RTÉ Today Show - Free Consumer Help

RTÉ Today Show

Do you need help solving a consumer problem? Have you issues with your phone or internet provider, or a problem with an airline? Haven't been able to return or exchange a gift/item?

RTE's Today show consumer champion Vickie Maye wants to help solve your consumer problems.

We would love to invite Boards.ie members to let us know about any issues they'd like Vickie's help with so feel free to post them here on this thread and we'll see what we can do for you.

dudara

Just a note to all our Boards regulars (and irregulars):

This is a great opportunity to engage with RTE and utilise the Today Show in resolving your issues.

Don't be afraid to step forward and share your experiences of the good, the bad and the downright ugly.

Sam Mac

Fantastic opportunity for all those recently stung by IWantThisDeal to come forward and share their stories!

AlanS181824

Welcome RTÉ to Boards!:pac:

Well I guess I'll get the ball rolling....

Sold a phone on eBay in early November, buyer paid on time and all but due to reasons beyond my control the phone wasn't actually sent until the 9th of December.

The buyer was pretty understanding throughout the whole thing and I ended up paying for Priority Postage out of my own pocket as a show of gratitude for their patience.

The person is from Israel so the item had to be declared and stuff but An Post "assured" me it'd take no more than 7 working days to get there.

The phone was finally delivered some time after the New Year but in the meantime the buyer opened a case against me to protect themselves which is understandable and eBay decided in favour of the buyer and have closed the case.

Even though the phone has been delivered although a lot longer than it should have been, eBay gave the buyer a refund.

They messaged me and essentially they want to pay me back a portion of the costs but not the full.

Is there anything I can do to resolve this? eBay/PayPal are of no use so is there anything I can do?

As it was €€€'s I would obviously like the full amount back!

Any advice?

Cheers!

Montgolfier

What about UPS charging €14.50 + €6 handling for the service of collecting VAT for the revenue. They arrive at the door with your package (from abroad) and demand cash on delivery.
I asked their billing department the reason for the charge. She said they had to set up an account with revenue; @ 14.50 per package the set cost must be astronomical.

TheBody

How about Eircom charging VAT on closing accounts. See here:

http://www.boards.ie/ttfthread/2056714810/8

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Eircom covering free national calls in their bundles yet charging for the so called lo-call 1850 or 1890 calls?

colm_mcm

Virginia Many Superman wrote: »

Eircom covering free national calls in their bundles yet charging for the so called lo-call 1850 or 1890 calls?

What provider gives you those free?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

colm_mcm wrote: »

What provider gives you those free?

You're missing the point. Those numbers are supposed to make it cheaper for customers to call but they are in fact more expensive than a call to the other side of the country.

dudara

Ticketmaster charging a fee per ticket, rather than per transaction.

Kristopherus

dudara wrote: »

Ticketmaster charging a fee per ticket, rather than per transaction.

You can add their extortionate booking fees and credit card charges to that. Rip-off merchants:mad::mad::mad:

tweaf1

Yes.Travel insurance not covering A&E in the USA!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

tweaf1 wrote: »

Yes.Travel insurance not covering A&E in the USA!

Mine does.

tweaf1

Virginia Many Superman wrote: »

Mine does.

Wow, really helpful...

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Just saying you can't generalise the way you did. You might as well say motor insurance only covers third party damage - it's the policy you bought. Many travel insurance policies cover A&E in the US.

tweaf1

I obviously thought I was covered....

Loughc

AlanS181824 wrote: »

Welcome RTÉ to Boards!:pac:

Well I guess I'll get the ball rolling....

Sold a phone on eBay in early November, buyer paid on time and all but due to reasons beyond my control the phone wasn't actually sent until the 9th of December.

What were the circumstances though? If you sold it in Early November, it should have been shipped in Early November, there really couldn't be an excuse not to have shipped it earlier.

Penny Tration

Three'a ridiculous 'three repair attempt' policy.

They sent my phone (still in warranty) for repair. It came back, replaced because they couldn't repair.

Same fault occured. They wouldn't replace with a different model or refund.

So I'm stuck using a useless phone because they're breaching my rights to a permanent repair.

Sam Mac

Are RTE PM-ing users or are they going to reply back on this thread to peoples issues?

AlanS181824

Loughc wrote: »

What were the circumstances though? If you sold it in Early November, it should have been shipped in Early November, there really couldn't be an excuse not to have shipped it earlier.

An Post had a backlog essentially and it just escalated from there.

I understand it's my own fault but the bottomline is the buyer has their item and I do not have my money.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

AlanS181824 wrote: »

An Post had a backlog essentially and it just escalated from there.

