June 30, 2008
Not if you’re out in Terenure on a Monday night though. We went out for a quick bite after work to Marios. The place was absolutely wedged - a great sign that we’re still spending our money.
If only the quality of the food and the staff service matched the enthusiasm of its punters in these supposed dying days of the CT.
The staff were going through the motions, and the chef - by the quality of the food served - was doing the same. We ordered two main course (meat balls and spagetti and king prawn penne). The king prawns were cooked from frozen and passable - the kind of dinner that you’d cook for yourself, but a little unsuccessfully, but you’re so hungry, you eat it anyway. The meatballs and spagetti were inedible with practically everything left behind on the plate.
At a time when customer retention is likely to become more and more important for businesses, the restaurants that provide food that their customers can’t eat, and then show no interest in whether or not they like it, are hopefully unlikely to survive the collective belt-tightening that we’re told is happening at the moment (even if it hasn’t reached Terenure yet).
June 30, 2008
ValueIreland.com gets a mention in this months You and Your Money magazine.
“Better purchasing decisions through better information” might be a bit of a mouthful, but this blog helps you achieve exactly that, keeping its eyes peeled and guns a-blazing for any anti-consumer infractions.
June 30, 2008
The Kildare Nationalist
February 14th, 2008
IT’S well known that consumers fork out more in Ireland for a range of goods and services than in many other European countries but a new EU initiative has been designed to clarify exactly how much more we pay for a variety of goods and services.The survey is comparing the cost of the same 500 goods in every member state in the EU, offering the first comprehensive assessment of its kind.
The study, called EU Consumer Watch, is being carried out by Eurostat and the results will be made available to consumers in clear, transparent data.
The programme has already started to compare prices in the retail financial services sector and to analyse European cross-border sales in tradable consumer goods including cameras, CDs and books.
Existing research shows that the price of digital cameras can vary by up to 30% between neighbouring countries - a considerable differential, given the price of some of these cameras.
Another key area of comparison relates to the average fees for the management of bank accounts. The survey so far has indicated that these can vary between zero and €80 across the EU.
Irish consumers can already compare domestic prices through a range of websites, including www.shoppingbill.com; www.valueireland.com; www.valueireland.com; ripoffrepublic.com; ripoffrepublic.com and Fine Gael’s site, www.ripoff.ie.
It’s also possible to compare mobile phone roaming charges across the European community by logging onto www.europa.eu.int.
However, the latest study will break new ground in comparing like with like in every EU member state, showing, for example, whether or not it is worthwhile to go abroad for dental treatment.
Fianna Fáil MEP Liam Aylward described the initiative as “a strong consumer protection measure” and said: “Where there is information that clearly demonstrates a big difference in the price of the exact same product, people are going to rightly demand answers as to why this is the case.”
To facilitate the protests that could follow the release of pricing tables, the European Union is also putting in place a common EU consumer complaints system.
June 30, 2008
The Irish Independent
Jessie Magee, February 8th, 2008
A TRUE picture of Ireland’s prices compared to other EU states will be revealed under a new initiative.The EU Consumer Watch is being carried out by Eurostat, and the resulting data will be published in a transparent scoreboard format.
The programme will start by analysing prices in the financial services sector and in consumer goods like cameras, CDs and books.
Existing research shows that the price of digital cameras can vary by up to 30pc between neighbouring European countries, and that the average fees for the management of bank accounts fluctuates by up to €80 across the EU.
Irish consumers can already compare domestic prices through a range of websites like www.shoppingbill.com, www.valueireland.com and www.ripoffrepublic.com, and the Fine Gael-run site www.ripoff.ie.
Dermot Jewell, CEO of the Consumers’ Association, said the survey will be of huge benefit to consumers, but warned that prices must be stripped down to pre and post-VAT figures.
Fine Gael MEP Gay Mitchell also welcomed the independent monitoring of the market.
June 30, 2008
The Irish Independent / The Irish Times
Advertising, August 27th, 2007
In the included image below, you can see the advertising they used in todays Irish Independent, as well as the Irish Times earlier in the week. Maybe they were used in other newspapers too, but they haven’t been brought to our attention.
June 30, 2008
The Irish Independent
Eddie Lennon, May 12th, 2005
Consumer groups query why one person in a building can have broadband while another can’t.
A SPECTRUM of consumer bodies say they are receiving complaints from individuals demanding to know why Eircom can’t provide them with broadband internet service when their immediate neighbours have it.Dermott Jewell, chief executive of the Consumers Association of Ireland, said: “Not a week goes by without two or three people contacting the Consumers Association to ask why they can’t get broadband from Eircom, while their friends who live in the same area can.”
