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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“It is not how we treat customers who come to us to let us know about a family bereavement.”

Virgin Media set debt collectors on dead woman

Company displayed ‘total indifference’ to death and seemed irritated dealing with it

Passenger reported his missing bag and was given a reference number and told to track the bag online. Photograph: iStock

‘Atrocious service’ from Aer Lingus leaves reader fuming

Bags go walkabout for days and customer says she was given no concrete information

Ryanair insists there is no deliberate policy in place which separates those who don’t pay for allocated seats

Ryanair seating allocation continues to prompt reader rage

Pricewatch: ‘We should refuse to pay for dedicated seats and instead swap at no cost’

The Killers at the Barclaycard British Summer Time Festival in Hyde Park, London this week. Photograph: Eamonn M McCormack/Getty

Music fan cries foul over tickets selling out in one minute by 9.01am

Pricewatch reader query: Seatwave sales make life easy for those making money from music fans

Ed Sheeran has added extra concert dates for Dublin and Cork after the 300,000 tickets for his first seven Irish gigs sold out in less than 24 hours. Tickets for May 6th at Páirc Uí Chaoimh and May 19th at Phoenix Park will go on sale this Saturday at 9am. Photograph: Isabel Infantes/PA

Ed Sheeran: panic over unwanted concert tickets has started

Pricewatch reader query: Rules aimed at stopping touting have readers in a flap

British Airways Boeing 777: airline blamed a wedding party’s ticket confirmation problem on human error. Photograph: Tim Ockenden/PA

Irish wedding in Greece ‘ruined’ by British Airways’ error

Pricewatch: Party of 10 arrives in Dublin Airport to be told they have no tickets

In giving two replacements for a clock that started running slowly, Brown Thomas went well beyond its duty. Photograph: Eric Luke

A reader’s query about a faulty Brown Thomas clock

Pricewatch: What to do with a timepiece that slows down every two years like clockwork

Ballymaloe Irish Beetroot

‘I think the growth of own-brand food is terrifying’

Despite that, Irish food producers such as Ballymaloe relish the challenge

“My husband bought me diamond earrings. I exchanged them for a cheaper pair and the difference was €1,100. The shop informed me that I would only be allowed a credit note and not a refund.”

Consumer issues with diamond earrings and a €1,100 credit note

Pricewatch: what are your rights to refunds, repairs and replacements?

Orange juice: the squeeze is on

Pricewatch trials and tastes four juices to see which is the best, for value and taste

“If you’re hungry and you want to get something quick I think it’s great that there are other options there and you’re not only limited to crisps and things.”

Guilt-free or guilt-laden? Healthy snacks may not be so good

Is a protein bar any better than a chocolate bar? And are you actually even hungry?

Private rooms are never guaranteed – no matter which route a mother takes, that depends on availability. Photograph: iStock

Public or private: what’s the best way to have a baby?

Pricewatch: Should our pregnant reader give birth in the public or private system?

Häagen-Dazs: Our favourite. We loved its creaminess and we loved the vanilla flavours that cut through the subtle sugariness

It’s ice-cream season, so which brand offers the tastiest scoop?

Pricewatch devours four types of the summer treat to see which is best value for money

Samsonite Cosmolite Spinner: €248.50

From Samsonite to Samson-lite: Cabin baggage put to the test

Pricewatch wheels out four cases to find out which is best value for money

Room at the inn: Teresa and Joseph “Gerry” Ryan arrived at their hotel not knowing if they would have to pay €400 extra

Woman asked to pay €400 to change name on hotel voucher

Pricewatch consumer queries: Pricing anomaly discovered at Tesco

House of Cards: guess which streaming service we’re not on?

Netflix versus NowTV: Which is the better streaming service?

We pit Sky’s new service against the industry leader to find out which offers better value

Two wheels good: Cycling is healthier, cheaper, better for the environment, and can still get you to work on time. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill

Cars v bikes: 10 good reasons to switch to pedal power

In honour of National Bike Week, here are 10 good reasons to switch to pedal power

Guns N’ Roses at Slane Castle. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill

Welcome to the bungle? Sleepless night in a car after Guns N’ Roses

Pricewatch: A reader who booked a hotel to stay in after Slane was left out in the cold

Strike a pose...Madonna vogues

Mullets, Pokemon, leg warmers and 29 other fads we should be mortified by

Before mocking fidget spinners, cast your mind back to the crazes you got caught up in – embarrassing, isn’t it?

Your calls and texts may cost the same abroad as at home, but beware of your data usage. Photograph: Getty Images

No holiday for consumers when it comes to paying for data away

Free to roam from home but data remains a costly holiday extra

“I started looking into getting speculative quotations on a 1.4 litre petrol-engine Toyota Corolla, year 2010”

How a reader’s car insurance jumped from €373 to €3,673

Nick McGinley left Ireland for two years - when he came back he was treated as a first-time driver

Remarkably resilient: books seem to have turned the tide against ereaders. Photograph: Iain Masterton/Canopy/Getty

Rise and fall of the Kindle: How real books are fighting back

Ebook sales are down, physical-book sales are up. Has the tide turned?

