Pricewatch: readers’ queries

Meath fan disgruntled about GAA's ticket policy

A reader from Meath got in touch last week with what appeared to be a timely problem related to our national sport. He has had a season ticket for the Meath football team since the scheme was launched in 2009.

At the beginning of the year he buys his ticket through tickets.ie for €85 and gets admission to seven league games and the first game of the championship. He describes this as “fantastic value”.

As a team progresses through the championship, season-ticket holders are emailed a ticket for each upcoming game, and the price is debited from the card they used to buy the season ticket initially. “This is very handy, and usually the ticket price is €5 cheaper for season-ticket holders.”

So far so good. His ticket worked perfectly for the first part of the year, but, at the business end of the championship, things started to get messy.

“There are three of us who have the season tickets and in order for us to be seated next to each other we set up a seating group through tickets.ie.”

The ticket also gives you the chance to add a plus-one to your ticket, but when our man from Meath went to do that for the Leinster semi-final he noticed a problem.

Under the terms and conditions, if he bought a plus-one he would have been moved out of his seating group and put in another section of the stadium.

He queried this with the ticket people but says he got nowhere. For the Leinster final against Dublin last week he was less than impressed when he got his ticket and realised that he had been moved away from the seating group and had been put in the Dublin season-ticket holders section.

“I was the only green jersey for nine rows in front of me and 11 rows behind me. This took a lot of enjoyment out of the game, first of all from being moved away from the lads, and second for being put in with the opposing fans,” he writes.

“I emailed the season-ticket office to express my disgust, as I feel that season ticket holders should be treated better than we have been treated. I would love to be able to speak to someone on the phone but there is nobody to call. It seems to me that once you have bought the season ticket there is nobody to communicate with if there is a problem, and, if you want to bring people with you, you will be punished with a worse seat.”

We contacted the GAA, who told us that our reader had actually had “three or four calls” from the association, all of which were recorded. The reason he was not allocated a seat with his friends for the Leinster final was because there was a problem with his card when the original deduction was made, so the GAA had to contact him for updated details. By the time he provided them the seat with his pals had gone.

After he had contacted us, the GAA had also been in touch with him about the seating for the final and reached an amicable solution with him. A spokesman said that when people add a plus-one to their season ticket they do have to move from their original group. This is mainly because the GAA wants season-ticket holders and not hangers-on to be given the best seats in the house.

That all seems very fair. The season ticket deal still seems like great value for money – not least because the early-bird price is €75 and not €85 as our reader said.

Dismay over medical dressings
We have been writing a lot about drug prices in recent times but it is not only the cost of medicine that is higher in the Republic.

A reader, Donal, says huge price differences also apply to medical dressings.

“I have recently had to use Mepore surgical dressings and Mefix self-adhesive fabric,” he writes. While on holiday in Majorca, he needed some extra supplies.

The Mepore, which cost €1 each in his local chemist, was for sale for €5.14 for 10 in Spain, while the Mefix, which cost €16.42 in his local chemist, can be had for €5.99 in Majorca.