I understand it's my own fault but the bottomline is the buyer has their item and I do not have my money.

But you took a month to even post it. The backlog doesn't make sense. There are T&C that you need to read.
Have you asked the buyer to pass payment again?

AlanS181824

Virginia Many Superman wrote: »

But you took a month to even post it. The backlog doesn't make sense. There are T&C that you need to read.
Have you asked the buyer to pass payment again?

There was a backlog at the post office, I basically got told to come back again when it was dealt with, then when I finally got to send it, it seems to have been at customs in Israel for nearly a month in itself!

Currently in discussion with the buyer about getting my money back but I'm just wondering if there's any sort of rights/regulations I'm protected by.

AlanS181824

Sam Mac wrote: »

Are RTE PM-ing users or are they going to reply back on this thread to peoples issues?

I got a PM from them asking to email.

I hope they're dealing with them as posts on here aswell.

Sam Mac

AlanS181824 wrote: »

I'm just wondering if there's any sort of rights/regulations I'm protected by.

No, none at all. It is between you and the buyer at this point.

Loughc

AlanS181824 wrote: »

There was a backlog at the post office, I basically got told to come back again when it was dealt with.

If this is true, surely you should be pursuiting An Post for your money. What post office tells someone to go away and comeback when they've dealt with their backlog?? That is mental! It's their responsibility to work through the backlog they shouldn't have refused your request.

Take your grievance up with An Post, it has nothing to do with Ebay.

TheBody

Sam Mac wrote: »

Are RTE PM-ing users or are they going to reply back on this thread to peoples issues?

It would be nice if they replied in thread. It feels like we are chatting to ourselves here.

It would be useful to know what topics they might run with and we could get behind them.

RTÉ Today Show

Hello! We are monitoring posts and private messaging some users.
Thank you all for your comments. We hope we can help solve some consumer issues.

NIMAN

The users who are suffering at the hands of this internet provider would appreciate any help, I'm sure:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056492710&page=18

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

There's a thread on yourtel that they should look at.

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo

Hi RTÉ Today Show, I signed up to the Setanta Sports for €1 offer in December. I assumed it was for a month so rang them to cancel the other day as we had it for 29 days at that stage. They told me I should have read the T&C's properly as it stated anyone who doesn't cancel the €1 offer by the 31st of December would be automatically signed up with them for a minimum of 2 months at full price.

So what I thought looked like a nice €1 offer before Christmas has now turned into a minimum of €45. I said to them I don't want the channels for the next 2 months and I want to cancel, they refused to cancel my subscription unless I pay the full €45 first which puts me in the strange position of having a service we don't want! In a subsequent email I reiterated I don't want the channels but again they refused to cancel. So I'm going to owe them another €22 each month unless I clear what I 'owe' them. Reckon I'll owe them about €300 by the end of the year.

Terrible way for a company to do business in my opinion.

Sam Mac

^ Cancel the card that you used, or the direct debit if you are signed up that way.

NIMAN

Just the perfect example if the offer sounds too good to be true it usually is.

In fact, T&C is something that the show could look into. All the latest ones are huge and they know no-one will ever read it all, so they can hide anything they want in it and then catch you out.

dudara

I think the Yourtel suggestion is an excellent one. That operation has affected many posters, especially older people.

James Doyle123

Hi I'm wondering where I stand in relation to my 3 month old telly. I bought it in Harvey Normans in November and all was fine.
Then one night all the channels got mixed up or deleted. Fixed this took about a hour to organise the channels and all was fine then it happened about 3-5 more times usually requiring another hour setup time. I have been into lg about this and they have informed me that the issue is with the satellite tuner they say it's not compatible with the Irish market. And I'll have to purchase a set top box to be able to enjoy "hassle free" tv.

I believe this falls under the not fix for purpose part of the sale of goods act

Surly a tv should only have to be tuned once and not 2-3 time a month.

Any info or advice on this would be great
And thanks in advance

Posted in main forum also

ABajaninCork

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo wrote: »

Hi RTÉ Today Show, I signed up to the Setanta Sports for €1 offer in December. I assumed it was for a month so rang them to cancel the other day as we had it for 29 days at that stage. They told me I should have read the T&C's properly as it stated anyone who doesn't cancel the €1 offer by the 31st of December would be automatically signed up with them for a minimum of 2 months at full price.

