What's best loop hole you have found and exploited to your own advantage?

m@cc@ · 18-01-2010 01:04AM

newmills wrote: »

they were that stupid that they all gave their proper names and addresses in sydney and paid the fine when it came!!:o

123 Fake Street

c0rk3r · 18-01-2010 01:22AM

In 1998 or 2001 when the internet in Ireland was still in its infancy or maybe it was even early i cant remember. The only available internet connection in my area was eircom dial up 56k modem. At the time only tallaght had cable internet access. As i remember it which is vague, eircom charged you a fortune for off-peak access. In our house we could only use the internet after 18:00, well i didnt want to use it before 18:00 for fear of accumlating a huge bill and having my parents cut it off. I dunno how much the bill was per month but it was probably enough to make a small dint in your wallet.

As you know using a 56k modem (i still remember the dial tone) you had to insert a username/password as well as a phone number. I dunno how widespread this was but there was a free number eircom employees would use to use the internet for free. This free number got loose on the internet and it was a glorious bill free time to use the net. I think the number was useful for 9months -18months before things started to change.

Doc · 18-01-2010 01:22AM

Back when we still had the Irish punt /pound instead of the euro I came home from England for Christmas and one of the gifts I got was a twenty pound gift voucher for HMV I forgot to use it while I was there and went back to England where I was studying. One day out shopping I found the voucher in my wallet and decided Id try it out in the English HMV. It worked they let me use the voucher to buy a CD and I got the change back in Pounds Sterling. The Punt was worth a lot less then the Pound at the time so I bought a load more valuable vouchers when I was home next and spent them in England.

One of my mates was in Debenhams in England just after the Euro had come in buying something; he was Irish too and had some euros on him. Debenhams had decided that it would accept euros and so he decided to pay in Euros he had left to use them up. Whoever had added the Euro value to the till had obviously put the decimal point in the wrong place because when my friend paid for whatever he was buying they took his Euro to be worth 10 times what it should have been and gave him back the change in Pounds Sterling. My friend took the change he was given went to the bank and bought euros with it he then came back and bought more stuff got the change and did the same thing over and over again. He was a student too but his wardrobe didn’t look like it after that day. He tried it again the next day but they had coped on by then and changed the euro value to the correct amount.

iMax · 18-01-2010 01:23AM

DazMarz wrote: »

The best one I've seen (but never actually used) is this one:

Say you receive a bill from ESB/Bord Gáis/Eircom/whoever €XXX. Now, instead of paying €XXX in full, bring your bill down to your local post office and pay a small amount (a small amount to you, whatever you could very easily afford; say €10/€15/€20 etc.) off the bill.

Do this maybe once a week. Ignore all incoming bills from this company and keep your consistent paying of the small amount weekly up. You will never be cut off, will never receive warnings from the company, nothing.

You could receive a bill for €2,000 and yet, because you can be seen to be making (not much of an) 'effort' to pay said bill, no recourse/action can be taken against you.

I see this being done dozens of times each week, and these people get away with it. You will never come close to paying what you owe, but nothing can be done about it.

If your company starts making noises, point out you are paying ''all you can afford at the moment'' off the bill weekly. If they refuse this excuse, you will have a legal right to bring them to court as they are ''refusing to take payment'' off you.

I swear to God all of the above is true, I shít you not. Maybe I don't have it perfectly explained, but you can get the gist of it and go from there.

Thank you, and goodnight...

Great in theory, but all the while you're building up a massive mountain of debt which has to be paid off eventually...

Senna · 18-01-2010 01:24AM

The local pool hall had one table with a small hole in the glass beside the pool balls, you could just use your finger to tip the tray holding the balls. Hours and hours of free pool for a good month.
In the same pool hall they once forgot to lock both locks holding the balls and money in, we got about £20 out of it in 20p, took the rest of the day off school and went to the offie, twas a good day:D

bonerm · 18-01-2010 01:28AM

Not so much a scam as a mistake I was happy to take advantage of.

When I was in 1st year in college we had needed special swipe card to use the photocopier. Cards were purchased from the librarian and had 40 pages worth on them for 2 quid. However on one occasion the librarian mistakenly sold me a special "lecturers" card with 1000 units on it for 2 quid. Basically I got free photocopying for my entire time in college.

Only downsides of it was the card could only be used on the special "lecturers" photocopiers (and undergrads were not even supposed to have these 1000cards - hense no reason to be at these machines) which meant I always had to be on the lookout for lecturers lest I be rumbled. Small price to pay.

ascanbe · 18-01-2010 01:29AM

I know this fellow who, along with some accomplices, spotted a loophole in reality that meant he and his friends, who he was charged with 'regulating', could borrow enormous sums of money and lend it to other friends to build loads of houses/apartments which they would then sell to other people, who he was charged with 'leading', who would borrow the money to buy the houses/apartments from the same people who had loaned the money to the people who built the houses/apartments.
This resulted in many of the people who borrowed the money to buy the houses/apartments being gainfully employed in jobs that existed because of the borrowing and lending of the money and this made him very popular for a while.
Then it turned out that this loophole in reality didn't exist and everyone involved in it, whether voluntarily or otherwise, ended up in a spot of bother.

scudzilla · 18-01-2010 01:34AM

When i lived in North Wales i used to come over to Dublin quite a lot using the Rail and Sail from Holyhead to Dun Laoighorie.

Cost of this was 50quid return, you got 2 little tickets, 1 for outbound and the other for your return.

