Rip off Ireland dead?

Ghandee

Lads, is Rip off Ireland dead, or on 3 knees or what?

Seems to be less and less rip off stories these days!

I'm certainly not complaining though......

stepbar

Gucky wrote: »

Lads, is Rip off Ireland dead, or on 3 knees or what?

Seems to be less and less rip off stories these days!

I'm certainly not complaining though......

Far from it, like a good wasp it dies slowly.

Mr_Roger_Bongos

Gucky wrote: »

Lads, is Rip off Ireland dead, or on 3 knees or what?

Seems to be less and less rip off stories these days!

I'm certainly not complaining though......

Rip Off Ireland hasn't even cut it's knee, never mind lost a leg! Example;

Two Firestone tyres for a Golf -
€97 including balancing and rotation (average price from 3 places).
Price in 'Tyre Safety Centre', Cookstown, N.Ireland £48.:mad:

8 Gillette Mac 3 razor Blades -
€18 in Tesco
£9 in Tesco Northern Ireland. :mad:

Tyres and Razor blades are surely imported in the hundreds of thousands. The tyres were sourced from places in northside dublin suburbs/industrial estates - overheads do not justify the prices.

Im SICK of being ripped off.

MistyCheese

Well, nine times out of ten when someone posts to say "This is a rip-off" they are told "That's not a rip-off, they didn't hold you down, take your wallet and force the product on you so it's not a rip-off" so people have probably stopped bothering to post at all.

Mr_Roger_Bongos

Maybe P&G Unilever and the other masters of consumer products in the supermarkets have gotten together to employ a team of detractors who post on the internet saying "that's not a rip-off at all!"

TheGooseLicker

Hrrrmmm,

It's on the way out that's for sure... Anyone got a new name?

danmanw8

I think People have just become immune to stories of things being cheaper up north etc.

Plus the Táiniste told us it was unpatriotic to be spending money in that part of Ireland so people just stopped telling us about the great bargains they got in Newry. They are still going up there though!!! Compare prices on the websites of Lidl, Argos, Next, Optical Express etc etc etc etc...then you'll realise that Rip off Ireland is roaring like a lion (......as opposed to a celtic tiger)

Lando Griffin

With the recession well and truly over and good riddance to it, Rip off Ireland will be back some day.

TheGooseLicker

Lando Griffin wrote: »

With the recession well and truly over and good riddance to it, Rip off Ireland will be back some day.

ha not sure about that just yet:eek:

Mr_Roger_Bongos

Lando Griffin wrote: »

With the recession well and truly over and good riddance to it, Rip off Ireland will be back some day.

IT NEVER WENT AWAY!

91011

Mr_Roger_Bongos wrote: »

Rip Off Ireland hasn't even cut it's knee, never mind lost a leg! Example;

Two Firestone tyres for a Golf -
€97 including balancing and rotation (average price from 3 places).
Price in 'Tyre Safety Centre', Cookstown, N.Ireland £48.:mad:

8 Gillette Mac 3 razor Blades -
€18 in Tesco
£9 in Tesco Northern Ireland. :mad:


Im SICK of being ripped off.

Gillette Mach 3 Cartridges 8'S






€14.25 (€1.79/each)
Tesco



£9.90 in Tesco NI - bit of difference but certainly not the 80% you stated. Now how correct vare the tyre prices. Exact same spec, rating & size compared? - I doubt it.

maybe check out specsavers?

Ghandee

MistyCheese wrote: »

Well, nine times out of ten when someone posts to say "This is a rip-off" they are told "That's not a rip-off, they didn't hold you down, take your wallet and force the product on you so it's not a rip-off" so people have probably stopped bothering to post at all.

Think you have hit the nail on the head there!
Got attacked in a few posts myself for pointing a few rip offs out!

Mr_Roger_Bongos

91011 wrote: »

[

€14.25 (€1.79/each)
Tesco


£9.90 in Tesco NI - bit of difference but certainly not the 80% you stated. Now how correct vare the tyre prices. Exact same spec, rating & size compared? - I doubt it.

maybe check out specsavers?

Where do you get off? I was in Tesco Finglas last week looking for 8 blades and €18 was the shelf price, so my surprise.

Can you tell me how a car would operate with different 'size' tyres? They were the same spec of Firestone that were on my car already.