Telecoms regulator ComReg and the Direct of Consumer Affairs also have received complaints about problems signing up for Eircom broadband, while Ireland Offline, a campaign group for better internet access here, reports “huge” consumer frustration.
The Consumer Association said it has not received similar complaints about any broadband provider other than Eircom, on whose lines most other operators’ broadband service is based.
“One of our members has Eircom broadband but his next-door neighbour can’t get it,” Mr Jewell said. “Eircom told the neighbour they would investigate the matter, but more than a week later he had no explanation.”This is “just one small example”, he said. “It defies the whole logic of trying to get a fast internet connection if the provider can’t respond fast enough.”
Eircom’s “hard sell and lovely marketing spin” around broadband is merely adding to the frustration, Mr Jewell said.
Telecoms regulator ComReg said it too had received complaints about problems signing up for Eircom broadband.
Director of Consumer Affairs Carmel Foley echoed this: “The fact Eircom is advertising its high-speed products so aggressively seems ironic.” Her office has received about 10 complaints from people whose phone lines Eircom deemed ineligible for broadband.
Diarmuid MacShane, who runs consumer information website valueireland.com, said he found trying to sign up to Eircom broadband “an absolute nightmare. I was told they needed to test my line from a local exchange. But since the exchange was unmanned, they could not send somebody there till there was a problem.
“After three weeks, nothing had happened. When I contacted Eircom they told me the test had been ‘inconclusive’, which meant I would probably not be able to get broadband, although my neighbour upstairs could.”
Mr MacShane got no satisfaction by phone. He was “bounced around” in vain before going to Eircom’s official complaints page on the internet. “Within two days I was told my phone line was broadband-enabled - after about a month trying to get the information,” he said.
John Timmons, committee member of Ireland Offline, said: “The general Eircom answer is ‘we’re sorry, it failed and that’s all we can do’.”The level of frustration among consumers is “huge”, he said. “In an area with 20 houses, there could be eight or nine failing to get broadband. If your next-door-neighbour can get broadband and you can’t, it’s annoying, especially if you’re spending more money on a regular internet connection than you would with broadband.”
He added that despite assurances from Eircom to investigate, he saw no evidence of any action.
“In this day and age, I would have thought it was a relatively straightforward operation to test a line and send an engineer out. A delay of days would be understandable; but it is often a matter of several weeks.”Ian Campbell, editor of Silicon Republic, Ireland’s technology news service, said: “Most people who can’t get broadband are told by Eircom that it’s because there’s a fault on their (phone) line. What the nature of those faults is and when will Eircom set about solving them is the million dollar question. A lot more people should be broadband-enabled.”
An Eircom spokesperson said some phone lines might not be suitable due to “exchange or line issues.
“We advise the customer as soon as we have determined the suitability of the line.”
He added: “We are continuously upgrading and improving the quality of our network so it is possible that lines which may have been deemed unsuitable, in time will be capable of supporting broadband.”A comprehensive list of Ireland’s broadband providers is available at www.broadband.gov.ie.
Note from Value Ireland - When reviewing the above mentioned site regarding broadband providers, please be aware that most providers will only provide broadband to business customers. Be very careful when reviewing offerings to ensure that residential customers would be supplied.
June 30, 2008
The Irish Independent
Orla O’Sullivan, December 2nd, 2004
AT least one in six people pay their bills sight unseen - despite admissions of overcharging by 11 Irish companies this year alone - according to survey results shared exclusively with Your Money by Diarmuid MacShane, who runs the website www.valueireland.com.Of 200 respondents to the survey, run online from October 1 to mid-November, 7pc said they never bother to check any bill, Mr MacShane said.
Another 8pc of the 200 respondents agreed to the statement: “I pay by direct debit and don’t know what I’m paying.” In reality, says, Mr MacShane, “I would think the number of people who pay their bills without looking at them is higher than 15pc because visitors to our site tend to be more aware consumers than the general population.” www.valueireland.com, a forum where consumers share their experiences of good and bad value received, gets about 5,000 visitors a month.
Separate to the survey, Mr MacShane reviewed media coverage this year, and found 25 reported incidents of overcharging by 11 companies. “There were 900,000 customers affected to the tune of €42m.”
These include the highly publicised cases involving Allied Irish Banks, National Irish Bank and mobile operators, O2 and Vodafone, plus others involving businesses such as Eircom and Esat BT. In total, 42pc of respondents said they do not check every bill they receive. Some check only certain bills from certain companies or individual bills with which they take issue.
“How can people expect the Government to help them if they don’t help themselves by keeping watch over their payments, especially when they’re dealing with companies that have been known to overcharge?” he asks.
There were also three reported incidents of companies undercharging their customers: NIB and its credit card customers; AIB and some student/graduate charges; and ESB, which will start to collect an average of €120 from each customer undercharged.
