Pricewatch

Your consumer queries answered. Have you a problem, a gripe or a tip-off? Contact us on 01-6758000 or mail pricewatch@irishtimes.com or via twitter @conor_pope

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Eir customers are generally placed on a queue of about 30 minutes and often after this time the call is disconnected. Photograph: Alan Betson

Back with our old friends at eir – and nothing seems to have changed

Pricewatch: Overcharging and disconnecting as the price of bacon goes through the roof

Consumers continue to be thrown under the bus or simply ignored. ‘The reality is consumers have been left in a no-man’s land and have seen their rights trampled over,’ says consumer advocate Dermott Jewell. Photograph: iStock.

‘This is simply disgusting’: Holidaymakers struggle amid mixed messages

Pricewatch: More complaints than ever as some travel operators let themselves down

Shoppers return to Dublin city centre. Photograph: Tom Honan

Twenty ways Covid-19 has changed our daily lives

Pricewatch: Will consumers return to normal or will some new habits endure?

The local multiplier effect means that every €100 spent in the local economy is actually worth €500. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw

Shopping locally: what difference does it make?

The lockdown has encouraged Irish consumers to buy locally-sourced goods

Do a bit of research and find the best chipper wherever you are going

Holidays at home: Embrace our weather, eat chipper chips and buy wetsuits

If you haven’t had a holiday at home in decades, here’s how to get the most out of it

People are confused about their rights and worried about losing money and angered at companies who – they say – are deliberately making their lives more difficult. Photograph: Getty Images

Travel refunds up in the air as readers run out of patience

Pricewatch: Deluge of complaints about travel companies as Covid-19 disrupts plans

Conor Pope in Dublin Airport, where passengers are down to under 300 a day. Photograph: Enda O’Dowd/The Irish Times.

How lockdown has helped us to save money - and find new ways to spend it

Pricewatch: Meal kits and takeaway pints have become the new camping holiday

Not as many people have been buying bread as you might expect.

Pricewatch: Left on the shelf - what we are no longer buying

Bread and male grooming products among things consumers decided they can do without

Grafton Street in Dublin’s city centre.Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill

The changing face of retail during and after Covid-19

What can we expect? Limits on time spent in shops, staggered queues and plexiglass at tills

“The ATM made its whirring sound but no cash came out.” Photograph: iStock

Pricewatch: Problems with banks prove perennial amid pandemic

One reader ‘mugged’ by an ATM, another is told to visit branch for ‘golden years’ account

Reader Mary Conroy shared a simple but ingenious tip for separating eggs using a plate.

Pricewatch: Life hacks for the lockdown

Top tips from readers to help with household chores

‘More of our customers have been baking from scratch and yeast sales are through the roof,’ says Avoca MD Tara O’Neill of the company’s dramatic surge in sales of baking products. Photograph: Alan Betson

Avoca: it’s all about the food now

The multimillion euro retail chain has had to reinvent itself since the Covid-19 lockdown

‘We have seen people go back to what they grew up on, things like roast dinners,’ says Rory McDonnell of Bord Bia

How coronavirus is changing our relationship with food and cooking

Pricewatch: ‘Shielding’, ‘stocking-in’ and ‘comfort cooking’ are among the new trends

There are a number of companies delivering fresh fruit and veg to Irish homes. Photograph: iStock

Delivering the goods: Irish retailers that will come to you

We asked readers for small companies that now do home delivery. Here’s a selection

The Easter bunny is top dog in this part of the world but it’s s a fox in Germany and a cuckoo in Switzerland.

Why is there an Easter bunny and not an Easter chicken?

Pricewatch: We answer the pressing questions you always wanted to ask

Shoppers observe social distancing while queuing outside Dunne Stores in Clonakilty, Co Cork. Photograph: Andy Gibson

How Covid-19 has changed the face of Irish shopping

Pricewatch: Retail has undergone a swift and bleak transformation under crisis guidelines

Why is Aer Lingus continuing flights to the US when we are advised against non-essential travel and currently denied entry into the US anyway? Photograph: iStock

Are the travel industry and airlines playing fair in coronavirus crisis?