You definately fall in to the category Gucky describes. Is that you Mary Coughlan? :rolleyes:

deelite

Text to vote in Eurovision (from Ireland) 60 cent per text/call

Text to vote in Eurovision (from UK) 15 pence per text / call

flanzer

Two words...Eircom broadband

/End of Thread

Mr_Roger_Bongos

In before the lock!.....plsu ALL mobile phone operators phone purchase costs/price plans!

Ghandee

Anyone wanting a real laugh/chuckle......

Open up o2.co.Uk and o2.ie and compare their price plans.......


Don't anyone dare comeback and tell me that that's completely different o2 ul have a bigger customer base blahdy blahdy blah!

Their O2!!!!!

A huge organisation, who should/could (but are unwilling) to give us Irish much better price plans.
The highest inclusive minute plan were offered is 600mins.... That's 3 hours folks! Three hours a MONTH??? Don't know about the rest of you, but I be upon mine for 3hrs a DAY! (sales rep)

Victor McDade

Gucky wrote: »

The highest inclusive minute plan were offered is 600mins.... That's 3 hours folks!

Last time I checked 600 minutes was 10 hours

Ghandee

Victor McDade wrote: »

Last time I checked 600 minutes was 10 hours

DOH!!!!

Mmmm, I feel quite stupid! What was I thinking lol!

ejmaztec

Victor McDade wrote: »

Last time I checked 600 minutes was 10 hours

Not in the UK, it isn't. Even our hours are getting ripped off.

borderlinemeath

But comparing things to the UK equivelent isn't "exposing" a rip off!
It's a different country!
I could get on a plane tomorrow and buy a house in bulgaria for a 20th of the price they are here..but it's a different country - I don't work there, pay taxes there, pay rates/state levies etc.

Every country that borders another has price differences and it has always been the way. There has always been cross border shopping in the border counties and depending on the currency rates it has sometime worked both ways.

But for the last couple of years since the Euro has strengthened to be almost on parity with Sterling there are always people who will shout about getting ripped off and head up north to buy everything.

I for one am delighted the Euro is weakening against the dollar and sterling. It makes Ireland more competitive as a base for investment, for exports, for manufacturing.

I still expect the small minded amongst us to be moaning that the trolley full of drink they bought in Newry is working out more expensive because of the exchange rate though:D

MistyCheese

borderlinemeath wrote: »

But comparing things to the UK equivelent isn't "exposing" a rip off!
It's a different country!

True, but if someone were to point out that a product costs €14.95 in Irish stores and £5.99 in the English branches of that store the next 12 posts are all people pointing out that "It's a different country", "you have to take into account the difference in pay rates/state levies etc" "well go there then :rolleyes:" and so on. The difference in operating costs is 6%, so it doesn't work as a blanket excuse for anytime there is a very large difference in price between Ireland and the UK.

borderlinemeath

MistyCheese wrote: »

The difference in operating costs is 6%, so it doesn't work as a blanket excuse for anytime there is a very large difference in price between Ireland and the UK.

:eek:
The difference in purchasing costs may be 6% without taking currency into account but operating costs are far higher here than in the UK..and that is what is making the country uncompetitive.

ejmaztec

There were various times of the year that SuperValu seemed to have across-the-board price increases, and I see that hasn't changed, so I think Rip-off Ireland is alive and kicking.

MistyCheese

borderlinemeath wrote: »

:eek:
The difference in purchasing costs may be 6% without taking currency into account but operating costs are far higher here than in the UK..and that is what is making the country uncompetitive.

No, a study by Forfas, the national advisory body for enterprise and science, revealed that "higher operating costs in Ireland add approximately 5-6 percent to the total cost base of retailers in Dublin versus those operating in Belfast."

borderlinemeath

MistyCheese wrote: »

No, a study by Forfas, the national advisory body for enterprise and science, revealed that "higher operating costs in Ireland add approximately 5-6 percent to the total cost base of retailers in Dublin versus those operating in Belfast."

Nobody working in the retail/service/hospitality sector believed a word of that study when it was released.
It was commissioned by Mary "calamity" Coughlan so she could try and convince retailers that all was fine even though shops were closing down all round due to cross border shopping and increasing overheads.

Almost every shop on Grafton St (that is still open) at the moment is losing money - the majority of shops are considered loss leaders for their brand - ie having a market presence in the most prestigious shopping address to increase brand awareness - not to make a profit.

