Latex lizzie
Well-Known Member
http://www.ripoff.ie/ripoff_stories.html
see also http://www.valueireland.com/ (I'm not particularly a fan of Fein Gayle, but this is a great idea)
Since our launch in November last year, ripoff.ie has received thousands of hits and hundreds of e-mails from people who are tired of being ripped off. Here are just some of your horror stories-
1. Low Fat, High Cost
A visitor to ripoff.ie questioned why, in these health conscious times, was the "low fat" version of a well-known brand of crisps about 17% dearer than the high fat version.
2. Coat Tale
We received reports that a nightclub in Dublin now tells its patrons that they must put their coats and bags in the cloakroom - at a cost of €2 for every item.
3. Van Transit
A ripped off customer informed us that she hired a transit van to move some furniture and was told by the hire company the cost would come to €93 with the first 100 miles free and "a charge of 12c per mile after that". However, upon return of the van she was informed- for the first time- that she would also have to pay €23 for petrol, including that used in the first 100 miles of her journey.
4. Big Bucks Fizz
One sober Dubliner told us that by the time he had paid the entrance fee to a local pub and bought just one glass of cola, he had forked out €11.50.
5. Next time I'll Book Direct
Reports that a so-called low fares airline may be cutting prices on flights but is fleecing its customers when it comes to hotels. The price quoted for a night in a British hotel on the airline’s website was €41 more than the price being quoted directly by the hotel.
6. Virus Alert
Ripoff.ie warns all customers to protect their PCs from viruses that install auto diallers on their computers. These diallers, unbeknownst to the PC owner, dial premium rate numbers (often located in remote countries) and charge customers astronomical per minute rates. The duped customers then face massive phone bills. ComReg is taking action but nothing is certain. Ripoff.ie also calls on telephone service providers to cut their customers a little slack when they are faced with such huge bills.
7. Fowl Play
A ripped-off, health-conscious customer was charged €18.64 for a small organic chicken in their local Supermarket.
8. Taking the...
A Wexford petrol station is charging customers 30 cent...to use the toilet.
9. Eyesore
An optician charged a ripped-off customer €6 postage when sending a new pair of frames to her home. On inspection, the total value of the stamps affixed to the package was €1.44.
10. Funny Money
We have received a report of a travel agent which also sells foreign currency at a price that differs from the electronic display in their window. The explanation offered was that the electronic display was "broken".
11. Clip Off
A driver seeking to have his electric window mechanism fixed was quoted 34c for the necessary plastic clip and €101 for the labour. They refused to sell him the clip only.
12. Load of Rubbish
The cost of hiring a small skip in Co Wicklow- €162. One unhappy customer emailed us to say that 16 days - and 8 phonecalls- later, the skip still hasn't been removed. He also found out that the price of a similar skip in the UK is around one third the price.
13. Wish We Were There
The price of a coffee and tart in the Potzdamer Platz in Berlin? €2.55. The price in a coffee shop in Clonmacnoise? €5.30.
14. Please Welcome Your Host…
A small business owner looking to set up a website has been quoted €100 to €300 by companies willing to host the site. The price being quoted by a British company was around €30.
15. Bringing Home the Bacon
Despite being marked at €2.19, a convenience store charged one ripped off customer €3.15 for a pack of rashers when he got to the checkout.
16. Car-azy
One ripoff.ie visitor paid €19,000 for his new car. Later, his kind friend emailed him a link to a German car dealer who was charging €10,500 for the same vehicle.
17. Ferry Expensive
A leading ferry company is charging passengers from Belfast to Stranraer €199 for a 5-day return ticket. Passengers from Dun Laoighaire to Hollyhead pay €309.
18.Holy Cow!
A restuarant in Dublin was charging almost €34 for a small steak and 8 chips.
19. Cheque the Facts
A major bank charges 20 cent for every cheque lodged to an account, even if a number of cheques are lodged at the same time. We cannot figure out the extra work involved in lodging ten cheques compared with lodging one- if the banking sector can explain, please contact us.
20. Call Me Back.
A directory enquiries service insists callers who seek more than one number hang up and call again. We suggest they change their name to Directory Enquiry.
21. Wine Fine
A couple planning their wedding were told by a hotel that if they supplied their own wine they would be charged €10.50 corkage per bottle.Update; We have received reports of a hotel in Wicklow charging an astounding €20 corkage per bottle.
