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Gas meter replacement seems to disappear into thin air

ON SEPTEMBER 8th 2010, John Campbell got a letter from Bord Gáis Networks which was headlined “Gas Meter Replacement Programme”. It explained that work to update his meter, and others in his area, would start “over the coming weeks”. Last June after hearing nothing more he phoned Bord Gáis and was told it had been put on hold, but was operational again. “The chap I spoke to took note of my telephone number and told me that someone would be in touch with me,” he writes. Months passed and he heard nothing so, on January 11th, he phoned again and was told the company would arrange for someone to call to his house on the following Friday afternoon, the 13th.

Someone from Bord Gáis did show up and worked on the meter “for a little more than five minutes” before he told Campbell that he could not continue as there was static at the meter.

“He said he would have to get some sort of bonding; that it would not take long and that he would contact me with regard to resuming the job. When I had heard nothing by Monday January 23rd I phoned Bord Gáis again.

“I was told that someone would call on either the following Wednesday or Thursday, but that I would be contacted beforehand.

“Wednesday passed and nothing happened. At about midday on the Thursday, when I had still heard nothing, I phoned again. I was told that the staff did not finish until 5.30pm and that there was still time. Nothing transpired.”

In early February, he called the company again and was told to lodge a complaint. He hung up. Pricewatchcontacted the company last week and the meter was replaced. The company apologised for the delay and said it had implemented a policy of follow up phone calls to customers involved in the programme.

Charged for foreign exchange when paying by credit card

MARY O’DONNELL from Connecticut recently booked a return flight from New York to Dublin with Aer Lingus and paid for it with her Bank of America Visa card. “The Aer Lingus website clearly stated that the price of flights includes all fees. Towards the end of my transaction the charge was broken down by actual flight cost, taxes, 9/11 fee, etc.”

A couple of days later she checked her Visa charges online.

“The correct amount for the flight ($573.91) was posted. A foreign transaction fee in the amount of $17.21 was also posted. I immediately phoned the bank and Aer Lingus. She was told the fee was because Aer Lingus charged her in euro for her flight.

“My e-ticket clearly states $573.91. Is this legal? I have made many trips back to Ireland in the last 50 years on Aer Lingus. I have never been charged a transaction fee before.”

She emailed the airline to complain, but heard nothing. We contacted them and were told it “appears to be a mistake” which it said would be resolved.

Credit card fee on Alaskan cruise gets a frosty reception

DECLAN HAYES and his partner are getting married in September and are going to Canada on honeymoon.

They decided to book an Alaskan cruise as part of the holiday and opted to go with ebookers.ie as the price was less than it would be if they booked direct with the cruise company.

“However, on the payments screen at the end of the booking they inform you that there is a 2.5 per cent fee for paying with a Visa or MasterCard, even though paying with a credit card is the only option available. On a €3,000 cruise that amounts to €75.”

He asks how the company can justify a fee of that size for simply using a credit card?

“I can understand a fixed fee for using a card, but by making it a percentage of the price ebookers are really cashing in on people booking honeymoons!

“I decided not to book simply because I was so annoyed.”

Bin-charge waivers will be waived next year

MICHAEL MORRIS from Glasnevin has been retired for more than two years and he initially assumed that he was not eligible for the waiver on the bin charges in Dublin City Council area.

“But a while ago I realised that my income fell within their limits and so I prepared the necessary documents,” he writes.

“When Greyhound took over the collections last week I took it for granted that the waivers would follow. And so they do – for existing waivers, but only until the end of the current year.

After that they will be scrapped.

I discovered this when speaking to Dublin City Council and Greyhound.”

He rang the accounts department at Dublin City Council and was told there was no waiver after December 2012 and that this was the agreement that was put in place by Greyhound when they took over the bin collections.

“Existing waivers would be honoured, but only until the end of 2012. I pointed out that Dublin City Council was handing over a lucrative contract to a private company of well over 100,000 collections, and surely it should be they who should have dictated the terms and not the company who stood to gain many millions in profit from the contract.”

He repeated his mantra not once, but several times, about the private company being in a position to set out the terms and not Dublin City Council, Morris explains.

“I got the impression from the DCC spokesman that he was quite offended by the fact that I felt that DCC, and not Greyhound, should set out the terms of this very lucrative contract.

“The ending of the bin charge waivers will result in a new stealth tax approximately equivalent to the new household charge.

“It was introduced to help those who needed it and was means-tested. This negation of the charge by stealth will affect those who can least afford to pay out more money.

“It is another example of faceless bureaucrats with inflated salaries putting their hands in poor people’s pockets.”

He says negotiations such as those associated with the handover of the bin collection service should be made public, and that officials who “allowed their eyes and those of the public to be wiped, if that is the case”, should be named.