Can a store charge for booking an appointment to try on a wedding dress? Photograph: Alan Betson

€20 to book wedding dress fitting: Can they do that?

Pricewatch reader queries: Bride-to-be asked to pay non-refundable deposit to make appointment.

Irish Film Archive still from Ronson advertisement. It is a hair dryer but one that comes with a shoulder strap. ‘Apart from a mink coat, what else could a girl want?’

Pricewatch: Great memories come reeling back

IFI archive saves the old adverts that shaped who we were and who we wanted to be

Photograph: Getty Images

Tesco delivery leaves sour taste for reader

Pricewatch reader queries: Grocery debacle was out of order

Coffee chains are where loyalty schemes are 10 a penny. But they are not all created equal. Photograph: Getty Images

Pricewatch: Best and worst when it comes to loyalty cards

Some of the recommendations we got on various schemes and those worth avoiding

“The bread I can eat now is better than it used to be, but it will never be the same as actual bread,” says one coeliac. Photograph: iStock

Is gluten-free healthier or just flavour of the month?

One of the starkest differences between GF food and non-GF is the price

An Post said it gets its delivery boxes from a supplier, and doesn’t check them before shipping. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien

Pricewatch reader queries: Delivery box sends reader up the wall

An Post delivery box didn’t close properly. Plus: more sneaky supermarket tricks

The Carphone Warehouse: “We apologise for the inconvenience . . . due to a misunderstanding by our customer service team.” Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill

Phone warranties and breakfast cereal prices

Pricewatch: know your customer rights and remember supermarkets make mistakes

Supermarkets keep the things you are most likely to put into your shopping trolley as far apart as possible so you have to traverse the shop to get them. Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Sneaky supermarket tricks and thinking behind them

Pricewatch: ‘Once we are occupied in their shops, they don’t make it easy for us to leave’

‘We have made contact with the customer, this issues has now been resolved. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.’ Photograph: Reuters/Shailesh Andrade

Pricewatch: readers’ queries

Companies are very fast to set debt collectors onto customers – or former customers

Tesco: the chocolate was excellent and we ate a lot more of it than strictly speaking necessary.

Shelling out for Easter eggs

PriceWatch sinks its teeth into a range of chocolate in the pursuit of value

“If your holiday takes you to a big city in Europe, research the public transport options. They will almost certainly be better than anything you are used to in Ireland.” Photograph: Getty Images

Holiday for less: 21 ways to bag a cheaper time away

Strategies abound for bagging a cheaper time away – without an awful lot of effort

Brand loyalty under threat as consumers get busy switching

Report finds 64 per cent of Irish consumers switched a provider in past year

“We landed in Barcelona, and at passport control I discovered I was missing my niece’s passport, so we couldn’t get through.” Photograph: Alan Betson

Irish family gets stuck in airport limbo in Barcelona

Pricewatch: A reader’s holiday turns ‘horrendous’ after passport goes missing

Marks & Spencer: “M&S does many things well, but it does few things better than fruit . . . The per-kilo price of its fruit salad is comparatively cheap.”

Value for Money: Fruit salads

Size does matter for M&S, while Tesco’s pot was too tangy and way too expensive

Should you read all the terms and conditions or totally ignore them? Or simply check for key words and phrases that might trip you up? Photograph: iStockphoto

Take the Pricewatch quiz and you too could save money

Do you have the cop-on it takes to be among Ireland’s most savvy shoppers?

In the letter to Sky’s managing director in Ireland, the customer said he would cancel his standing order after the next upfront payment, which was due in the middle of October. Photograph: Chris Radburn/PA Wire

Cancelling Sky: ‘I found the experience very threatening ’

Pricewatch: Phone calls and 28 days’ notice mean ending TV package can be a challenge

Nichols accepts that spending thousands of euro on a coffin is probably unnecessary

Pricewatch casts a cold eye on the cost of death

With costs for a basic funeral about €4,000, death is an expensive business

G-Mach Petrol Push Lawnmower €149.99

Value for money: Mowers

Size and brand matter in choosing between old school and newer options

“Have you heard anything about what Three are up to? Changing contracts and making it impossible to then cancel. Any advice?” Photograph: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

Customers left hanging as Three lets phone ring . . . and ring

Pricewatch readers: ‘A 20% increase in Three charges – just like that!’

Shop signs: Consumers in the Republic are the 6th most upbeat in Europe. Photograph: Alan Betson

Pricewatch: Are we optimistic about the economy or not?