I used to work for a store that turned over about 2.5m per annum - its actual profit was zero. It was -40K in the red after rent, rates, council taxes, warehousing & transport, payroll and other sundries. :eek:

billybigunz

91011 wrote: »

Gillette Mach 3 Cartridges 8'S






€14.25 (€1.79/each)
Tesco



£9.90 in Tesco NI - bit of difference but certainly not the 80% you stated. Now how correct vare the tyre prices. Exact same spec, rating & size compared? - I doubt it.

maybe check out specsavers?

The 5s were €13.50 last night in tesco. I ended up buying a new razor just for two blades as it was half price.

rubadub

MistyCheese wrote: »

Well, nine times out of ten when someone posts to say "This is a rip-off" they are told "That's not a rip-off, they didn't hold you down, take your wallet and force the product on you so it's not a rip-off" so people have probably stopped bothering to post at all.

Maybe they have copped on it is helping nobody. Bargain alerts is a popular forum, the posts that get those comments you mention are "expensive alerts". Who benefits from being told a mars bar is €1.50? only an utter idiot would pay it. You are correct about 9/10 posts are "expensive alerts" and the true ripoffs were getting lost in all the crap, it is sad as I expect many people have just turned away from these nonsense posts. If you want to be a fool and pay over the odds for stuff I am sure you can still manage it.

borderlinemeath wrote: »

Nobody working in the retail/service/hospitality sector believed a word of that study when it was released.

I don't think many actually read the study, but rather foolishly believed the media.

MistyCheese wrote: »

"higher operating costs in Ireland add approximately 5-6 percent to the total cost base of retailers in Dublin versus those operating in Belfast."

Both the irish times and rte inferred that customers should expect to only pay 5-6% more at the till. While the report said nothing of the sort, its a disgrace that these "journalists" can hold down a job, esp. with licence fee paying these ignorant illiterate morons.

So people who fell for this crap blame the shopkeepers, when in fact the manufacturers wholesale price and be massively different.

Boxes of Pampers nappies that are being sold at €25 to Irish retailers are available for €10 in Britain. The Sunday Business Post sourced cases of Coca-Cola that typically sell for €9 in Ireland for €5.60 (»5) in Britain...

‘‘The recent Forfás report on retail costs outlined that 75 to 80 per cent of cost is the cost of supply, while 20 to 25 per cent is operating costs, including labour and Vat. Yet our government and industry commentators have spent their time analysing the operating cost bill and neglected to notice the elephant in the room: the excessive cost of supply.”

http://www.sbpost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=NEWS+FEATURES-qqqm=nav-qqqid=39196-qqqx=1.asp

You will see the likes of tesco sell Irish coke in supermarkets. Some manufacturers will have control over shops.

MistyCheese

If people wish to look at a study and say "Pah, So? I don't believe it!" then I have nothing more to say really, you've made up your own, eh, minds.

BostonB

Priced brake pads for the bicycle. One bike sho shop was €6 the next €12. Go into any Spar and price stuff compared to say Tesco. Things like biscuits can be €1.50 in Tesco and €4 in Spar.

Rip off Ireland is still there. Maybe people just aren't buying much these days though to notice.

PCPhoto

rubadub wrote: »

Maybe they have copped on it is helping nobody. Bargain alerts is a popular forum, the posts that get those comments you mention are "expensive alerts". Who benefits from being told a mars bar is €1.50? only an utter idiot would pay it. You are correct about 9/10 posts are "expensive alerts" and the true ripoffs were getting lost in all the crap, it is sad as I expect many people have just turned away from these nonsense posts. If you want to be a fool and pay over the odds for stuff I am sure you can still manage it.

I don't think many actually read the study, but rather foolishly believed the media.

Both the irish times and rte inferred that customers should expect to only pay 5-6% more at the till. While the report said nothing of the sort, its a disgrace that these "journalists" can hold down a job, esp. with licence fee paying these ignorant illiterate morons.

