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
Pricewatch: Readers’ queries answered
Currys’ response to a fridge-freezer problem has provided cold comfort to this elderly couple
Consumers pay high price for not pulling the plug on energy suppliers
Pricewatch: People who change energy providers can make annual savings of €400
How to be a better consumer: 20 commandments
Keep your wits about you as a shopper – that way you get the best value
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
‘This is simply disgusting’: Holidaymakers struggle amid mixed messages
Pricewatch: More complaints than ever as some travel operators let themselves down
Twenty ways Covid-19 has changed our daily lives
Pricewatch: Will consumers return to normal or will some new habits endure?
Shopping locally: what difference does it make?
The lockdown has encouraged Irish consumers to buy locally-sourced goods
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
Pricewatch: Left on the shelf - what we are no longer buying
Bread and male grooming products among things consumers decided they can do without
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
Pricewatch: Problems with banks prove perennial amid pandemic
One reader ‘mugged’ by an ATM, another is told to visit branch for ‘golden years’ account
Avoca: it’s all about the food now
The multimillion euro retail chain has had to reinvent itself since the Covid-19 lockdown
How coronavirus is changing our relationship with food and cooking
Pricewatch: ‘Shielding’, ‘stocking-in’ and ‘comfort cooking’ are among the new trends
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
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
Coronavirus confinement: Thirteen tips to make self-isolating easier
Pricewatch: Help cope with confinement by adding to your interests and activities
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
Cashless world: Will we be richer or poorer for it?
Ireland is gradually becoming cashless. Is the convenience worth the loss of privacy?
Libraries: Remarkable places we should cherish
Less than 20% of Irish people describe themselves as regular users
What you need to know about pensions
Almost half of Ireland’s workers have no private pension, according to a recent study
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
Navigating the health insurance maze and finding the best deal
The health insurance market is packed with hundreds of plans from three key players
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
Things we take for granted that hardly existed in 2010
Selfies, contactless payments, storm names and Netflix - what have the 2010s given us?
Pricewatch: 2019 was eventful for hard-pressed consumers
Food scares, Brexit fears, rising costs, and how to cut a pineapple
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
Have a green Christmas – gift ideas for the sustainable shopper
Not everyone can make gifts but happily there are talented craftspeole who can
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?
Christmas shows our approach to climate change is crackers
Pricewatch: About 15m crackers will be pulled in Ireland over festive season
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
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?
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
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
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
Customers at their wits’ end over Eir
Pricewatch: Attempt to get broadband service leads to ‘nightmare’ experience
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
Trucker is driven spare by frustrated licence renewal attempt
Pricewatch: Our reader offers a ‘salutary tale’ on the vagaries of the driving licence system
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