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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Laya Healthcare has no travel insurance policies which would offer a safety net to pregnant women once they hit the 26-week mark. Photograph: iStock

Travel bugs: When hunting for insurance delivers a pregnant pause

Pricewatch: Pregnancy cover and cancellation over a bereavement leave travellers fuming

Does a new car really smell good or do you just think it does? Photograph: iStock

That new car smell and other consumer enigmas

Ever wondered how sun cream works or about the curious noise made by an ATM?

Is the low value people in Ireland appear to place on celebrities endorsing particular products a sign of ‘influencer fatigue’. Photograph: iStock

So-called influencers: how much influence do they actually have?

Online interactions can be important for brands – but there are potential pitfalls

‘I was also told I could log into My Eir account at any time but that isn’t feasible.’ Photograph: Maxwells

Is there any comeback when a teen accidentally runs up a big mobile bill?

A woman who signed up to a bill phone for her daughter takes issue with Eir

Schools won’t start back for more than a month but the lead-in time is long

Why is kitting out your children for school so expensive?

Parents have spent over €20bn educating their young, despite free schooling

Around 1.3 million utility customers wasted hundreds of euro each last year or a combined total of half a billion euro by not switching provider. Image: iStock

Would you like to save €400 this year and every year? Here's how...

Consumers wasting hundreds each year by not availing of cheaper rates at different companies

Eir said: “We are working hard to offer our customers the high level of care they should expect.”

Overcharging by Eir leads to loss of broadband for customer

Pricewatch: Six-month wait to have broadband connection restored

How you can take on Ryanair and get your money back

Pricewatch: Refunds are hard to come by at holiday-time, as these experiences show

Passengers often complain that public transport can be expensive, overcrowded, slow and lacking reach. Photograph: iStock

How does Ireland’s public transport compare with other countries’?

We compare our transport network with that of other EU states on price and facilities

Due to weather conditions, the Ryanair flight landed at Dublin Airport instead of Shannon. Photograph: Reuters/Paul Hanna/File Photo

'Ryanair has nothing further to add' - airline refunds hard to come by

Pricewatch: Several readers have trouble getting transfer costs back from the airline

When looking for travel insurance with a cancer diagnosis, most insurers simply say no. Photograph: iStock

Why is it so difficult to get travel insurance with a cancer diagnosis?

Pricewatch: ‘Travel insurers are being violently discriminatory to thousands of Irish citizens’

Don’t leave it until the last minute to get travel insurance - almost 40 per cent of the claims are made before travel with illness and death the most likely reasons for cancelled holidays

Don’t forget to pack travel insurance this summer

By not taking out insurance you leave yourself at mercy of airlines, tour operators

Is there any way to make it to your departure gate without walking through duty free?

Airports are designed to get our cash. Here’s how they do it

Massage chairs, the ‘golden hour’, boarding passes – and why is Toblerone a thing?

16 ways to have family fun around Ireland on a budget

From libraries to walking tours to museums, there is something for everybody

Not only are the pollutants we generate contributing to the climate catastrophe we are hurtling towards, they are also costing us cold hard cash every single day. Photograph: iStock

How to cut your carbon footprint and save cash

It can pay to reduce the amount of carbon we generate, so time to alter our behaviour

Why does car insurance cost more in Longford than it did in Dublin? Photograph: iStock

Change in address leads to increased car insurance premium

Pricewatch: Ryanair and refunds; Bank of Ireland and bank holidays

Hols Pricewatch

Using a travel agent: Peace of mind or needless expense?

Pricewatch: Travel agents have found myriad ways to adapt to the brave new digital age

‘They kept stressing the gravity of the situation and the urgency so I downloaded the software.’ Photograph: iStock

Beware the broadband fraud that left one family €15,000 poorer

A reader has a cautionary tale about a con she fell prey to after a series of coincidences

The HSE regularly publishes lists of ‘blatant examples’ where organisations have hidden behind health and safety in order to refuse service or justify a decision.

How businesses hide behind health and safety myths

Pricewatch: Some firms use ‘health and safety’ concerns as an excuse to get out of doing things

Pricewatch: eir told reader there was a termination notice on his account but after several over and backs he was told the termination notice had been lifted. Photograph: Maxwells

Eir tells customer to ring loyalty team after cancelling phone line

Pricewatch: Eir cancels account after telling customer termination notice had been lifted

Clockwise from top left: GreenBlade Deluxe Pruning Shears, Felco Classic 8, Fiskars PowerGear X Pruner, True Temper Gardener Bypass Hand Pruner

Shear practicality over all else when it comes to gardening

Pricewatch: The best value secateurs to sink into your unruly shrubbery

The slow cooker which was so full of promise finds a new home in a cupboard more impenetrable than the black hole at the centre of Messier 87

Sometimes less is more – the gadgets and gizmos we can happily do without

Our homes are full of seemingly useful purchases which soon become redundant junk

We like to think we have become super-cosmopolitan, but we remain clueless when it comes to leaving a few bob behind at restaurants. Photograph: iStock

Tipping at restaurants: A mystery for diners in Ireland

Pricewatch: Can you be sure the person who served you will receive your gratuity?