Nielsen and the ESRI tested consumer confidence with different results

Justin Comiskey , with two of his children Michael (9), Lavina (11). Photograph: Nick Bradshaw

My electric car is saving me €3,000 every year

What really clinched the deal for us were the savings going forward

Appsolutely not fabulous: Aer Lingus’s smartphone app doesn’t like apostrophes

Quite an o’versight: Aer Lingus app doesn’t recognise apostrophes

Which is a bit problematic when it comes to Irish surnames

Ballymaloe

Value for money: Mint jelly

You can have it sweet or sharp, but the best – and cheapest – option is to make it yourself

Legal or illegal? Signs in shops and the law

The most common signs encountered by consumers and their degree of legality

“Surely one board for Terminal 1 and another for Terminal 2 with clear markings would be a good idea.” Photograph: Aidan Crawley/Bloomberg

Terminal confusion sets in at Dublin Airport

One traveller who missed her flight after wandering to the wrong terminal partly blames ‘inadequate’ markings for her experience

Flymo: “The 500-watt engine should be all the power you need, and the 12m cable was plenty long enough for Pricewatch.”

Value for Money: Grass trimmers

You can go cheap or dear with electric models, or knuckle down and put your back into it

Aer Lingus: Shutting down its Dublin-Porto route leaves customers in a lurch and out of pocket. Photograph: Reuters/Cathal McNaughton

Pricewatch readers: Aer Lingus hits turbulence with route cancellation

Customers left financially stranded when airline grounds Dublin-Porto flights

White House adviser Steve Bannon listens as Donald Trump addresses business leaders at a White House meeting on January 23th. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Consumers are starting to thump Trump backers

Campaign to push back against companies that support Trump and his most reactionary policies

In Victorian times, Cadbury was the first company to decorate boxes of chocolates with love motifs – the idea was that recipients could use the boxes to hide secret love letters.

Valentine’s Day: expense not necessarily the hallmark of love

The loved-up can splurge on a ‘suite love affair’ or save on German retailers’ roses

Living longer is frequently presented entirely in negatives such as “pensions time bomb” and projections of a society too old and infirm to take care of itself. Photograph: iStock

Who will fund your retirement? Is it: a) you, b) the State, c) nobody

Increased longevity is highlighting a range of problems from pensions to healthcare

The HSE said there was no prohibition of any kind on GPs providing the information if they had it. Photograph:Tek Image/Science Photo Library

Why won’t my GP tell me my blood type?

Pricewatch readers’ queries: It's a legal quagmire, so medical practices just say no

The AA’s most recent fuel price index shows the average price of a litre of petrol rose by 4.9 cent and diesel by 5 cent in just one month. Photograph: Anthony Devlin/AFP/Getty Images

Rising oil prices may hit Irish consumers on many fronts

AA calls for fuel taxes review as petrol and diesel prices soar to highest levels since 2015

Consumer News

How low fares took off: a revolution in the skies

It’s 25 years since cheap, frequent air travel began – and it’s down to the EU just as much as it is to Michael O’Leary and Ryanair

Takeaway firm Just Eat pays €2.25m to sponsor Dublin Bikes

Assistant council chief says money will help to fund expansion of service around city

‘Stop whingeing’ over €2 seat fee, says Michael O’Leary

Ryanair chief says company’s seating algorithm has changed but policy has not

Bureaucrats holding up second Dublin runway, says O’Leary

Ryanair boss says upgrade necessary to ensure country is ready for effects of Brexit

Primark recalls three types of men’s flip flops over carcinogen

Products failed to meet the retailer’s ‘usual high standards for chemical compliance’

Ice-cream drought feared in Howth amid rising temperatures

North Co Dublin seaside town faces a dessert shortage as a result of power cuts

Businesses vote to retain Dublin Town organisation

54% voted for the company responsible for the city’s Christmas lights and promotions

Irish Water bill refunds: all your questions answered

Everything you need to know, from the refunds to the conservation grant

‘Should I keep tomatoes in the fridge?’ and more of life’s big questions

Irish consumers, send us your random queries

Explainer: the 1% duty that applies to a rising number of rental properties in Ireland

What happens if a property is shared? Your questions answered

PTSB increases charges on some accounts by over 460%

Bank which is 75 per cent State-owned says increases bring it in line with competition

House prices jump by almost 12% in the year to May

Property prices in south-east region climbed by 18.6% during the 12 month period

Checkpoints catch rip-off taxi drivers near Dublin Airport

Garda stops five taxi drivers bringing passengers on more expensive route

Dublin City Council takes action over 25 ‘Airbnb-style’ rentals

‘Madness’ we are putting homeless in hotels and tourists in houses, says Patrick Costello

Background: What is the EC’s Competition Directorate?

Agency is considered to be one of world’s most sophisticated antitrust enforcers

Tony Bennett’s sold-out concert cancelled due to ill health

On advice of doctors, 90-year-old singer cancels Dublin gig due to flu virus

Dublin teens in three-day queue for €188 Kanye West trainers

Why queue for trainers? They ‘make you feel special’

Hotpoint urges Irish customers to check fridge freezers after London fire

Anyone who believes they may have same model should make contact with company

Complaint upheld against homeopath who said she could treat symptoms of autism

Advertising Standards Authority rules against Almond Homeopathy over Facebook post

Testing of Luas Cross City line to be scaled up over coming weeks

From mid-July, there will be testing with unoccupied trams during the day

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