22. Bell Hell
New homeowners who emailed ripoff.ie complained that the builders requested €70 to install the necessary wiring for a doorbell.
23. A lot of bread…
The cost of toasting two slices of bread in a Dublin hotel? €2. That's the extra cost if you want the chicken sandwich they sell toasted.
24. Eggs-traordinary
At €7.75 for a small piece of quiche, Galway City makes it the most expensive place we know to tuck into this particular dish.
25. Cheers!
We have been informed that the cost of a bottle of Irish Whiskey - distilled and bottled in this country- is cheaper in Boston Duty Free than in Irish airports.
26. Taxi Grab
Reports from Westport that a taxi driver has no problem stopping to let other passengers into an already occupied cab and charges €14 for a journey of less than two miles.
27. Whipped Off
Reports from Donegal that a tea shop is charging €3 for a cup of tea, €4 for a slice of apple pie and a whopping €2 for a dollop of whipped cream.
28. Fit for a bargain
A treadmill was found on sale in the UK for €1600 less than it costs here in Ireland.
29. Screwed
A high-tech corkscrew available in Australia for less than €25 was spotted on sale in Ireland for an amazing €175.
30. Appalling Apples
Reports from Dublin of an apple that costs 75 cents. If anyone has been charged more let us know.
31. Just Married- Unjust Charges
A newly-wed who applied to have the name on her passport changed was charged €60 for the service.
32. Dear Thomas
One parent who regularly travels to Seattle in the US purchases Thomas the Tank Engine trains for his children at half the price he must pay here.
33. Printer Problems
One man told us he saved €100 on a printer for his computer that he was about to buy in Dublin by logging on to a German website and purchasing it online.
34. Suite Deal
The price of a leather suite of furniture in a Dundalk furniture store was €5995. The same suite was on sale in Newry- 13 miles away- for €3700.
35. Love Is…Expensive
One unhappy lover told us they were charged €9 for a 10" x 3", no frills, no music, plain cardboard Valentines card in a shop in Dun Laoghaire.
36. The American Dream
A pair of branded jeans retailing in the United States for €33 was spotted on sale in Ireland for €80.
37. Net Loss
A young web surfer told us he was disconnected from a 'No Limits' internet service because he was deemed to have used it to much. Another internet customer was told that the first month of his newly purchased broadband subscription was free- and then found out it would take two weeks for the hardware to be delivered and longer still to receive his username and password.
38. Sacre Bleu!
A holidaymaker told us he was quoted €1760 for a two-week family holiday at a French campsite by a Cork travel agency. He booked directly for €880.
39. Unhappy meal
A parent was charged €6.25 for three sausages and some chips for a hungry youngster. Another ripoff.ie visitor complained that they were charged 30c for a dollop of ketchup in a Dublin café.
40. Cheaper Down Under
An Irish van driver was quoted €4000 to insure his vehicle. He insured it for €90 in Australia.
41. Enough to give you toothache
Dental work that costs €1600 in the Republic was performed in Enniskillen for only €270.
42. Paying through the nose
A nasal spray retailing in a Bettystown pharmacist for €32 was on sale in the North for around €10.
43. To cap it all
A replacement cap for a €60 roller ball pen was priced at €23, according to one unhappy customer, who chose to e-mail, not write, to us.
44. You pay for the service
Of the many complaints we received on car services we heard from one ripped off customer was charged €690 for a standard service for her car.
45. Probably the most expensive lager in the country
We received a report of a bottle of branded beer on sale in a Dublin bar for €5.60.
46. Have your cake and pay for it
2 small cakes and a pot of tea were sold for €10.10 in one café in a shopping centre in the East of the country.
47. Keep Taking The Tablets
We were told that the price of a packet of 30 aspirin tablets varies from just 27 cents in Gorey to a whopping €3.08 in a pharmacy in Tallaght.
48. Mobile Madness…
A mobile phone handset retailing for €99 here is available free to UK customers on the same company's British website.
49. …Sambo Sadness
According to one hungry customer, a sandwich store in Dublin decided not to raise its prices. Instead it reduced costs by cutting the slices of meat it puts in its sandwich by half.