Out of the frying pan . . . Photograph: Alan Betson/The Irish Times

It all pans out nicely for this satisfied Tefal customer

Readers’ queries: Aldi’s off-the-wall mark-up; sending verification codes via TescoMobile

Booking made by reader through booking.com was cancelled by aparthotel

Hotel website cancels booking over ‘invalid’ bank card

Pricewatch: Does booking.com stand over bookings made on its platform?

Best seat in the house: Rosaleen Linehan as Mammy and Phelim Drew as Johnnypatteenmike in the Gaiety production of The Cripple of Inishmaan. Photograph: Alan Betson

When a drunken mammy calls about pricey theatre tickets we listen

Pricewatch: Rosaleen Linehan was horrified by the price her friend paid on Viagogo

Light, flexible and inexpensive, electric scooters can be a handy way of commuting to and from work and are proving an increasingly popular alternative mode of transport in cities worldwide.

Electric scooters could save time and money but they remain illegal

Pricewatch: Shane Ross has asked the RSA to research how ‘vehicles’ should be regulated

You will get from A to B faster by bike than almost all the other forms of commuting. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw

Value for Money: Commuting

Car, bike, e-scooter or shank’s mare? We put four ways of getting to work to the test

It is hard to imagine how low cost flying would have grown so fast without Ryanair.

Tastier crisps to cheaper flights: How the Irish became shorthand for consumer glory

From Sudocrem to tractors, here's 14 ways the Irish revolutionised how the world shops

Audit your credit cards and work out how much they are costing you every month.

Thirteen tips that could save you hundreds of euro

Pricewatch: Here is our guide to a clear-headed, stress-free financial spring clean

Customer left with little option but to renew his car insurance with FBD/No Nonsense

Customer service from FBD, Sky and Aer Lingus fails to make the grade

Pricewatch: Readers are not impressed by companies as they recount their experiences

By 2050 there will be roughly 12 billion tonnes of plastic litter in landfills and the environment.

Pricewatch: The sustainable consumer

How can we change our purchasing patterns to minimise environmental damage?

Baggage problems with Aer Lingus. Photograph: Cyril Byrne

From bags of annoyance to a feel-good factor in Galway’s Snoozles

‘I have never been through such a customer care shambles’ says one frustrated Eir customer. File photograph: Maxwells

‘I am absolutely disgusted' - Frustration with Eir customer service reaches crescendo

Pricewatch: Stream of complaints over hours on hold and no-shows from technicians

Valentine’s Day comes with a pretty hefty price tag for most Irish couples

Pricewatch: Love is in the air – and it costs about €500

Valentine’s Day comes with a pretty hefty price tag for most Irish couples

Niamh Towey, with her new car in Dublin. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill

Deals on wheels: How to save thousands by buying a car in Northern Ireland

Pricewatch: Making the trip up North to buy a car can be worth it – but go well-prepared

Making claims on someone else’s behalf is not always easy with VHI. Photograph: Hugh Macknight/ PA Wire

VHI deadlines and claiming on someone else's behalf

Pricewatch: Consumer queries answered by Conor Pope

Very moreish: Marks and Spencer Super Berry smoothie

Pricewatch: Which smoothie brand is the tastiest and best value?

We compare Marks and Spencer, The Happy Pear, Innocent and Naked

The Beyond Burger

Pricewatch: Value for Money

If it was to be widely adopted, the Lancet’s “healthy, sustainable reference diet” would see the average Irish person’s beef and lamb consumption reduced to just 7g a day, which is equivalent to roughly half a meatball

What’s at stake when it comes to giving up meat?

Pricewatch: In a household of four people the annual spend on meat could come in at over €1,600

Don’t automatically have all your family on the same plan. You can save money by having different plans for different family members.

Act now to avoid wasting hundreds on health insurance

With many renewals due at end of the month, here’s the questions to ask to get the best value

Vodafone cut my service, told me I lived in Donegal and put me on hold for 79 minutes

Pricewatch reader query: Internet ‘inexplicably’ cut on December 13th

Hundreds of millions of coppers worth tens of millions of euro, that have simply disappeared in Irish homes. You probably have some of them. Photograph: iStock

Crappy new year: 16 ways to survive skint January

Pricewatch: Cash-saving tips, from leaving the cards at home to avoiding the gym

Pricewatch: putting porridge oats to the test. Photograph: iStock

Breakfast of champions: which porridge will be named the victor?