“We don’t want to be too negative,” said Mr MacShane, formerly a business analyst for investment banks. “If consumers focus on spending money with companies that offer good value, then those companies will prosper.”
June 30, 2008
The Irish Independent
Eddie Lennon, November 25th, 2004
Value Sites
www.Valueireland.com
www.oxfamireland.org
cdwow.com
splashdvd.com
www.dvdzone2.com
www.ezydvd.com
thedvdforums.com
dvdpricecheck.co.uk
cdwow.com
djangos.com
komplett.ie
elara.ie
amazon.com
pixmania.com
pricerunner.com
kelkoo.co.uk
strawberrynet.com
iwantoneofthose.com
boystoys.co.uk
ebid.ie
bargains.co.uk
June 30, 2008
The Irish Independent
Eddie Lennon, November 25th, 2004
EDDIE LENNON goes searching for the best bargains in Yuletide shopping
IT’S that time of year again when everybody’s thinking what to buy their loved ones for Christmas.
On a range of likely Christmas purchases, we found savings of between €7 and €30 for the exact same item and savings of up to at least €27 for similar items, as the accompanying table shows.
The most extreme savings were by buying online - so it’s not surprising that an estimated that 60pc of people will do some of their Christmas shopping on the web.
However, retailers’ price wars also produce sudden and extreme variations. A case in point is Robosapien, this year’s ‘in’ toy for boys. Yesterday, Dublin’s ToyMaster shops dropped to €89.95 from €109, on a toy that three months ago it introduced at €150. (Regional Toymasters may be more.)
Argos, a few days ago, dropped its price to within 9c of Smyth’s €93.40 - down from €115 and €110, respectively, earlier this month.
Yet, Michael Culloty of the Money Advice and Budgeting Service, says: “We don’t shop around. Many of us are money-ridden but time-poor, and decide to buy everything the one day.”
Dermott Jewell, chief executive of the Consumers Association, suggests Irish people belatedly are realising the surprising scope to get cheaper prices. “Growing numbers are travelling abroad, to New York for example, to avail of bargains, especially since the dollar is weak (lately at $1.30 to €1).
“Significant numbers are travelling North and finding great value there. Even those staying at home are more calmly looking around.”
CHRISTMAS STAPLES: If you buy direct from those who raise turkeys or Christmas trees, you can save up to €20 on turkeys and about €5 on trees, said producers who refused to be quoted for fear of openly undercutting the retailers they supply.
A good, large Christmas tree costs €29.99 at Dublin’s Newlands Home and Garden Centre.
According to Joe Flynn of the Irish Christmas Tree Growers Association, “some businesses sell trees at a loss to attract people in. The likes of Woodies and Spar sell them for €25 or sometimes even less.”
Christmas accessories can cost a pretty penny. At Oxfam’s shops in Dublin and Galway, you can pick them up for a fraction of what you could pay, plus it’s all for a good cause.
For example: 16 Christmas cards for €5, hand-embroidered decorations from €2.50; miniature nativity sets from €4.50; six Christmas crackers containing special Fair Trade gifts for €15. More gift details at www.oxfamireland.org.
ELECTRONICS: The Office Complete Box Set costs €41.50, including delivery, at cdwow.com; at HMV Grafton Street it costs €49.99.
Another good website for DVDs is the Australian one, www.ezydvd.com, which sells DVDs from €12.95 including delivery, which takes less than a week. The site also gives away good free gifts from time to time.
You should also check out splashdvd.com and www.dvdzone2.com which have some good offers.
Two interesting price-checker websites, thedvdforums.com and dvdpricecheck.co.uk, are useful chat forums for DVD bargain-hunters.
When buying DVDs, unless your DVD player is a ‘multi-region’ player, make sure they are compatible with your DVD player, most of which are ‘Region 2′ players. Norah Jones’ CD Come Away with Me costs over €20 at HMV in Dublin; but at cdwow.com it’s available for €13. Check out djangos.com for other CD bargains.
Irish websites selling electronic goods at discount rates include elara.ie and komplett.ie, where Sony’s NW-HD1 20GB mp3 player costs €20 less than the €399 paid in Sony shops.
Digital cameras on pixmania.com are far cheaper than in Ireland, ditto at pricerunner.com and kelkoo.co.uk.
MISCELLANEOUS: Books are far cheaper to buy online than in store, but usually only if you buy several at a time.
Otherwise, we found savings on the two of the big Christmas titles almost wiped out by the €3.50 delivery charge, the Guinness Book of World Records 2005 coming in at €6 less than Eason’s €20 on amazon.com and Bob Dylan’s Chronicles autobiography just €1.70 less than Eason’s €20.50.
