Beat the rip-off merchants! Brenda McNally rounds up the top ten rip-offs to watch out for.

 

From banking errors and dodgy billing practices to straightforward overcharging, big business has little hesitation about squeezing Irish consumers. Fortunately, industry watchdogs and consumer groups are flexing their muscles on our behalf.

But if you really don’t want to be ripped off in 2008, don’t repeat the mistakes of the past.

Take a look at our list of the top 10 ways consumers were ripped off in 2007 and, if you think you’ve been overcharged, don’t just pay whatever price you’re asked: exercise your vocal chords, query the bill and complain.

 

They charge incredible sums to manage and administer our accounts but, for some reason, financial institutions regularly appear unable to do the math. Again and again in 2007, banks topped the list of companies that overcharged customers vast sums through exaggerated bills caused by accounting errors.

On the positive side, internal reviews meant that many customers were informed about the mistakes and will receive refunds.

If your statement doesn’t add up, though, don’t wait for an ‘internal review’ to get your money back. It costs nothing to get your bill checked over again, but can cost far more not to.

 

Banks may have led the way in ripping off unsuspecting customers in 2007 but they weren’t alone.

While the financial institutions were able to spot their mistakes, watchdogs had to take some other companies to task. Giving new meaning to the phrase ‘daylight robbery’, the ESB was ordered to repay money taken from consumers as a result of overcharging on estimated bills.

According to the Sunday Independent, up to 100,000 ESB customers are to receive refunds following an investigation by the energy regulator.
The regulator found that customers who received estimated accounts after a price increase in 2007 were overcharged.

As a result of a flawed billing system, customers were forced to pay for electricity at increased unit prices, even though the electricity was used at a time of lower prices.

Other high profile companies caught out this year include Eircom and Quinn Insurance. Eircom confirmed that half a million calls to free phone numbers and competition lines from land lines were incorrectly charged on bills to over 100,000 customers between April 24 and May 17 last year.

The last serious case of overcharging in 2007 involved Quinn Insurance, one of the largest motor insurers in Ireland. The company has said it will pay back refunds totaling €293,000 to 13,000 policy holders that it had short-changed over five years.

 

Iarnród Éireann is one of the first companies to hit consumers with a hefty stealth hike in 2008. The company plans to significantly expand the number of pay-parking places at their stations nationwide.

As a result, thousands of motorists who leave their cars at train stations before commuting to work face extra charges that could drive up the cost of travelling to work by hundreds of euro a year. The company introduced the new charges at four stations in 2007 and has said it will add dozens more in 2008.

The big problem is that this charge, unlike commuter fares, is unregulated. So while it might add a bearable €260 at first (Iarnród Éireann is charging €2 per day for the parking facilities with a weekly pass costing €5), motorists face the prospect of ever-increasing charges.

 

We all know that it’s good to talk: so much so that Ireland comes top of the class when it comes to owning a mobile phone. But why does it cost so much more for Irish consumers compared to our European friends?

We pay nearly €200 more a year to talk on our mobiles than other phone-fans in the European Union. The average revenue per user across the Irish networks in the second quarter of 2007 was €44.07 per month, while the average across the EU was €29.40.

Mobile companies defend the charges by putting it down to our gift of the gab. But that doesn’t hold water. The French, for example, spend more time talking on their phones than we do, but still end up spending only €34.66 every month.

So why does it cost us so much more? It’s not too hard to avoid paying extra – milk bonuses like free web texts and discounted ‘friends’ rates for all they’re worth this year, and watch your bill come tumbling down.

 

If there was ever any doubt that we’re too polite or shy to complain about shoddy service or bills that don’t add up, then our ability to stomach the mind-boggling overcharging at the garage blows it out of the water.

If you’re an unsuspecting motorist who doesn’t complain or know how or what to query on the bill, a service that’s been quoted to you as costing €400 can quickly mount up to €900.

Top tricks that garages can use to increase costs include ‘labour charges’ for small jobs such as changing a light bulb, charging for more brake fluid than your car can take, and the pretence that all work carried out during a service will be included in the initial quote.

The problem is that many of these extra charges are hard to spot and, if queried, they can easily put down to ‘clerical’ error.

Remember that a service is a private contract and you can dispute the bill. Check what the service includes and doesn’t include, shopping around wherever possible for the best price.

 

With the highest level of movie-going in the EU, the Irish public has become an easy target for cinema owners. Almost 350,000 of us go to the cinema each week according to Carlton Screen Advertising and Irish consumers spent €17.8 million at the box office in 2006.

But instead of rewarding us for our loyalty, ticket prices are on the rise. A Sunday Times survey in 2007 found that the cost of a trip to the movies has risen by as much as 30 per cent in little more than two years.