Four oats go head to head in this penny pinching mission

Evelyn Gaynor, store manager at Veritas, with some of the range of Pope Francis memorabilia and souvenirs on sale at on Dublin’s Abbey Street. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien/The Irish Times

Pricewatch 2018: How the year unfolded for Irish consumers

Remember the hosepipe ban? That and other distant memories from the year just gone

The best piece of advance we can give for people shopping in the sales is only ever buy what you need. File photograph: Getty Images

Make a list, check your rights: How to make the most of the winter sales

Still value to be found in Black Friday era if you are organised about what you actually need

Christmas crackers: Putting festive favourites to the test

The best seasonal fare from pate and brandy butter to biscuits and plum puddings

Over the last 40 years close to half a billion Rubik’s Cube have been sold. Photograph: Jeffrey F Bill/Baltimore Sun

Christmas present ideas: These 19 toys never go out of fashion

From Lego to chess, Barbie and Monopoly, some games and toys never go out of fashion

Reader has lost confidence in MacBook Pro after two breakdowns. Photograph: Lucas Jackson/Reuters/ File Photo

Pricewatch: Apple won’t replace MacBook Pro after two breakdowns

Cancelling cash back deal and when ‘20% off everything’ sale doesn’t mean everything

The hand-made tale: Christmas presents with real heart

We Make Good in Smithfield (and soon online) sell great gifts with a social conscience

Candella No 4 Grapefruit

Burning question: what’s the best citrus-scented candle?

Three grapefruit candles – and one mandarin orange – are put through their paces

With each passing year the Cyber Monday bandwagon gets faster and faster and bigger and bigger, and whether you like it or not it looks like it is very much here to stay

Pricewatch: Irish shoppers happy to embrace Cyber Monday

If an online deal seems too good to be true then it almost certainly is

Eir tried to debit €1,583.21 for an account that was never set up.

Eir takes direct debits for account that was never set up

Pricewatch: Aer Lingus and Dunnes fail to impress but Nespresso service is second to none

Don’t be a goji faddist. Photograph: iStock

Say no to goji berries – and hello to these cheap superfoods

Isn’t it mad how all the 'best’ superfoods seem to cost the most? Don’t believe the hype

Consumer News

‘Christmas junkies’ descend on new Brown Thomas Christmas shop

Retailer opens festive store in Dublin, Limerick and Cork 131 days ahead of main event

Skoda Yeti holds highest pass rate of any vehicle in NCT

NCT results analysis shows strong correlation between pass rates and age of vehicles

Disputes between landlords and tenants up 10% last year

Almost half of efforts to terminate lettings were deemed invalid, says tenancies board

Signing off: Visitor books banned from major tourist sites amid GDPR fears

OPW issues order as it is concerned messages left by visitors create privacy risk

Several tumble dryer brands recalled over fire risk

Whirlpool issued warning includes Indesit, Hotpoint, Creda, Swan products

‘We need to sex up the potato and ... show its health credentials’

Farmer Thomas McKeown says campaign will be a much-needed shot in the arm for the industry

Potatoes have ‘huge image issue’ among the youth

Bord Bia study reveals millennials buy potatoes ‘far less’ than rest of the population

Hundreds of bouncy castle operators may go out of business

Industry’s main UK-based insurance provider has decided to withdraw from the Irish market

Books: €220, Uniforms: €200 - parents say they cannot afford back to school costs

About 78% finding costs a burden as financial hit reaches €1,399 per child at second level

Dublin street parking charges increase by up to 70% from today

City council extending parking zones to take in more streets in addition to sharp fee rise

Heathrow could be ‘shut down’ this summer by strike action – union

More than 4,000 workers at London airport back strikes on six days in July and August

Online shopping after Brexit: Higher prices, slower deliveries

Irish consumers will face restricted choices if the UK leaves the EU with no deal

Ryanair passengers forced to spend night on Beauvais airport floor

Paris flight to Dublin landed more than 13 and half hours late

Explainer: Is there a ‘tsunami’ of home repossessions coming?

Personal insolvency advisers say there are debt solutions to keep people in their homes

Ireland fourth-most expensive for food and soft drinks in EU

State’s alcohol prices are second priciest in bloc behind Finland

VHI to hike prices by 6% with some premiums to rise by €300

Health insurer says rising costs in hospitals, increases in consultants’ fees among reasons

Cut services: Image-conscious Irish men blamed for shortage of barbers

Government urged to reform work rules to cope with surging demand for haircuts

Donegal-based maker of bespoke furniture ceases trading

Customers left out of pocket for special children’s beds costing upwards of €1,000

Quarter of newsagents ‘extremely concerned’ over violent customers

Nearly half of shopkeepers reported incidents of violent or abusive behaviour

Huawei phone crisis: What you need to know and what you need to do

If you own a Huawei device you need to read this

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