50. Rug Rip Off
A rug bought for €708 in a city store was seen on sale in the suburbs for €530.
see also http://www.valueireland.com/ (I'm not particularly a fan of Fein Gayle, but this is a great idea)
Since our launch in November last year, ripoff.ie has received thousands of hits and hundreds of e-mails from people who are tired of being ripped off. Here are just some of your horror stories-
1. Low Fat, High Cost
A visitor to ripoff.ie questioned why, in these health conscious times, was the "low fat" version of a well-known brand of crisps about 17% dearer than the high fat version.
2. Coat Tale
We received reports that a nightclub in Dublin now tells its patrons that they must put their coats and bags in the cloakroom - at a cost of €2 for every item.
3. Van Transit
A ripped off customer informed us that she hired a transit van to move some furniture and was told by the hire company the cost would come to €93 with the first 100 miles free and "a charge of 12c per mile after that". However, upon return of the van she was informed- for the first time- that she would also have to pay €23 for petrol, including that used in the first 100 miles of her journey.
4. Big Bucks Fizz
One sober Dubliner told us that by the time he had paid the entrance fee to a local pub and bought just one glass of cola, he had forked out €11.50.
5. Next time I'll Book Direct
Reports that a so-called low fares airline may be cutting prices on flights but is fleecing its customers when it comes to hotels. The price quoted for a night in a British hotel on the airline’s website was €41 more than the price being quoted directly by the hotel.
6. Virus Alert
Ripoff.ie warns all customers to protect their PCs from viruses that install auto diallers on their computers. These diallers, unbeknownst to the PC owner, dial premium rate numbers (often located in remote countries) and charge customers astronomical per minute rates. The duped customers then face massive phone bills. ComReg is taking action but nothing is certain. Ripoff.ie also calls on telephone service providers to cut their customers a little slack when they are faced with such huge bills.
7. Fowl Play
A ripped-off, health-conscious customer was charged €18.64 for a small organic chicken in their local Supermarket.
8. Taking the...
A Wexford petrol station is charging customers 30 cent...to use the toilet.
9. Eyesore
An optician charged a ripped-off customer €6 postage when sending a new pair of frames to her home. On inspection, the total value of the stamps affixed to the package was €1.44.
10. Funny Money
We have received a report of a travel agent which also sells foreign currency at a price that differs from the electronic display in their window. The explanation offered was that the electronic display was "broken".
11. Clip Off
A driver seeking to have his electric window mechanism fixed was quoted 34c for the necessary plastic clip and €101 for the labour. They refused to sell him the clip only.
12. Load of Rubbish
The cost of hiring a small skip in Co Wicklow- €162. One unhappy customer emailed us to say that 16 days - and 8 phonecalls- later, the skip still hasn't been removed. He also found out that the price of a similar skip in the UK is around one third the price.
13. Wish We Were There
The price of a coffee and tart in the Potzdamer Platz in Berlin? €2.55. The price in a coffee shop in Clonmacnoise? €5.30.
14. Please Welcome Your Host…
A small business owner looking to set up a website has been quoted €100 to €300 by companies willing to host the site. The price being quoted by a British company was around €30.
15. Bringing Home the Bacon
Despite being marked at €2.19, a convenience store charged one ripped off customer €3.15 for a pack of rashers when he got to the checkout.
16. Car-azy
One ripoff.ie visitor paid €19,000 for his new car. Later, his kind friend emailed him a link to a German car dealer who was charging €10,500 for the same vehicle.
17. Ferry Expensive
A leading ferry company is charging passengers from Belfast to Stranraer €199 for a 5-day return ticket. Passengers from Dun Laoighaire to Hollyhead pay €309.
18.Holy Cow!
A restuarant in Dublin was charging almost €34 for a small steak and 8 chips.
19. Cheque the Facts
A major bank charges 20 cent for every cheque lodged to an account, even if a number of cheques are lodged at the same time. We cannot figure out the extra work involved in lodging ten cheques compared with lodging one- if the banking sector can explain, please contact us.
20. Call Me Back.
A directory enquiries service insists callers who seek more than one number hang up and call again. We suggest they change their name to Directory Enquiry.
21. Wine Fine
A couple planning their wedding were told by a hotel that if they supplied their own wine they would be charged €10.50 corkage per bottle.Update; We have received reports of a hotel in Wicklow charging an astounding €20 corkage per bottle.