Pricewatch: Hundreds of people could lose thousands of euro as their travel plans lie in tatters

Work out how much money you are saving while self-isolating.

Coronavirus confinement: Thirteen tips to make self-isolating easier

Pricewatch: Help cope with confinement by adding to your interests and activities

If a litre of fuel costs €1.40, about 90 cent of it goes straight to the taxman. Photograph: Lewis Whyld/PA Wire

Crude oil prices have plummeted. Why not prices at the pump?

Pricewatch: There are several reasons for the apparent rip-off but the main one is tax

Ireland now ranks 10th among EU members for the number of digital transactions per capita. Photograph: iStock

Cashless world: Will we be richer or poorer for it?

Ireland is gradually becoming cashless. Is the convenience worth the loss of privacy?

A quick look at the pictures and it is clear our reader is making a valid point.

‘Misleading’ LOL dolls packaging leaves little girl ‘very upset’

Pricewatch: ‘It seems, you need a qualification in forensics to figure out what’s inside the packaging’

Irish libraries have shown themselves to be wonderfully deft at moving with changing times.

Libraries: Remarkable places we should cherish

Less than 20% of Irish people describe themselves as regular users

According to a recent survey, of the 52 per cent of Irish workers who said they contributed to a pension, 41 per cent said they were not confident it would be enough to live off in retirement.

What you need to know about pensions

Almost half of Ireland’s workers have no private pension, according to a recent study

Shop locally and cook dinner yourself

How to do Valentine’s Day on the cheap and sustainably

Pricewatch: Is Valentine’s Day a con job? Romance can come with a hefty price tag

All enforcement agencies must prioritise. Most consumer enforcement agencies, worldwide, aspire to use limited resources to maximise consumer benefit.

‘If a shop’s food is not tasty, that is not reason for taxpayers to finance enforcement’

Pricewatch: Professor responds to our idea for a new consumer body which would fight the corner of individuals wronged by businesses

Laya has said that the reader was told in error that she would be covered for the surgery. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw

Cover or no cover: ‘I know mistakes happen . . . but it really is a mess’

Pricewatch: Reader shares her experience of conflicting phone calls with Laya Healthcare

By taking meaningful steps towards making education genuinely free, a future education minister would almost guarantee that his or her name would be remembered for decades

Plenty of politicians’ promises, but what about these ideas to help consumers?

Pricewatch: Fancy a consumer watchdog with more bite, free off-peak public transport or safer cycling?

More than 2.2 million people in the Republic now have health insurance policies, according to the Health Insurance Authority.

Navigating the health insurance maze and finding the best deal

The health insurance market is packed with hundreds of plans from three key players

Clamped car. Photograph: iStock

My car was clamped in error. Should I get compensation?

Pricewatch: Posh frock horror in Wexford, BA’s no-show policy proves costly for reader

Selfie

Things we take for granted that hardly existed in 2010

Selfies, contactless payments, storm names and Netflix - what have the 2010s given us?

Niall Wynn, owner of Proper Order Coffee Cafe Haymarket, Smithfield, Dublin with one of his compostable coffee cups. In November Minister for Climate Action and Environment Richard Bruton launches a public consultation on levies on single-use coffee cups. Photograph: Alan Betson/The Irish Times

Pricewatch: 2019 was eventful for hard-pressed consumers

Food scares, Brexit fears, rising costs, and how to cut a pineapple

We have said this before and we will say it again, something is only ever worth buying in the sales if you actually need it and will get real use out of it

Conor Pope's ultimate guide to the Christmas sales - tips, deals and your rights

Many shops have lost the ability to retail, and have replaced it with deep discounting

'Maybe look for reusable alternatives to wrapping papers this year. Whatever you do, avoid the stuff with glitter on it, it is hideous for the environment.'

From Advent to zeds: Your ultimate A-Z guide to Christmas

Is it Kris Kindle or Kris Kringle? And what exactly is egg nog?

