t need to regulate this. In these days of high food prices and general economic difficulties, consumers should be able to choose from the widest range of products possible.”
The National Consumer Agency (NCA) recently announced that it had reached an agreement with many of the State’s 600 gyms encouraging (but not obliging) them to be a little more transparent when it comes to taking our money.
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I reviewed cordless drills for Pricewatch this week and scored one from a company called Rok highly, based largely on the fact that it was half the price of brands whose names I recognised and it seemed, to my admittedly amateur eye, to be grand when it came to drilling and screwdriving (I’m not sure if screwdriving is a verb but using it helps to avoid double entendres) . Anyhoos, I said I’d given it a good score on the Ray Darcy Show on Monday morning and a torrent of abusive text messages from the nation’s builders came flooding in. Apparently, the Rok drill is terrible and now I am terrible for thinking it was okay.
Sigh.
Ah, rumours. A meeting of Dunnes Stores store managers is to take place today to discuss sale of company. The Wal-Mart owned British chain, Asda, are apparently in the process of carrying out due diligence on the company ahead of the announcement.
Oh no, wait.
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For the day that’s in it, I thought a little catch up might be a good idea! The US presidential campaign in a minute, the makers of this clip claim despite the fact that it’s actually a minute and 40 seconds. Still pretty good, mind you.
THE DIGITAL TELEVISION buzz is getting louder. The trials have been completed and the switchover from analogue will get underway in earnest in Ireland next year. It has been described as a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” that will not only improve television picture quality, but the quality of our lives by bringing high-speed broadband access to all and delivering a range of new and as yet unimagined technical wonders into our homes.
There are, however, unanswered questions. Three-quarters of Irish homes already have access to digital television through UPC or Sky Television, so one in four consumers will need a set-top decoder to convert the digital signal into high-quality pictures and sound. The decoders will come at a cost, and while it has yet to be determined what that will be, people are unlikely to have much change out of €100.
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Daryl Hanberry had a rental experience last weekend, which he says, “knocked me for six”. He says he has recently moved back to “the rip-off Republic from Northern Ireland” and, as he had one or two things to move with him, he looked into hiring a van.
“Enterprise in Dublin would hire me a medium van (Vivaro or equivalent) for around €135 for 24 hours,” he writes. “However, Enterprise in Belfast would allow me to hire an identical van for just under £45 (approx €56). That’s almost 60 per cent cheaper. Unbelievable.”
He is also convinced that people in the Republic are “beginning to realise the value to be had in Northern Ireland, as when I was driving down from Belfast , the traffic going north on Bank Holiday Monday from the Republic resembled the M50 at rush hour pre-barrier-free tolling.”
A reader identifying himself only as “Niall” came across an astonishing price for a hotel room in Dublin next June. The hotel is the Jurys opposite Croke Park and the date is Saturday, June 13th. And the price of the room? €450 for the night.
The reason the price is so high is because last Tuesday, Take That announced that they would be playing at Croke Park on that date - tickets are going on sale on Thursday.
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Ryanair is to announce details of its transatlantic flight plans in the morning. Apparently the starting prices for the flights out of Dublin and Stanstead, schedulded to depart from next year, will be a tenner, which, if it turns out to be true, will be absolutely amazing.