So what I thought looked like a nice €1 offer before Christmas has now turned into a minimum of €45. I said to them I don't want the channels for the next 2 months and I want to cancel, they refused to cancel my subscription unless I pay the full €45 first which puts me in the strange position of having a service we don't want! In a subsequent email I reiterated I don't want the channels but again they refused to cancel. So I'm going to owe them another €22 each month unless I clear what I 'owe' them. Reckon I'll owe them about €300 by the end of the year.

Terrible way for a company to do business in my opinion.

You SHOULD have read the T's & C's!! The fact that you didn't is hardly Setanta's fault. Why didn't you e-mail instead?

I took advantage of that offer last year. Couldn't call on the 31st to cancel, as the lines were perma busy. I e-mailed them instead. Guess what? They took account of the e-mail, and called me to give me another offer.

Done this several times since, and still have the Setanta.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

James Doyle123 wrote: »

Hi I'm wondering where I stand in relation to my 3 month old telly. I bought it in Harvey Normans in November and all was fine.
Then one night all the channels got mixed up or deleted. Fixed this took about a hour to organise the channels and all was fine then it happened about 3-5 more times usually requiring another hour setup time. I have been into lg about this and they have informed me that the issue is with the satellite tuner they say it's not compatible with the Irish market. And I'll have to purchase a set top box to be able to enjoy "hassle free" tv.

I believe this falls under the not fix for purpose part of the sale of goods act

Surly a tv should only have to be tuned once and not 2-3 time a month.

Any info or advice on this would be great
And thanks in advance

Posted in main forum also

Generic freesats occasionally need a bit of a retune. There is nothing wrong with your TV just your expectation of it. It happens now and then that a station or two gets moved.

responsive

I had an issue with 3 mobile recently. I went to store and got an upgrade, including a change in package from one with 90 free units to one with 350 free units. Then I continued getting billed as if on 90 units (which made my bill much higher because I had increased my usage). I contacted them about this and it took another month, and another billing period, to rectify and the issued a refund of €30, which they say is the difference would have been in my bills over the 3 months.

Since then they cut me off and I have raised cases twice even when bills were paid. I have gotten no satisfaction on this.

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo

ABajaninCork wrote: »

You SHOULD have read the T's & C's!! The fact that you didn't is hardly Setanta's fault. Why didn't you e-mail instead?

I took advantage of that offer last year. Couldn't call on the 31st to cancel, as the lines were perma busy. I e-mailed them instead. Guess what? They took account of the e-mail, and called me to give me another offer.

Done this several times since, and still have the Setanta.

Get off it, the vast majority of people don't read the T&C's and Setanta know this!

Here's a link to the €1 offer on the Setanta website.
So now, after being burned by them I actually have read the T&C's and they aren't clear at all!

Frequently asked questions:
What are the terms and conditions of the €1 offer?
A connection fee of €1 applies for this service. Offer available online only. Offer available for credit card and debit card customers only. You can cancel your subscription in the first 30 days by going online. Setanta is a subscription service. Customers who do not cancel during their 30 day trial will be billed €21.99 per month or €199 per year thereafter. There is no annual contract but 30 days’ notice of cancellation will be required after the trial period expires. Offer available for satellite customers only. Offer does not apply to existing customers. Fixtures subject to change.
The full terms and conditions of the Setanta Sports service are available here

See the bolded bit? I did cancel the subscription within the firt 30 days but they wouldn't let me! They said I now owe them €45 as I'm signed up to a minimum 2 month contract. Could you tell me where that is in the T&C's please? There must be other pages with T&C's somewhere, impossible to follow though and an absolutely terrible way to conduct business by them in my opinion. I won't be dealing with them again anyway that's for sure.

ABajaninCork

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo wrote: »

Get off it, the vast majority of people don't read the T&C's and Setanta know this!

Here's a link to the €1 offer on the Setanta website.
So now, after being burned by them I actually have read the T&C's and they aren't clear at all!


See the bolded bit? I did cancel the subscription within the firt 30 days but they wouldn't let me! They said I now owe them €45 as I'm signed up to a minimum 2 month contract. Could you tell me where that is in the T&C's please? There must be other pages with T&C's somewhere, impossible to follow though and an absolutely terrible way to conduct business by them in my opinion. I won't be dealing with them again anyway that's for sure.

It's your money. But I do this really radical thing. If there's something I don't understand? I ASK!! It's really not rocket science...

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo

ABajaninCork wrote: »

It's your money. But I do this really radical thing. If there's something I don't understand? I ASK!! It's really not rocket science...

Eh, what's there to understand? As clear as day it says on their FAQ that "You can cancel your subscription in the first 30 days" so I assumed that once I cancelled within 30 days all would be well. Instead I ended up being signed up to a 2 month contract! Two totally different things! Its bad form by Setanta full stop.