Most cinemas now charge between €8.50 and €9.70 for an adult ticket in the evening. To add insult to injury, many cinemas include an extra fee if tickets are booked in advance with a credit card. And, following in the footsteps of Ryanair and Ticketmaster, online booking charges are now regularly levied per ticket rather than per transaction.

As if the over-inflated basic costs weren’t enough to put cinema-goers off, extras such as popcorn and soft drinks now cost almost as much as the tickets.

A large bucket of popcorn, for example, costs at least €5 in most Dublin cinemas, while a large soft drink can be as much as €3.80. All of these little rip-offs add up, making a trip to the cinema an unforgettable experience for all the wrong reasons.

 

Locall (1890) and Callsave (1850) telephone numbers look like a cost-saving option on paper, but that’s not the case for all of us. Irish consumers who are signed up to special telephone and mobile packages are needlessly paying up to €5 a time to ring ‘low cost’ telephone numbers.

This is because these numbers are excluded from the popular mobile and landline phone deals with exclusive minutes. The Consumers’ Association of Ireland (CAI) has highlighted the issue, calling on phone companies to include 1890 or 1850 numbers in their deals.

It has also said that firms with 1850, 1890 and 0818 numbers should do more to make their customers aware of how to make their calls cheaper.

If you’re on a special telephone package, make sure to check how much Locall and Callsave will cost you – if they cost more, try to find out the ordinary number for whatever company you’re looking to call. Why hold...

 

With more than half a million homeowners now living in apartments and multi-unit dwellings, charges from property management companies have left many homeowners out of pocket and with nowhere to turn.

The National Consumer Agency (NCA) investigated the sector and raised concerns that some apartment owners are paying over the odds.

But while complaints about poor value for money from Property Management Fees are often valid, there is little alternative for consumers as common areas and buildings all need to be maintained.

The big issue, according to the NCA, is that the area is unregulated and the unscrupulous have free reign as a result. Regulation for the sector is on the cards, but the new National Property Services Regulatory Authority (NPSRA) is unlikely to be up and running for another two years.

Until then, hard-pressed homeowners will continue to be legally obliged to pay annual fees set by management companies and property management agents without being able to question the charges.

 

While it should cut the queues, the barrier-free tolling on the M50 is set to become the start of another headache for motorists. the NCA has objected to the plans to charge motorists almost 60 per cent more when it comes into operation in August 2008.

Occasional motorists and those who fail to pre-register their car will be most affected by the change. But costs for drivers who use the tags have also come in for criticism.

The NCA has accused the National Roads Authority of seeking to impose additional hidden tolls through administration charges, top-up thresholds and minimum top-up amounts.

For a car equipped with an electronic tag, the current WestLink toll of €1.90 will rise to €2 when electronic tolling is introduced, an increase of 5.3 per cent. However, motorists who choose to pay by pre-registering their vehicle and providing card details will have to pay €2.50, an increase of 31.6 per cent.
Road-users who do not pre- register their car will have to pay €3, an increase of 57.9 per cent on the current tariff.

 

Let’s not forget slippery anti-consumer practices. Dual pricing, which sees clothes confusingly labeled with a sterling and Euro price (and the lower sterling price typically the most prominent) is top of many people’s pet hates.

More annoying still, there’s evidence of serious ‘padding’ that leaves us out of pocket if you apply the actual rate of exchange. Inflated charges for international books and magazines (some of which can be 30 to 40 per cent more than in the original currency) is another annoying practice that, even allowing for Irish taxes and the cost of importing, is markedly unfair.

Similarly, handling fees for online transactions and surcharges on credit card purchases tick many people off.

Companies will claim that these aren’t rip offs as we’re informed about them before buying –in theory, we can decide whether or not to engage with the business or not.

But the big problem is that, with many of these services and transactions, there’s no way to avoid an extra charge. It’s a case of paying the excess, the handling charge, the inflated currency conversion or nothing.

 

You can beat the trap if you dial the ordinary landline numbers of companies: these should be listed on their websites or in telephone books alongside their 1890, 1850 and 0818 numbers. You can take down these numbers for a start:

 

AIB Phone Banking: 1890 242424 – use 01 6670024

Bank Of Ireland Phone Banking: 1890 365 365 – use 01 4044470

Bord Gais Energy Supply: 1850 632 632 – use 01 8190395

ESB Customer Supply: 1850 372 372 – use 01 8529534

VHI: 1850 44 44 44 – use 056 7753200

VIVAS Call Centre: 1850 71 77 17 – use 056 7753200

Ticketmaster Ireland: 0818 719300 – use 01 4569569.