So people who fell for this crap blame the shopkeepers, when in fact the manufacturers wholesale price and be massively different.

http://www.sbpost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=NEWS+FEATURES-qqqm=nav-qqqid=39196-qqqx=1.asp

You will see the likes of tesco sell Irish coke in supermarkets. Some manufacturers will have control over shops.

its like this in every part of Irish industry .... the wholesaler wants to make a bit extra in Ireland - as he/she is possibly an exclusive UK&Ireland distributor...... then everyone else below the wholesaler increases their costs (and adds on a bit to maximise profit) .... by the time it reaches the shelves......its completely overpriced !!!

only way to stop it... is to purchase the cheapest possible brand and in time the more expensive ones will disappear ...or lower their prices.

rubadub

MistyCheese wrote: »

If people wish to look at a study and say "Pah, So? I don't believe it!"

I did read most of it, and did believe all I read, there was nothing very shocking in it. I am not sure what it really set out to prove TBH.

As I said RTE & the Irish Times wrongly interpreted it to conclude goods should cost 5-6% more at the till. This is what I do not believe -lying sensationalist scumbag journalists. The study never implied this in any way.

then I have nothing more to say really, you've made up your own, eh, minds

Seems some people let the lying press make up their minds. They should really bother to read the actual report.

only way to stop it... is to purchase the cheapest possible brand and in time the more expensive ones will disappear

Or buy from other markets, or retailers who source elsewhere. Many people do resort to buying lots of stuff online. Some smaller retailers can also get away with grey area imports, like chippers selling coke sourced from the UK or elsewhere. Supervalue sometimes source heineken intended for the scottish market, it is brewed in holland and 5% yet sells cheaper than the 4.3% here, also brewed in holland.

MistyCheese

Seems some people let the lying press make up their minds. They should really bother to read the actual report.

Yeah, it's everyone else who's wrong, and you who's right.

rubadub

MistyCheese wrote: »

Yeah, it's everyone else who's wrong, and you who's right.

Everybody is wrong? Many saw the real facts in the report and understood them, like the people in the sunday business post, and the retailers in that article. Did you actually read the report yourself?

You seem to be inferring I am wrong about something? what is this? I already told you I read the report and believed it.

MistyCheese

rubadub wrote: »

Everybody is wrong? Many saw the real facts in the report and understood them, like the people in the sunday business post, and the retailers in that article. Did you actually read the report yourself?

You seem to be inferring I am wrong about something? what is this? I already told you I read the report and believed it.

I'm done arguing.

You're right, everyone who disagrees with you is wrong.

Feel better now?

borderlinemeath

MistyCheese wrote: »

I'm done arguing.

You're right, everyone who disagrees with you is wrong.

Feel better now?

If you are worked or are associated with the retail industry you would know that what you were inferring was untrue.
In fact most civic minded individuals who give a damn about the economics in this country would know it was untrue.

rubadub

MistyCheese wrote: »

I'm done arguing

Good, you weren't even arguing, you were just being pathetically childish.

For anybody else interested the report is here
http://www.forfas.ie/publications/2008/title,2623,en.php

It says

The purpose of this study was to examine the composition of retail business costs in Ireland and to determine how their cost base compares with retailers in other countries. While operating costs are on average 25 percent higher in Dublin than in Belfast, they account for a relatively small share of
total costs (circa 20-25%).Our analysis highlights that higher operating costs in Ireland add approximately 5-6 percent to the total cost base of retailers in Dublin versus those operating in Belfast

Which I believe could well be true. It in no way infers the cost to the customer should only be 5-6% higher at the till. This is what I believe the Irish Times inferred when they said

Forfás’s study, which was published today, shows that while operating costs for retailers in Dublin were on average 25 per cent higher than in Belfast, such costs accounted for only 20 to 25 per cent of the total cost of a retail good, meaning that the price differential between goods should only be 5 to 6 per cent higher in the capital

mcwhirter

91011 wrote: »

Gillette Mach 3 Cartridges 8'S






€14.25 (€1.79/each)
Tesco



£9.90 in Tesco NI - bit of difference but certainly not the 80% you stated. Now how correct vare the tyre prices. Exact same spec, rating & size compared? - I doubt it.

maybe check out specsavers?

Now specsavers are much more here than the north too:eek:

ScouseMouse

PCPhoto wrote: »

its like this in every part of Irish industry .... the wholesaler wants to make a bit extra in Ireland - as he/she is possibly an exclusive UK&Ireland distributor...... then everyone else below the wholesaler increases their costs (and adds on a bit to maximise profit) .... by the time it reaches the shelves......its completely overpriced !!!

only way to stop it... is to purchase the cheapest possible brand and in time the more expensive ones will disappear ...or lower their prices.

