Readers' forum: Have your say

Ebay seller caught out in a costly scam:We recently carried an item on scams and it prompted a reader to get in touch with a cautionary tale. "Without ever being so foolish as to reveal my password or account number, I was, nevertheless, defrauded of €436 while trying to sell an article of furniture on eBay," she writes. "Unknown to me, the "purchaser" of the item had accessed my eBay and Paypal accounts."

She says she got a mail from eBay telling her she had sold the item to a person in the Netherlands and says it looked like any other eBay mail.

“When Paypal asked me to pay the shipping charges for the item through Western Union to an agent’s address in London, I was shown the ‘purchaser’s account’ with the full amount to be credited to me after I made this transfer. The request came from Paypal. Had it come from the purchaser only, I would not have complied. But comply I did and sent the money to the ‘shipping agent’ through Western Union.”

Shortly afterwards she became suspicious when “Paypal” asked her for “customs charges” to be also sent. “I forwarded all the e-mails to eBay and Paypal’s addresses which deal with spoof e-mails and was told they were all false. My question for you: what are the consumer’s rights in this situation?”

They are, unfortunately, limited. The mails were not sent by eBay or Paypal but the scammers and, to be fair to the companies, they do warn people against using Western Union to send money.

Checking O2 bills meant big savings

Roni in Cork has been an O2 customer for nearly three years. “As my contract is up for renewal I took a more interested than usual look at my bills online,” she says. “I’ve been paperless billing for the duration of my current contract, yet for the first time I noticed that I am being charged for receiving paper bills (remiss of me, I know, not to have checked sooner).” She rang O2 customer care and queried this and the operator looked into it and confirmed she had been erroneously charged throughout her contract for paper bills and confirmed that she would get a full refund.

“The rep was also able to advise me on a better tariff for my usage and since I have taken up mobile broadband with O2 since my last phone contract.” She concludes by saying that after “showing more than a passing interest in my bills for the first time since I took up my contract (other than checking roaming calls) I am now going to be re-credited with the paper charge and save money on future bills so I’m a happy customer. However I can’t help the niggly feeling that O2 may be ‘erroneously’ charging a whole pile of customers for paper bills – licence to print money in earnest. Though I’m sure it’s not the first time it has come up, maybe all your readers should do a double-check on their mobile bills.”

Highlighting a hair charge

A reader’s daughter contacted us to complain about hairdresser charges.

“My daughter made an appointment to have a full head of highlights (at Zeba in Dublin) and was told the cost would be €130,” she writes. “The day before the appointment she received an sms confirming her appointment for a ‘full head of highlights and a blow dry’.

“When she arrived for the appointment she queried the blow dry bit and was told that this would be an extra €30 and that it was salon policy not to let clients leave the salon with wet hair! So why could they not have said that the cost would be €160?”

Airline food fiasco

Maureen Gilbert got in touch to complain about airline food, specifically, the food on offer on Aer Lingus flights. She flew to New York in January “and to say the food was slop is to over dignify it”. She says she was given “a few tired lettuce leaves, an anonymous brown goo and a packet of biscuits for the ‘meal’, with a stale scone before landing.” She says it was by far the worst airline food she has ever eaten.

“I regularly take internal flights in Ethiopia, Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa. Much, much better – and served with a smile. I would far rather pay for quality than be served this ghastly rubbish.”