Credit where credit is due

Sounding off:Tom Smith bought a Meteor pre-paid phone this year but has been less than impressed by the company's habit of cutting off the people who don't top up their credit as often as it would like.

He built up credits during the first couple of months he had the phone, he explains.

"In early May I got a text message telling me to top up. I immediately checked my account and there was a balance of €42 in it." That made no odds to Meteor, however, and from May 12th his service was cut off. "When I contacted Meteor I was told that I must top up every six months, even though I still had a credit balance of €42." He says he was also told he would have to pay a reconnection fee and top up with €10 to get his service restored. "Meteor also refused to pay back my €42." He believes it is unfair to the customer for Meteor to insist they must top up every six months even if they are in credit, and believes Meteor should refund him his €42 if he decides to take his business elsewhere.

We contacted Meteor and a spokeswoman said that until the middle of April of this year a pre-pay customer had to top up their account at least once every 180 days or the account would be barred from making outbound calls. She said that if they had not topped up after 210 days, the account was cancelled and any balance was lost.

We were told that the policy was modified in April and pre-pay customers now have 330 days in which to top up their account before being barred from making outbound calls. "If they have not topped up after 360 days, the account is cancelled and any balance is lost," the spokeswoman said.

She pointed out that in fact there was no reconnection fee and said the policy was in place "to ensure that the allocation of our numbers is being actively used and to ensure that we have capacity to provide numbers to new customers."

Roadside rage

A reader from Inchicore in Dublin contacted us after noticing a significant price hike in his AA membership. "Last year AA membership cost €86," he writes. "This year it will cost €126. That's a €40 increase or, in percentage terms, a 46.5 per cent hike." He says that he has never needed to call out the AA and wonders how it can justify such an "excessive" price increase.

We contacted the AA and a spokesman said the price increase was not applicable to all AA members but hit our reader hard as he was moving from an introductory offer to full-time membership. The spokesman said his cover came as part of a car purchase and last year, when that expired, he renewed it directly with the AA at an introductory price of €86. Now that the offer is over he is being asked to pay the regular member's price which is €126 - a €6 hike on last year.

Railing against train fares

Susan van der Kamp got in touch about her less than happy experience on the train from Tralee to Dublin with her nine-year-old son last weekend. Her one-way ticket cost a fairly hefty €82. She says that trying to elicit information from Irish Rail staff about prices and train times led to much shoulder shrugging, mumbling and vagueness. "On boarding the expensive train I was assailed by a strong 'lavatorial' aroma and almost sat on a seat with something unidentifiable on it," she writes. "There is a change at Mallow, which helped somewhat. I have no doubt that the trip to Dublin was overpriced for the poor quality of service and inferior seating," not to mention uninterested staff.