Some websites we were familiar with, but many more were completely new to us.

Here are 30 Irish websites to get this year’s Christmas presents from

Why not enable more cash to circulate in the local economy . . . where delivery is free?

‘Quietly emerging trend: the dream of a green Christmas and the notion of making the season more sustainable.’ Photorgraph: iStock

Have a green Christmas – gift ideas for the sustainable shopper

Not everyone can make gifts but happily there are talented craftspeole who can

Readers have reported ticket machines registering wrong information when registration numbers are being inputted.

Clamping at Luas stations: more readers who’ve been taken for a ride

Pricewatch: Park-and-ride system proves costly but it is user error or faulty machines?

According to Repak, Ireland will generate almost 90,000 tonnes of packaging waste this Christmas.

Christmas shows our approach to climate change is crackers

Pricewatch: About 15m crackers will be pulled in Ireland over festive season

‘I’m happy that I put in an X and that the ticket shows that.’ Photograph: David Sleator

Pricewatch: Be careful of clampers if your car is from Wexford

One unhappily clamped driver complains that the NCPS cannot tell its Xs from its Zs

The Angry Birds themed Advent calendar from the people at Cadbury looks impressive and we can imagine that most children will receive it with delight

Advent calendars: the good, the bad and the cheesy

What’s the point of an advent calendar if you have to keep it in the fridge?

Reader found out that the e-tickets she’d booked were actually flying Dublin to Heathrow and then from Gatwick to Seville. Photograph: iStock

Ticket mix-up on British Airways flight leaves customer at ‘wit’s end’

Pricewatch: Eir leaves customer without phone service and another without a modem

Many of us still find ourselves looking disconsolately at drained bank accounts towards the end of the month

Why are so many of us skint despite talk of ‘recovery’?

Pricewatch: Many of us are still scrabbling around back of couch looking for change

People queue outside the newly opened Krispy Kreme outlet at Blanchardstown Shopping Centre last year. File photograph: Aidan Crawley

Atkins, avocados and pulled pork: Some of the worst foody fads

Pricewatch: Trendy gadgets and superfoods all have one thing in common. They cost a bomb

KBC Bank does not accept cash lodgements. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien

KBC Bank’s ‘intolerable’ lodgement delay buried in fine print

Pricewatch: Cadbury reduces sugar and value for money in new Dairy Milk

Some airlines now charge more for your bag to travel than you

Now you pay for it, now you don’t: The rollercoaster of everyday charges

Pricewatch: We may not pay library fines anymore, but banking fees have gone up

In her interactions with Eir, a reader, Fidelma, dealt with “many rude reps and two nice ones”. Photograph: Alan Betson

Customers at their wits’ end over Eir

Pricewatch: Attempt to get broadband service leads to ‘nightmare’ experience

Toblerone made the gap between the chunks in some of its chocolate bar wider while keeping the size of its packaging

The growing trend of shrinkflation means you could be paying more for less

Pricewatch: It is common in markets where profit margins can be tighter than Rod Stewart’s trousers

One reader went to great effort to acquire the public services card to renew his truck driving licence, only to discover truck licence renewals are not permitted online. File photograph: Getty Images/iStockphoto

Trucker is driven spare by frustrated licence renewal attempt

Pricewatch: Our reader offers a ‘salutary tale’ on the vagaries of the driving licence system

Initial signs were good for Jamie’s garlic press, but it didn’t deliver

Which garlic presses crushed our hopes and not our cloves?

Pricewatch: Joseph Joseph’s was pointless, Oxo’s seems reliable but Jamie Oliver’s made us sad

Marks & Spencer has reshaped Irish retail and consumer habits since it first arrived. In the early days Irish people could not get enough of its chicken Kievs, while its Cornish pasties ent down a treat

Marks and Spencer in Ireland says it is ready for anything Brexit can throw at it

Pricewatch: M&S’s operation in the Republic turns 40 next month, and it could not have picked a worse time to celebrate an anniversary

A shopper pushes a trolley in a supermarket. There is a common assumption that we are entitled to get a product at whatever price it is marked at in a shop. File photograph: Neil Hall/Reuters

What can shoppers do when the price is wrong?