Possibly connected, possibly not,. Half an hour ago, I got an email, of a solicitors letter, sent to a symbol headoffice, stating some stores were selling imported XXX products which were not XXX Ireland products. The letter points out they hold the trademark so we are to stop.

I assume it is down to people thinking a XXX product came from XXX Ireland when in fact it came from someone in the UK.

I am unsure what product caused this but I do know I can buy the product in the UK and sell them here, cheaper than I can buy them here.....

mcwhirter

superscouse wrote: »

Possibly connected, possibly not,. Half an hour ago, I got an email, of a solicitors letter, sent to a symbol headoffice, stating some stores were selling imported XXX products which were not XXX Ireland products. The letter points out they hold the trademark so we are to stop.

I assume it is down to people thinking a XXX product came from XXX Ireland when in fact it came from someone in the UK.

I am unsure what product caused this but I do know I can buy the product in the UK and sell them here, cheaper than I can buy them here.....

Let me guess TUC crackers

ScouseMouse

mcwhirter wrote: »

Let me guess TUC crackers

No, not at all. think big, irish, and north city.

Better not say any more, but then, as we got a letter, perhaps if it was posted then everyone could make up their own minds. mmmmmm I must look into that. Then it would be open to everyones own personal interpretation.

I can see a lock coming so I better not say to much. I like being married, I dont want to be a male single person

91011

My guess is its Jacobs Crackers or other similar named Jacobs products made by Jacobs of Liverpool - its not a secret. They took legal action against stores last year.

There's a long standing agreement that Jacobs UK will not sell into Ireland and Jacobs Irealnd won't sell into UK. (if you lived in UK and bought Mikado, it was branded Bolands)

If however you sell McVities crackers and are buying them from a UK supplier, this cannot be stopped as the product is the same and made by the same company.

ScouseMouse

91011 wrote: »

My guess is its Jacobs Crackers or other similar named Jacobs products made by Jacobs of Liverpool - its not a secret. They took legal action against stores last year.

There's a long standing agreement that Jacobs UK will not sell into Ireland and Jacobs Irealnd won't sell into UK. (if you lived in UK and bought Mikado, it was branded Bolands)

If however you sell McVities crackers and are buying them from a UK supplier, this cannot be stopped as the product is the same and made by the same company.

a male single person :rolleyes:

Ghandee

superscouse wrote: »

a male single person :rolleyes:

Cliff Richard?????

Boxoffrogs

tee hee, oh, I love my peas and beans, that's shocking!

91011

superscouse wrote: »

a male single person :rolleyes:

whoops - just realised the insinuation.

But similar to Jacobs, afaik Bachelors Ireland is a different company to bachelors UK and as such they can prevent bachelors uk goods being sold in their market.

francie81

Gucky wrote: »

Lads, is Rip off Ireland dead, or on 3 knees or what?

Seems to be less and less rip off stories these days!

I'm certainly not complaining though......

No chance but stupid old Irish stand by and take it on the chin like everything else!

ScouseMouse

91011 wrote: »

whoops - just realised the insinuation.

But similar to Jacobs, afaik Bachelors Ireland is a different company to bachelors UK and as such they can prevent bachelors uk goods being sold in their market.

In Ireland, Supernoodles - the ones everyone knows - cost me 96 cent per pack.

In ASDA in Liverpool, I buy 4 for a pound !. I brought them back here and stuck them on the shelf at a 99c each (go on, accuse me of ripping people off - but the ferry cost €200). People bought loads of them. Now I have removed them from sale and will be eating noodles for the next six months

The irish product is branded McDonnells, the UK one is branded Bachelors. I dont know if there is any connection between the two companies and I dont even know if the letter was concerning my store, but I have complied. Sitting next to each other, you wouldnt really know the difference between the packaging.:(

The only loser here is the customer who is facing a substantial increase in my (and maybe other) stores.

Fighting Irish

People put the prices at what people will pay.

91011

was in a new bar in athy today - €6.35 for guinness + glass of wine - thought it was an error, but no it was correct.

seems more and more pubs are giving value

Fighting Irish

francie81 wrote: »

No chance but stupid old Irish stand by and take it on the chin like everything else!

There's also a good few people who shop around, or simply just don't pay the stupid prices