A catalogue of errors

READERS' FORUM:Have your say

A reader from Navan made a complaint to Argos via e-mail in January regarding the company’s practice of leaving unsolicited catalogues outside people’s homes.

“I arrived home after a weekend away to discover a catalogue on the doorstep. I pointed out to Argos that this was practically an invitation to burgle my house, gave them the area I was in and told them not to do it again,” she writes.

They didn’t listen and last week she arrived home “to yet another Argos catalogue plonked on the step outside. The house has been empty since before 9am this morning. I’m fuming with them and I’ve e-mailed them again, but I don’t expect a response.” By total coincidence, we received this e-mail within minutes of being sent an unsolicited Argos catalogue of our own.

Not only is our reader’s concern about burglars valid, there is also another issue. What is the environmental cost of sending thousands of huge catalogues to people who may not want them?

A spokesman for Argos said that catalogues were only delivered to houses if the residents had ordered a product which required home delivery in the previous quarter. He apologised that our reader had clearly received a catalogue – or two – in error and said that a manager would be willing to apologise to our reader in person.

In terms of the broader picture, he said Argos printed one million catalogues each year and that the vast majority were picked up in-store by consumers. He said the paper was sourced from sustainable sources and all the catalogues were 100 per cent recyclable.

Aer Lingus flight of fancy

Pricewatch reader John Moran from Dublin was clearing out old papers last November when he came across an old Visa account statement. He gave it a quick scan and was not pleased to see that he had been charged on August 24th, 2008, for two seats on an Aer Lingus flight to New York, even though he had been travelling alone.

“On thinking back, I had a recollection of clicking ‘okay’ on the first ticket. A message said the procedure had not been completed, so I did it again. I then noticed I had received two seat confirmations so I replied to one of the e-mail tickets stating the problem,” he writes. He also phoned Aer Lingus and was told that only one ticket would be acted on.

“I left it at that until my chance discovery more than a year later. I e-mailed Aer Lingus in November last year but have not had a response. I checked Aer Lingus websites for contact phone numbers without success.”

We contacted the airline on his behalf and were told that the airline was investigating his complaint but at the time of going to print were waiting to hear back from them.

Cutting quite a dash

A reader from Dublin contacted us to highlight the price of a dash of cordial in a well-known Dublin city centre bar.

“Bruxelles late bar charged €4.80 for a vodka and €2.10 for a dash of lime (from cordial bottle),” he writes. “When the price of the lime dash was queried the barman confirmed that €2.10 was correct. A receipt was provided on request.”

Families don’t splash out at Aqua Dome

Last week we wrote about the high price of tourist attractions in Ireland and referred to the Tralee Aqua Dome, where ticket prices are €15 for an adult and €12 for children over two. We said that two adults and three children would pay €66 for a visit. Not so, says Kieran Ruttledge, chief executive of the Aqua Dome. He says discounts apply for families and that “the actual admission cost for the family would be €52.80”. He said that if the family chose to buy a second group ticket at the same time, it would cost only €26.40. “I would also point out that the operation of Aqua Dome is not subsidised by any local authority or Government organisation,” he says, “and has to cover its running costs. The only way we can do this is to pass our operating costs on to the customer. When you consider that the average visit time to the Aqua Dome is between two and three hours, you will understand that it is somewhat different from your typical pool.” He says the only other comparable facility in Ireland was the National Aquatic Centre in Dublin, which had its running costs subsidised by the taxpayer to the tune of over €1 million annually.