When pay-per-view means pay-per-two-views

We've Got Mail:Once again, we're afraid, it's NTL's turn to attract the ire of our readers. Complaints about its €2 surcharge to customers who do not pay by direct debit continue to come in, but Ray Griffin has news of another charge NTL wanted to hit him with.

"Last week, I rang to book a pay-per-view football match due to be screened on Saturday, February 3rd," he writes. "I was duly informed that in order to receive the Liverpool vs Everton transmission, which had a lunchtime kick-off, I would have to book the later game between Middlesboro and Arsenal as well." The charge for the two games was €18 as opposed to €11 for one.

Griffin explained that he wanted to see only one match but was told that this wasn't possible due to a change in company policy. "It was also mentioned to me that at €18 for two games, I was getting a nice discount!" He refused NTL's "kind offer" and pointed out that the name of the service is "pay-per-view" and not "pay-per-two-views".

"I also remarked that for €18, I could walk to the pub, have lunch and a couple of beers, and still be up on the deal." He describes this "latest attempt at trying to squeeze more money from their customers" as "typical of NTL's behaviour" and adds that he certainly will not be booking any future events.

Once more we contacted the company to see what it had to say. Surely it had not changed its policy to force people to pay for two matches when they wanted to watch only one? A spokeswoman said the charge as it had been applied to our reader was correct. She said that on days when there is just one match being screened, customers can book it for €11. On days when there are two matches scheduled however customers now have to book both at a combined cost of €18. This is described by NTL as "a saving of €4" despite the fact that, unless you really want to watch both matches, it is quite plainly a penalty of €7.

The spokeswoman said that this policy was introduced at the end of November because of the "introduction of new IT systems". She also said the last dual match during this year's Premiership will be on Saturday, March 17th - customers have the opportunity to get these matches at the above reduced rate.

She also said that a Premiership Plus season ticket costs €45, or €2 a game, which is certainly good value - as long as you want to watch all the matches. If, however, like our reader, you wish to be more selective, there appears to be little you can do.

Audi Ireland's far-flung dosh technique

A PriceWatch reader who goes by the name of OJ contacted us to complain about the price of a car which had recently taken his fancy. "I saw a new Audi Q7 appear on our street, and thought to myself, I'll have one of those," he writes.

While he had a suspicion that this high-spec SUV was not going to come cheap, he was still amazed at just how much he was being asked to shell out for it. He looked up the car on Audi's Irish website and found the model and price - "an astonishing €100,000 plus delivery".

Coincidentally, OJ's brother, who lives in the US, has also been casting admiring glances in the direction of the same car but had baulked at the US price tag of $60,000 (€54,000). OJ did a comparison between the Irish Audi site and the US Audi site and confirmed the huge price variation. Surely the difference could not be all VAT and VRT, he suggests. "I understand there is a smaller market in Europe for right-hand drive vehicles, but aren't they made here?

"I know the whole VRT issue is very old news, but we as a nation just accept the fact that cars and everything else cost more here than nearly anywhere in the world?" he fumes.

We had a look on Audi's German website and found the same car selling for €67,000, more than €30,000 cheaper than in Ireland. And of course it is the tax man who is to blame. Let's say the wholesale price of the car in Germany is €60,000. If you add the 21 per cent Irish VAT on to the German price the cost of the car rises to €72,600. VRT on cars with engines bigger than 1.9 litres is charged at a rate of 30 per cent of the open market selling price of the car including VAT - one of the more ridiculous elements of our motor tax system sees us pay VRT on our VAT. This is €21,780 - taking the total price to €94,380 which, when shipping costs are factored in, is not too much less than the price of the car in Ireland.

We might complain about motor tax, but the Government raises more than €3 billion each year from it and is very unlikely to ever relinquish it.

Refill with juice, but not at the petrol station

A Dublin reader has sent in a price spot which highlights the high cost of convenience shopping. She was amazed when she saw that the price of a one-litre carton of Tropicana orange juice in her local petrol station in Dublin was €4.47 - "the same product costs €2.79 in Tesco."