More readers' contributions
TRAVEL INSURANCE
Barbara and Jack O’Connell from Ballydehob in Co Cork contacted us with an interesting story about the cost of travel insurance. The couple’s multi-trip travel insurance with the AA normally costs €120 a year but, when the renewal notice came earlier this month, the price quoted was €317.07 – despite the fact that the couple had never made a claim.
When the price hike was queried the couple were told that the AA had new underwriters and that the benefits are better – “maybe for them but not for us” the couple say. The quote was then reduced to €225.19, for no apparent reason.
“We then contacted the VHI and were quoted €109 for European travel, or €175 worldwide, for a couple,” they write.
“Furthermore, it was suggested to us that, as we don’t plan to go anywhere until next spring, we delay taking out insurance until tickets are booked and save on paying out for unnecessary cover between now and then. Guess who we’ll be insuring with?”
IRISH COMPANIES
Caroline Peelo wants us to promote “any Irish-owned company or small business that your readers may encounter, that provides a good service or product”.
She says this would be a way of making people aware that there are many top quality products “that are not getting the exposure they could receive, and maybe also be a help in ensuring their future”.
She has a suggestion of her own, a company based in Spiddal, Co Galway called Rí Na Mara. “This company manufactures seaweed-based cosmetics which I have been using since I discovered them six years ago.”
She says that while the company does not make any “outrageous claims that would be made by some of the better known brands”, the cosmetics work and “the price has not increased in all the time I have been purchasing it, so it is excellent value for money – something that Irish customers have become more focused on in the last few months.”
PRICE OF FLU JAB:
The swine flu vaccine has, er, hogged the headlines but a reader got in touch about the price of the regular seasonal flu jab. “I was very surprised when I priced getting a seasonal flu jab recently that the price fluctuated from one GP to another,” she writes. She says that, based on her research, the standard rate seems to be €25 all-in but one GP charged €40 for administration of the jab and then the prescription price on top – which had to be obtained from the chemist. “A big difference? I thought there would be a standard rate countrywide,” she writes.
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