ABajaninCork

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo wrote: »

Eh, what's there to understand? As clear as day it says on their FAQ that "You can cancel your subscription in the first 30 days" so I assumed that once I cancelled within 30 days all would be well. Instead I ended up being signed up to a 2 month contract! Two totally different things! Its bad form by Setanta full stop.

OK. So when did the offer start and when did you cancel? If the offer ends on the 31st, then it would be prudent to cancel the week before just in case, no?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo wrote: »

Eh, what's there to understand? As clear as day it says on their FAQ that "You can cancel your subscription in the first 30 days" so I assumed that once I cancelled within 30 days all would be well. Instead I ended up being signed up to a 2 month contract! Two totally different things! Its bad form by Setanta full stop.

Two basic errors. A. You read the FAQ not the T&Cs - a huge difference. B. You assumed.

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo

ABajaninCork wrote: »

OK. So when did the offer start and when did you cancel? If the offer ends on the 31st, then it would be prudent to cancel the week before just in case, no?

I thought it was €1 for a month. I rang to cancel within that one month.

Virginia Many Superman wrote: »

Two basic errors. A. You read the FAQ not the T&Cs - a huge difference. B. You assumed.

This is directly quoted from their web page and a link to that page is here.

What are the terms and conditions of the €1 offer?
A connection fee of €1 applies for this service. Offer available online only. Offer available for credit card and debit card customers only. You can cancel your subscription in the first 30 days by going online. Setanta is a subscription service. Customers who do not cancel during their 30 day trial will be billed €21.99 per month or €199 per year thereafter. There is no annual contract but 30 days’ notice of cancellation will be required after the trial period expires. Offer available for satellite customers only. Offer does not apply to existing customers. Fixtures subject to change

So my synopsis of the above information is.

What are the terms and conditions of the €1 offer?

You can cancel your subscription in the first 30 days.

eamonnq

Montgolfier wrote: »

What about UPS charging €14.50 + €6 handling for the service of collecting VAT for the revenue. They arrive at the door with your package (from abroad) and demand cash on delivery.
I asked their billing department the reason for the charge. She said they had to set up an account with revenue; @ 14.50 per package the set cost must be astronomical.

Is it 14.50 plus 6 on top of the amount they are collecting for revenue ? Or was your total 20.50 ?

Slutmonkey57b

Some organisation is charging people over €160 a year for things they don't want and don't use, and jailing people who don't pay.

They've even got the government in on it. Horrific.

BMMachine

Hi,
There is this company I pay a yearly fee to and I am finding the quality of their product to be a mixed bag at best. While at times they can be great and appeal to me on many levels, often I'm left very confused as to what they do with the money I pay. They seem to spend an awful lot of that money on celebrities and seem to have an elevated view on their actual importance to society. They are also extremely interested in talent competitions and seem to run them over and over for no good reason, and from those shows they again go and create celebrities out of the contestants and show them on other produce, whether us consumers like it or not. In fact, I heard that one celebrity that very very few people actually liked was the main man in a project that discussed the real impact of the recent depression on those who would be most affected by it and he was paid in excess of €600,000 that year for reasons one cannot fathom. Its not like any other company places any actual value in him, but yet he was paid that extortionate amount anyway.
The company also really likes deflecting issues such as the recent water charges despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of its customer base think its a really stupid idea and would like the company to stand up for them. I don't know, maybe they are connected to that water company, wait, that's unlikely, I'd say they just have friends that are connected with it instead and think its good to stand up for friends, even if they are lying a**holes who are more interested in a tiny percentage of their customer base. It all just seems a bit weird.

And one time they did this and still haven't apologised for it:
A horrible waste of everyone's time and is frankly unbelievable that it was ever made. Whoever okayed it must have either been really bad at their job or had a vested interest in someone else involved
It was of terrible quality and felt more like a slap in the face rather than anything of any actual value.

Anyhow, that's the company I'd like to see analysed and pulled apart by you, a publicly funded media outlet who has an active interest in doing what's right for the people that fund you, us. You seem like great ladies and lads and I'm sure you will do a thorough job.

Grab All Association

BMMachine wrote: »

<SNIP> please do not quote entire posts.

I liked This is Nightlive because my dad thought it was real news (Yes I'm serious )

dudara

@BMMachine - less of the political sarcasm please. Please focus on a specific consumer issue

dudara

fionny

Virginia Many Superman wrote: »

Eircom covering free national calls in their bundles yet charging for the so called lo-call 1850 or 1890 calls?