Amazon’s US site, amazon.com is often cheaper than its UK site, amazon.co.uk, especially now that the dollar is very weak.
Discount shops, such as Reads of Nassau Street, Dublin, offer cheaper alternatives to the major bookstores. There, the Guinness Book of World Records is €17.24, almost €3 cheaper than Easons. And Bob Dylan’s autobiography is €15.74, nearly €5 cheaper than Easons.
Bookbrain.co.uk, described by the Financial Times as “an invaluable site”, compares book prices across 14 online providers.
One contributor to the forum askaboutmoney.com claimed to have paid just €38, with free delivery, for 100ml of Calvin Klein Eternity after-shave from strawberrynet.com, while it costs €63 at Boots.
Going North may be cheaper. We found the Hot Wheels T-Rex Play Set for boys at Toys R Us Belfast for €7.05 less than the €49.95 Toymaster Dublin asks. However, Toys R Us worked out at marginally more for girls coveted Lil Bratz set, at £19.99, than €29.99 here.
Equally, there’s just €1.08 to be saved on Cecilia Ahern’s No 1 bestseller in Eason’s Belfast, compared to Eason’s discounted Republic price of €12.50.
Orla O’Sullivan also contributed to this story.
June 30, 2008
Irish Independent
Eddie Lennon, September 24th, 2004
We are changing our drinking habits now, opting for home rather than the pub
LAST week the national publicans’ body, the Vintners Federation of Ireland, described criticism of the price of drink as “totally unjustified”.
That view will certainly be a source of bemusement, if not amusement, to the many pub-goers in Ireland. But why is the price of the pint so extraordinarily high?
In March 2002, Diageo raised the price per pint of its draught products (Carlsberg, Budweiser, Harp, Smithwicks, Kilkenny and Cashel’s cider) by 4c. It did the same in March of last year, and raised the price again by 6c last June.
According to a spokesperson for Diageo, “most pubs translated the June price rise into an increase of between 10c and 15c”.
The Irish Brewers Association, which is part of IBEC and represents Ireland’s four major brewers, recently gave a breakdown of how the price of a pint is shared between the three main players: the brewer, the publican and the Exchequer.
The average price of a pint at the end of 2003 was €3.42. Of that, the brewers get 85c, the Exchequer gets €1.07 (in excise and VAT) and the publican gets €1.50, according to the Association, quoting figures from the Central Statistics Office.
In 1997, the publican got 39pc of the price of a pint; today they get 43pc.
Vintners Federation of Ireland spokesman David Hickey says that, while anti-competitive regulations prevent publicans from increasing prices en masse, publicans have hiked their prices in tandem with increases in the Budget and by the breweries “to protect our margins; otherwise we lose out”.
Paddy Jordan, director of the Irish Brewers Association, says publicans put up their prices more often than brewers do. This is largely the reason why the publicans’ slice of the action has increased by 5pc in the past seven years. If the Exchequer’s take is excluded, it emerges that the publican gets almost two-thirds (64pc) of the non-tax price of a pint, with the brewer getting just 36pc.
Vintners Federation chief executive Tadg O’Sullivan says that, with a raft of heavy and spiralling overheads including staff costs, tax, insurance and rates, publicans’ net profit is just 0.5pc.
However, this is contradicted by one leading publican, who asked not to be named. He says publicans’ net profit (after all liabilities) varies from nil to 10pc, depending on overdraft repayments, turnover and general cost control.
Dermott Jewell, chief executive of the Consumers Association of Ireland, believes publicans are going too far by invariably meeting price increases from the brewers with their own price hikes. “It’s an unwritten law.”
“If you look at the prices they have been charging for soft drinks and quarter bottles of wine, there is more than enough room for them to absorb at least some of the brewers’ price increases.”
Mr Jewell says publicans are now paying the price for their regular price increase. “Even before the smoking ban, they had seen a big loss of custom because customers could not afford the prices. People have changed their habits; they drink more wine and beer at home.”
Director of Consumer Affairs, Carmel Foley says: “The average pub customer gazes in disbelief at the prices achieved at auction for pubs, which seem to suggest that the returns publicans are getting are greater than other retailers.”
“Publicans are a privileged group: they hold a licence from the State and there are no more new licences given.” She believes pubs should be deregulated, with safeguards against the ongoing problem of alcohol abuse.
According to Diarmuid MacShane of consumer awareness website www.valueireland.com: “The high charges we’re suffering in pubs is definitely shameful profiteering by publicans. The treatment they mete out to their customers (via badly maintained toilets and service and rudeness from staff) stinks of crass disregard for their customers.
We asked the Licensed Vintners Association, which represents publicans in Dublin and Bray, to respond. They declined to comment.
