http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/pricewatch Just another irishtimes.com weblog Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:03:25 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Henry's hand has just condemned us to four more years of gloomy depression. Thanks a lot buddy. Going to go have a little cry, now. Share This http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/pricewatch/2009/11/19/gutted/ Are we starting to see some sense? Earlier this month, an annual survey from Deloitte confirmed that Ireland had surrendered its place at the top of Europe’s Christmas spending chart to Luxembourg and reported that we will spend an average of 22 per cent less on Christmas this year. The ... http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/pricewatch/2009/11/18/bah-humbug-or-sanity-prevailing/ I was listening to the radio this morning and there was a degree of, er, unhappiness, following Usuf Islam’s - Cat Stevens - concert in the 02 last night. Some of the crowd were raging that the singer played a set filled with new songs and then followed it up ... http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/pricewatch/2009/11/16/musical-interlude/ A Ray Darcy Show listener sent me a mail about 3 Mobile which sounded wearily familiar. She’s been a customer of the company for years and pays her bill by direct debit. Here’s what she wrote: (more...)Share This http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/pricewatch/2009/11/09/three-strikes/ I don’t get premium rate services at all. The idea that people will spend over a euro a message to get lame jokes or horoscopes sent to their phones fills me with bafflement. The only time I’ve used a premium rate service was for a Pricewatch article earlier this year ... http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/pricewatch/2009/11/05/phone-bill-makes-refunds-trickier/ The old truism that people who are treated well by a business tell one or two others while those who are treated shabbily tell 20 has never looked as old-fashioned as it has in recent months thanks to the social networking revolution and the power it has placed in the ... http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/pricewatch/2009/11/02/social-sites-have-real-bite/ We all know that companies sometimes make ridiculous claims about their products to convince us to buy them, right? Maybe we should just sue the bejaysus out of the ones that most spectacularly fail to deliver on their promises of whiter teeth, shinier, thicker hair, flatter tummies and hypnotic ... http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/pricewatch/2009/11/01/so-sue-them/ 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 ... http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/pricewatch/2009/10/27/are-product-claims-true/ 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, ... http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/pricewatch/2009/10/22/customer-service-getting-better-or-worse/ 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 ... http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/pricewatch/2009/10/20/skys-the-limit/