If the price is right . . .

Conor Pope goes on patrol with price inspector Louise Shally, whose job is to ensure that the public isn't being ripped off

When Louise Shally isn't shopping she's visiting Dublin's pubs and restaurants. Although it might sound like she's living the life of Reilly, hers is the rather more mundane life of an inspector with the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs (ODCA).

Shortly after 10am on a crisp cold day she makes her first stop, at a busy convenience store. Carrying a bundle of warrants, in case she's denied access, she starts scanning the shelves, checking that a raft of consumer legislation is being adhered to. She notices almost immediately that it isn't. A stand offering small tubs of breakfast cereal has no prices on display, a venial sin, perhaps, but a sin nonetheless.

Shally is responsible for an area on Dublin's southside so pays particular attention to the products that appeal to hurried office workers - salads, sandwiches and sweets. She casts her eye over the counters groaning with a cornucopia of brightly coloured confectionery. With everything packed so closely together, individual pricing is impossible so a price list close to the display is sufficient. She checks it and notes that everything is hunky dory.

After 20 minutes of shelf-scanning and just when it looks like her work is done, she turns a page in her notebook, goes back to the door and restarts the process, this time focusing on product labelling. She checks labels have the requisite information on ingredients, net quantity, shelf life and origin. It's a slow business.

Her boss is Carmel Foley, an undisputed champion of the Irish consumer.

While her days as Consumer Affairs Director may be numbered - she's been linked to a new position on the three-person Garda Ombudsman Commission - she is still zealously committed to her job. Whether highlighting the price of beer near Lansdowne Road on big match days or derailing proposals to introduce fees for ATM use, Foley has been on the frontline in promoting consumer interests for more than seven years. One thing she doesn't control, however, are prices, "the big elephant in the corner" about which her office can do little.

"We haven't a remit to control prices and a lot of people think we have. They think that if they complain to Consumer Affairs about how much a cup of coffee costs then we ought to be able to do something about it." What the ODCA can do is inform the public of its rights, conduct investigations under a range of consumer protection legislation and then prosecute breaches in that legislation. It employs 60 people who handled 33,000 queries from the public last year. Despite having just eight people operating the phone lines dealing directly with consumer complaints, Foley is happy that the "legislation is, by and large, enforced now".

Back on the beat and still in the convenience store, Shally is happy the labels pass muster but is still not finished. She fills a basket, including several special offers to check the retailer is delivering at the till, the promises made in the aisles. She buys mineral water, two packets of Denny rashers - priced at €3.15 each or two for €5 - and several other items.

At the register everything is fine until the bacon is scanned and the special offer discount isn't given. Shally gets a printout of the receipt - she doesn't actually buy the products - and draws the manager's attention to the issues of non-compliance, first in connection with the cereals and then, more seriously, in relation to the special offer.

Flustered and embarrassed, he explains that the cereal display was only restocked the previous afternoon and the missing price was an oversight. In connection with the bacon, he says the tills have a flagging system which should alert checkout staff to special offers but accepts that on this occasion it failed.

"On a first visit, if we find a price discrepancy we tell management what's wrong," Shally says. "We return a few weeks later to check they are compliant." If they're not, the evidence collected is sealed and prosecution proceedings begin. She says the store's failure to give the discount on the bacon is serious. "I only looked at five items and there was a €1.30 overcharge. I think it's really bad."

It isn't just shops that are kept in check. When Foley took on the Crazy Frog last summer she won a raft of new fans who had been driven to distraction by the omnipresent ring tone. Customers and parents of children who signed up for a ringtone service offered by German company Jamster contacted the ODCA to complain that the company was overcharging, sending texts in the middle of the night, and not halting subscriptions when asked.

The ODCA joined the service thinking its membership entitled it to six ringtones and six logos for €4 per week. After four weeks the bill was examined and was 100 per cent more than expected. Jamster claimed the original price was for six ringtones or (not and) six logos. The ODCA had detailed records however and eventually the company agreed to refund customers.

"We have never overcharged anybody," said Markus Berger de Leon of Jamster at the time. "We have refunded some people [ who complained] in order to be nice to our customers."

"The helpline is a great source of information," says Foley. "We could name and shame Crazy Frog as we did and we were the catalyst for a lot of people knowing they could get their money back."

While she is happy with the reach and impact her inspectors have, she could use more staff. "Any civil service office will say 'give us more'," she says. "I would like more people answering phones."

On the first Friday of the month Shally submits returns detailing the stores visited and products checked the previous month. She covers parts of Dublin and an area in the west of the country where she spends one week in four.

Finally she is done with the supermarket and it's off to a nearby pub but not for long. She just sticks her head in to check it has all the necessary prices on display. First there must be a 16-drink snapshot at the door listing prices for the most popular drinks. A comprehensive list must be on display inside. The pub is in full compliance, even carrying a price for its alcopops, an item, she says, which is often not listed.

From there it's on to a number of restaurants but there's no time to eat, just a quick price check before heading for a toy shop where she examines a range of products ensuring they're correctly priced, correctly labelled and, most importantly in this case, correctly made.

All the inspectors, she says, "have had some training in risk assessment" when it comes to toys. With toys aimed at small children, she makes sure batteries are difficult to remove and that nothing presents a choking hazard. She pulls violently at the eye of a large stuffed animal to make sure it's firmly affixed. It is and so with her daily inspection complete, she heads back to the office to write up her report on the errant supermarket.

Consumer hotline: 1890 220229