Pricewatch: Is a public services card necessary when renewing a driving licence?

Experience the warm glow of saving money. Photograph: iStock

Five ways we spend less money in winter

Pricewatch: We need more heat, food, clothes . . . and then there’s Christmas

Marie received almost 20 text messages from Vodafone either saying her broadband problem had been fixed or promising that it would be soon, but still no joy. “Only for neighbours we would have missed the All-Ireland,” she tells Pricewatch. Photograph: PA/PA Wire

‘Lo and behold the bloody account still hadn’t been cancelled!’

Pricewatch: Two tales of woe from Vodafone customers

Penneys’ Friends Umbrella: cheap and throwaway.

Which umbrellas reign supreme?

Pricewatch: Barbour and Ted Baker demand plenty of lolly for their brollies

‘Armageddon for our nice wardrobe’: Tourists angry at dry-cleaning mix-up

Pricewatch: Eir’s customer service falls short while AIB’s bank charges fail to compete

Consumer News

Missing the rural pub in lockdown: ‘It was a very important social avenue to me’

Publicans concerned over lack of guidance ahead of planned July 20th reopening

Retailers say money being spent in ‘calm atmosphere’ as lockdown restrictions ease

Queues have shortened at Ikea since reopening and Dundrum centre footfall is on the rise

Irish holidaymakers ‘left in a no-man’s land’, consumer advocate says

Concern as people will not get flight refund even if travelling goes against health advice

Sherkin island welcomes first visitors of the summer season

‘It’s a story of survival here that people in the summer don’t see.To live like this you need resilience and stamina – that’s the key’

Dublin pubs reopen: ‘If I was this busy normally on a Monday, I’d be delighted’

Publicans keen to show they are responsible as crowds return after 15 weeks away

Q&A: Do we know yet where abroad we can go on summer holiday?

All you need to be aware of if you are planning that long-awaited trip overseas

Dublin cafe opens three weeks ahead of Covid-19 restrictions easing

‘Legal eagles’ would have nowhere to go if Fegan’s near Four Courts closed - owner

Hair salons will be more like operating theatres, says David Marshall

Hairdresser says underground market poses a health risk, and will damage industry

Ryanair flies from Dublin to Milan as European air routes start to re-open

4,000 passengers passed through Dublin airport on Sunday, up 800 people on Saturday

Work to level 50-year-old Ballymun shopping centre starts

Shops and apartments to be built on site which is designated as a future metro station

Hairdressers and barbers to reopen at end of the month

Recommendation from Nphet to be considered at Friday’s Cabinet meeting

Ah, Penneys: Jocks, socks and fake eyes all round as shops open for first time in three months

Queues from early morning outside branch on Dublin’s Mary Street

Safety concerns raised over Dublin city outdoor restaurants

Applications open for tables and chairs on streets amid concerns from disability groups

Surge in demand for hotel rooms as staycation season looms

Kerry hotel reports ‘avalanche’ in bookings ahead of tourism industry reopening on June 29th

Staycations: Relief among Irish hoteliers as reopening of sector fast-tracked

‘People are planning to stay a little bit longer and that is really what we need’

Covid-19: What we can expect when shops reopen next week

Consumers will face staggered hours and social distance wardens, among other things

Strict rules on queuing as Dublin shops prepare to reopen

Owners must ensure queues do not exceed length of shopfront under council protocols

Thousands of families risk losing money over lack of clarity on flights, travel agents say

Industry chief says those who booked holidays from July onwards face losses

McDonald’s announces all Irish drive-throughs to reopen on June 4th

High levels of anticipated demand will see each location revealed on morning of opening

Debenhams workers urge Minister to intervene with liquidators

Regina Doherty called on to engage with KPMG and advise extending consultations

Connect with Conor

Follow @Conor_Pope

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