22. Bell Hell
New homeowners who emailed ripoff.ie complained that the builders requested €70 to install the necessary wiring for a doorbell.
23. A lot of bread…
The cost of toasting two slices of bread in a Dublin hotel? €2. That's the extra cost if you want the chicken sandwich they sell toasted.
24. Eggs-traordinary
At €7.75 for a small piece of quiche, Galway City makes it the most expensive place we know to tuck into this particular dish.
25. Cheers!
We have been informed that the cost of a bottle of Irish Whiskey - distilled and bottled in this country- is cheaper in Boston Duty Free than in Irish airports.
26. Taxi Grab
Reports from Westport that a taxi driver has no problem stopping to let other passengers into an already occupied cab and charges €14 for a journey of less than two miles.
27. Whipped Off
Reports from Donegal that a tea shop is charging €3 for a cup of tea, €4 for a slice of apple pie and a whopping €2 for a dollop of whipped cream.
28. Fit for a bargain
A treadmill was found on sale in the UK for €1600 less than it costs here in Ireland.
29. Screwed
A high-tech corkscrew available in Australia for less than €25 was spotted on sale in Ireland for an amazing €175.
30. Appalling Apples
Reports from Dublin of an apple that costs 75 cents. If anyone has been charged more let us know.
31. Just Married- Unjust Charges
A newly-wed who applied to have the name on her passport changed was charged €60 for the service.
32. Dear Thomas
One parent who regularly travels to Seattle in the US purchases Thomas the Tank Engine trains for his children at half the price he must pay here.
33. Printer Problems
One man told us he saved €100 on a printer for his computer that he was about to buy in Dublin by logging on to a German website and purchasing it online.
34. Suite Deal
The price of a leather suite of furniture in a Dundalk furniture store was €5995. The same suite was on sale in Newry- 13 miles away- for €3700.
35. Love Is…Expensive
One unhappy lover told us they were charged €9 for a 10" x 3", no frills, no music, plain cardboard Valentines card in a shop in Dun Laoghaire.
36. The American Dream
A pair of branded jeans retailing in the United States for €33 was spotted on sale in Ireland for €80.
37. Net Loss
A young web surfer told us he was disconnected from a 'No Limits' internet service because he was deemed to have used it to much. Another internet customer was told that the first month of his newly purchased broadband subscription was free- and then found out it would take two weeks for the hardware to be delivered and longer still to receive his username and password.
38. Sacre Bleu!
A holidaymaker told us he was quoted €1760 for a two-week family holiday at a French campsite by a Cork travel agency. He booked directly for €880.
39. Unhappy meal
A parent was charged €6.25 for three sausages and some chips for a hungry youngster. Another ripoff.ie visitor complained that they were charged 30c for a dollop of ketchup in a Dublin café.
40. Cheaper Down Under
An Irish van driver was quoted €4000 to insure his vehicle. He insured it for €90 in Australia.
41. Enough to give you toothache
Dental work that costs €1600 in the Republic was performed in Enniskillen for only €270.
42. Paying through the nose
A nasal spray retailing in a Bettystown pharmacist for €32 was on sale in the North for around €10.
43. To cap it all
A replacement cap for a €60 roller ball pen was priced at €23, according to one unhappy customer, who chose to e-mail, not write, to us.
44. You pay for the service
Of the many complaints we received on car services we heard from one ripped off customer was charged €690 for a standard service for her car.
45. Probably the most expensive lager in the country
We received a report of a bottle of branded beer on sale in a Dublin bar for €5.60.
46. Have your cake and pay for it
2 small cakes and a pot of tea were sold for €10.10 in one café in a shopping centre in the East of the country.
47. Keep Taking The Tablets
We were told that the price of a packet of 30 aspirin tablets varies from just 27 cents in Gorey to a whopping €3.08 in a pharmacy in Tallaght.
48. Mobile Madness…
A mobile phone handset retailing for €99 here is available free to UK customers on the same company's British website.
49. …Sambo Sadness
According to one hungry customer, a sandwich store in Dublin decided not to raise its prices. Instead it reduced costs by cutting the slices of meat it puts in its sandwich by half.
50. Rug Rip Off
A rug bought for €708 in a city store was seen on sale in the suburbs for €530.
