Disconnect on the line leads to high phone charges

We contacted 02 who said our reader was due to be in contract until February 12th next. “Why she was incorrectly informed by Carphone Warehouse that she was out of contract is something we will discuss with them as a matter of urgency to ensure such confusion does not happen again,” a spokesman said.

“On the basis that the customer was informed that her contract had come to an end, and this may have shaped her subsequent decision, we have waived the cancellation fees due on her account as a gesture of goodwill.

“We have already been in touch with the customer to let her know, and to bring this issue to a close. We sincerely apologise for the experience she has had on this occasion.”

For just €18 a bag, you can help feed the dog with Tesco’s finest

Last week we highlighted a 50 per cent price increase that Tesco imposed on its own-brand wheat biscuits. The price of the biscuits had, overnight gone from €3.09 for 48 to €4.59, and a reader wanted to know why. So we contacted the store and it turns out that the price increase was as a result of “human error”.

While it may have been human error, Tesco managed to make a tidy profit out of it. We calculated that if Tesco had sold just 20 boxes of this own-brand cereal in each of its 138 shops across the State each day from January 13th (when the “error” was made) until January 27th when it was corrected, then it would have made €58,000. A lot of money by any measure.

A number of people have contacted us about some other Tesco price anomalies. The price of its own-brand firelighters drew particular attention, having jumped from 99 cent to €1.49.

Another reader has a Labrador who likes her grub. “We always bought the Tesco Complete 15kg bags of dog food for €13.95 per bag,” he writes. “Around Christmas time we went to buy a few bags and found that the price had increased to more than €18 per bag. Is this another case of ‘human error’ that happens to benefit the Tesco Human, or are they genuinely introducing a 25 per cent increase in the price of dog food?”

We contacted Tesco to see if it would be donating the wheat-biscuit money to a good cause and to find out about the other price hikes, and are still awaiting a response.