Dodge the 1890 numbers... they almost never work out in your favour... this site finds the standard number associated for popular providers:

http://www.saynoto1890.com/

mayhem#

Here's something that might be of interest to the show:

Let me start by saying that I have been a happy Three customer for years using both voice and data services.
However I am currently involved in a dispute with them that seems to be going nowhere. I have tried to work out an acceptable solution but as they are denying any responsibility I feel like there is no other option than to post the issue here publicly.

I purchased a Nokia handset through the Three online shop on December 18th 2013.
No problems with the handset at all and my daughter used it with the Three sim ordered together with it without any issues. Until November 2014 when the handset just died.
I contacted Three support via Twitter and they advised me to return the handset to a Three store.
As the one in Nenagh was the nearest I returned it to there on December 5th. The person in the shop checked the warranty, confirmed that it was still valid and that they would send the phone away for repair.
I was told I would be contacted when they had news for me.
When I had not heard from them by December 22nd I rang them and was told that they were waiting for a replacement part.
I rang again sometime in between Christmas and New Years and was then told that they had received a replacement phone covered by warranty.
I was unable to collect the phone until last Friday January 9th.
I collected the phone from the store in Nenagh but was unable to test it in the store as the phone wasn't charged. To be honest I didn't even think I needed to.
After coming home and putting the original sim in the phone it came up with a message that it was locked to a different provider.
A few calls to Three support determined that the handset was locked to Vodafone and I was told to follow it up after the weekend to get an unlock code.

Since Monday I have had a lengthy exchange with the @ThreeCare account on Twitter as well as emails with Three support directly.
Three now states that the handset sent back was one locked to Vodafone so when they sent it to Nokia for repair Nokia sent back a replacement handset also locked to Vodafone.
This makes no sense as the handset returned to the store by my was without question the handset which was purchased from Three *and* the one used with the Three sim (which would be impossible with a handset locked to Vodafone).
Three support keep referring to the IMEI number of the handset received back from the store but as I did not write down the IMEI number of the handset returned (I didn't think I had to) this has little value.
They have however confirmed that the IMEI of the Vodafone handset in question was *never* used with the sim or number which we have. I have asked them to find out what number or account it has been used with (so that we can determine the real owner of this handset) but they have said that they cannot do this.

In short, after a week of back and forth messages Three refuses to budge. Now I do not contest that the phone received by the repair center is a Vodafone handset. It clearly is and Three have gone out of their way to prove it.
What I do contest strongly is that this is the handset which I returned to the store.
I have provided proof of purchase both when returning the handset as well as repeatedly in the last week to various Three representatives.
What stood out is the chaotic way in which my complaint has been dealt with. I sent all details, copies of proof of purchase, proof of identity, copies of the "booking in sheet" and "test and repair center form" on Monday and have since been asked to supply the same again on at least three occasions. By people in the same department. In spite of that they claim that it is impossible that there could have been a mixup with the handset on their side.
None of the documentation given at time of purchase or at time of return has the IMEI number on it and at no point did I expect that I had to note this so that I could provide it as proof at a later stage.

So at this point Three is alleging that I returned a Vodafone handset to Three trying to get it covered by warranty. Completely ignoring the fact that it would have been impossible to use this phone with our Three sims or accounts.
They are also refusing to assist in determining who this handset belongs to, or at least what number. Doing so would go a long way to clearing this situation up.
I also find it suspect that a Vodafone handset could be sent back by Three for repair and a Vodafone locked handset sent back as replacement and that this mixup is not discovered until the customer (me) tries to use their Three sim with the phone. Am I really to believe that at no point did anyone wonder why Three was a) sending back a Vodafone handset & b) why a Vodafone handset would be sent back to Three.

It appears to me at this stage that a mixup happened at some point *after* I returned the handset and that Three are trying to pull their hands of and put the blame at my doorstep.
I find this highly questionable behaviour and will proceed by given them written notice via registered mail of my intent to file a case with the small claims court.

As an aside; we're talking about a Nokia Lumia 520 here, hardly a top of the range phone at just 130 euro. For me it's a matter of principle at this stage but for Three it would save them a lot of hassle and embarrassment if they either sent me an unlock code for the Vodafone handset or replaced it with a Three handset....

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

fionny wrote: »

Dodge the 1890 numbers... they almost never work out in your favour... this site finds the standard number associated for popular providers:

http://www.saynoto1890.com/

I'm well familiar with that site but most of the numbers I look up aren't on it.