Pricewatch

  • Are product claims true?

    October 27, 2009 @ 12:18 pm | by Conor Pope

    Over the last decade so many foods have promised to heighten our brain function, lower our cholesterol, raise our fibre levels, flush our arteries clean, steady our blood pressure, boost our immunity, toughen up our bones and our teeth, and help us develop razor-sharp concentration that it’s a wonder we still need doctors.

    Manufacturers of high calorie products loaded with refined sugars can slap the term “low fat” on their packaging to create a false sense of wholesomeness while something made almost entirely with artery-clogging trans-fats and salt is free to boast about its “sugar-free” status.

    There are also companies which bamboozle us with talk of hair and nail enriching vitamins and while such claims may, strictly speaking, be true in the sense that certain nutrients are important for the development of hair and nails, the reality is we already have them in abundance so the extra dose, available at a hefty price, is entirely unnecessary.
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  • Customer service - getting better or worse?

    October 22, 2009 @ 11:24 am | by Conor Pope

    You’d think that one of the few upsides of the downturn would be a dramatic improvement in customer service as retailers, restaurants and every other customer focussed business upped their games to keep themselves afloat. But, judging from the level of correspondence I have had in recent months, that has not happened and the roll of customer service dishonour keeps getting longer. What do you think? Are things improving for consumers or is it the same as it ever was? Or worse even?

  • Sky’s the limit

    October 20, 2009 @ 11:30 am | by Conor Pope

    A listener to the Ray Darcy show got in touch with me last week after being given a right run-around by Sky Television. He moved house at the end of 2005 and at the end of November of that year his wife sent a disconnection request to Sky. It was acknowledged and Sky said the account would be terminated on the 30th December 2005. The couple opened a new account in his name, with a different bank account number and they thought no more about it.

    Until December 2007 when he noticed payments coming out of his account. He immediately contacted the company and it stopped the payments. Ever since he has been trying the money taken from him in error refunded. He has sent numerous letters and emails to no avail. Most recently he sent an email to customer relations in August which was ignored and a fax in September which earned him a terse response in which Sky said “we are unable to make a refund in relation to this”. There was no further explanation.

    So, Sky effectively stole (or at least took without asking) over a thousand euro from an entirely blameless customer, ignored multiple requests pleading with them to resolve the problem and said they would not give him a refund without saying why.
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  • Should we try and drive prices lower?

    October 15, 2009 @ 10:58 pm | by Conor Pope

    I’ve interviewed Georgina Campbell, who writes well regarded restaurant guide books, on a number of occasions, most recently in July. When I spoke to her then she said that during a very, very tough time for the Irish hospitality sector, consumers should be careful about applying too much price pressure on restaurants and hotels.

    Speaking at the announcement of the 2010 Georgina Campbell Awards today she said that “many fine establishments have cut costs to the bone and their businesses are now literally hanging by a thread”. She claimed that “prices have often been reduced to an unsustainable level and yet there is constant pressure from the public to make even further cuts.”

    She said that “if for no other reason than enlightened self-interest, we will no longer be able to enjoy our favourite places if they go out of business – consumers need to think twice before pressing for even better bargains.”

    Is she right? Should we stop haggling or driving harder bargains in case we drive the restaurants and hotels that we like out of business?

  • An unfortunate mistake

    @ 10:47 pm | by Conor Pope

    What does Change for Good mean to you? The slogan was rolled out in a blaze of publicity by Tesco last May to promote substantial price cuts (averaging 22 per cent) brought in to stop potential customers in the northern bit of the south crossing the border to do their shopping.

    The retail giant, while unveiling the cuts campaign, said its new low, low prices were long-term structural changes and not promotional ones. But yesterday the good people at Cheap Eats reproduced email correspondence between a reader who complained to Tesco about rising prices in the store and a customer services manager who said that because its “Change for Good” campaign had ended “you will now be noticing increases in our product prices”.

    Tesco has since denied it was putting up prices across the board and said the mail from its manager was sent in error. The retailer said it had actually introduced a further 7,329 price cuts over the past month, on top of the 12,500 cuts announced in May as part of its “change for good” price-reduction strategy and said its customer service manager, based in Dundee, had made an unfortunate mistake.

    Indeed.

  • Is green energy worth it?

    October 13, 2009 @ 11:36 am | by Conor Pope

    A DISTRESSED reader contacted us recently after enduring two years of heartache with a wood pellet burner she had installed in her Mayo home.

    Filled with the best of intentions when she was building her house, she decided to use a renewable energy source for her heating and was convinced by a salesman that a wood pellet burner was the way to go. The cost of the burner was €8,000 but a grant of just under €4,000 from Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI) under its “greener home” programme took the sting out of the bill.

    The greener homes deal gives grants to homeowners who install a renewable energy heating system such as solar panels, biomass stoves and boilers, and geothermal heat pumps. It has been a runaway success since it was introduced in 2006 with over 37,000 applications approved so far.

    It wasn’t all hunky-dory for our reader, however, and the problems started almost immediately after installation. The burner belched black smoke into her shed and consumed pellets at a ferocious rate – she was spending €150 a week on heating her 139sq m (1,500sq ft) house for just four hours a day, she says. The company which sold her the burner went out of business and the owner disappeared.
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  • Where are the refunds gone?

    October 9, 2009 @ 11:44 am | by Conor Pope

    A new bill aimed at tackling “rogue service providers” in the telecommunications sector and stamping out premium rate phone service scams was brought before the Dail by the Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan yesterday.

    While it allows for greater regulation of a sector which has been guilty of all manner of dodginess over the last 10 or 15 years, the new bill seems to have forgotten to include amongst its clauses, the power to force rogue traders to give refunds to consumers it has ripped off.
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  • Free shipping with Amazon

    October 6, 2009 @ 10:00 am | by Conor Pope

    Woohoo! Amazon.co.uk has introduced its free delivery service for Irish customers who spend more than £25.10 (no, I have no idea why they’ve chose such a bizarre sum either). The site has also introduced Amazon Currency Converter which will allow customers using a Visa or MasterCard issued in euros pay in euros. As long as they don’t hike the prices for customers shopping in the Republic, then it’s all good news.

  • Bartering is back

    October 5, 2009 @ 10:21 am | by Conor Pope

    Every Saturday morning throughout the mid-1970s, Irish children – at least those living in places where BBC TV was available – would gather to watch Noel Edmonds and Keith Chegwin help kids living in glamorous sounding locations, like Wigan and Hull, swap toys.

    For three hours, as part of the Multi-Coloured Swap Shop , people phoned in offers and requests – badminton racket for alarm clock, stylophone for cuddly toy, guitar for Evel Knievel stunt bike – with the most headline grabbing swaps making it onto the top ten swap board. It was cheap, addictive TV for kids but, in the early 1980s as those kids grew up, the swapping stopped and the programme disappeared.

    Well swapping is back in vogue and has been given a 21st century make-over. The credit crunch, enhanced frugality and easy web access have seen people swapping and bartering with a gusto not seen since global capitalism was a twinkle in Adam Smith’s eye.
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  • Looks like a big yes

    October 3, 2009 @ 10:38 am | by Conor Pope

    Country votes decisively in favour of Lisbon Treaty.

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