H&M added to the “dual pricing rip off” hall of shame
This e-mail came through recently.
I have just returned from a shopping expedition with my wife and 2 daughters in Dublin city centre. My daughters are very fond of H+M and I also found 3 pairs of trousers that I liked. The Sterling price of the trousers per pair was £19.99 and the Euro price was €29.99. I’m absolutely flabbergasted by the extortionate exchange rate that is continually used by H+M since the Euro is now trading at 0.876397 which gives these trousers a Euro price of €22.80 if the true exchange rate were used. This exchange rate has been hovering around the 0.87 to 0.89 mark for some time.
A simple question must be asked. Why are H+M over charging the already hard pressed Irish consumer a whopping 32% more than their English counterparts? The answer I suspect is because they can. To add further insult, that wouldn’t take Sterling cash ( which I didn’t have anyway) for the Sterling price shown on the price tag. This just proves that it’s a carefully orchestrated pricing policy.
Any ideas on how to have this criminal practice highlighted would be appreciated.
A common topic from ValueIreland.com readers, but this reader has answered his own question – these shops charge these prices because they can, and because unfortunately there are still Irish consumers out there who’ll pay what’s asked unquestioningly.
One Comment
Spot on really this kind of Rip Off.
UCD computer scientist Barry Smyth has done some interesting analysis comparing the Sterling and Euro prices of Ikea, Argus and Halfords. Ikea’s difference is solely down to the VAT difference but Argus and Halford are ripping us off – Argos are 17% more expensive.
http://dejavu6.ucd.ie/2009/08/12/rip-off-republic-revisited/