Paid for this at the train station in Llandudno

Get on train and buy a single to Holyhead, about a fiver (didn't want my main ticket stamped did i!!!) , when i got to the ferryport i handed in my ferry ticket but had to have it back as it was to Dublin City, so needed it to get on the dart, meaning i had 1 UNUSED TICKET VALID FOR TRAVEL WITHIN 3 MONTHS

Did exactly the same thing on the return leg, paid for the train ticket from Holyhead to Llandudno

Best i ever did was 8 return trips off 1 ticket

As far as i know you can still do this but as i now live here not much point for me

unreggd · 18-01-2010 01:35AM

Nokia game before the last one 20 Lives

Was really hard to rank high in Ireland, so I registered as living in Kuwait, where I ranked top 50 by default

Loop hole was that the Kuwait site was open to Dubai residents, where my sis was livin, so I could have my prize N-gage sent there

Hank_Jones · 18-01-2010 01:39AM

ascanbe wrote: »

I know this fellow who, along with some accomplices, spotted a loophole in reality that meant he and his friends, who he was charged with 'regulating', could borrow enormous sums of money and lend it to other friends to build loads of houses/apartments which they would then sell to other people, who he was charged with 'leading', who would borrow the money to buy the houses/apartments from the same people who had loaned the money to the people who built the houses/apartments.
This resulted in many of the people who borrowed the money to buy the houses/apartments being gainfully employed in jobs that existed because of the borrowing and lending of the money and this made him very popular for a while.
Then it turned out that this loophole in reality didn't exist and everyone involved in it, whether voluntarily or otherwise, ended up in a spot of bother.

These people weren't linked to FF at all were they?

partyatmygaff · 18-01-2010 01:39AM

ascanbe wrote: »

I know this fellow who, along with some accomplices, spotted a loophole in reality that meant he and his friends, who he was charged with 'regulating', could borrow enormous sums of money and lend it to other friends to build loads of houses/apartments which they would then sell to other people, who he was charged with 'leading', who would borrow the money to buy the houses/apartments from the same people who had loaned the money to the people who built the houses/apartments.
This resulted in many of the people who borrowed the money to buy the houses/apartments being gainfully employed in jobs that existed because of the borrowing and lending of the money and this made him very popular for a while.
Then it turned out that this loophole in reality didn't exist and everyone involved in it, whether voluntarily or otherwise, ended up in a spot of bother.

LOL

:D:D:D Hillarious

Oh wait...... No its not.

Sod'o swords · 18-01-2010 01:52AM

Went up to the Odyssey in Belfast for a school outing, and stupidly enough most of us forgot to bring sterling, they took Euro, but were shafting us on the exchange rate they used when giving change.
We then soon discovered that in the vending machines beside the shop you could put in 20 cent and get back a pound, so we bled that machine dry, eventually they copped and turned it off.

So yeah, that's how bland my life is so far in terms of loop holes.

Tiny Explosions · 18-01-2010 02:10AM

Senna wrote: »

The local pool hall had one table with a small hole in the glass beside the pool balls, you could just use your finger to tip the tray holding the balls. Hours and hours of free pool for a good month.
In the same pool hall they once forgot to lock both locks holding the balls and money in, we got about £20 out of it in 20p, took the rest of the day off school and went to the offie, twas a good day:D

That story sounds very familiar, My mates and I did the exact same in our local pool hall... I'd say there was plenty of money lifted from dodgy pool tables in Ireland over the years lol.

Bonito · 18-01-2010 02:16AM

DazMarz wrote: »

The best one I've seen (but never actually used) is this one:

Say you receive a bill from ESB/Bord Gáis/Eircom/whoever €XXX. Now, instead of paying €XXX in full, bring your bill down to your local post office and pay a small amount (a small amount to you, whatever you could very easily afford; say €10/€15/€20 etc.) off the bill.

Do this maybe once a week. Ignore all incoming bills from this company and keep your consistent paying of the small amount weekly up. You will never be cut off, will never receive warnings from the company, nothing.

You could receive a bill for €2,000 and yet, because you can be seen to be making (not much of an) 'effort' to pay said bill, no recourse/action can be taken against you.

I see this being done dozens of times each week, and these people get away with it. You will never come close to paying what you owe, but nothing can be done about it.

If your company starts making noises, point out you are paying ''all you can afford at the moment'' off the bill weekly. If they refuse this excuse, you will have a legal right to bring them to court as they are ''refusing to take payment'' off you.

I swear to God all of the above is true, I shít you not. Maybe I don't have it perfectly explained, but you can get the gist of it and go from there.

Thank you, and goodnight...

My ex does this, pays 20 on gas bill and 25 on esb. she's in massive arrears though

DazMarz · 18-01-2010 02:33AM

Bonito wrote: »

My ex does this, pays 20 on gas bill and 25 on esb. she's in massive arrears though

I'd say that's the one thing: at the moment, it won't have any real effect, but later on it could REALLY come back to bite you in the arse. Still, as I said, I see dozens of people doing it, so it must work to a certain extent. And for very long periods of time. I've seen lads doing it for years...:eek:

Tiny Explosions · 18-01-2010 02:40AM

DazMarz wrote: »

I'd say that's the one thing: at the moment, it won't have any real effect, but later on it could REALLY come back to bite you in the arse. Still, as I said, I see dozens of people doing it, so it must work to a certain extent. And for very long periods of time. I've seen lads doing it for years...:eek:

Yeah maybe, but I think it's more than likely that these people are living hand to mouth and trying to make ends meet, rather than taking advantage of any loop holes.

Ruu_Old · 18-01-2010 02:55AM

The old Del Boy trick of "tax in post" envelope in the car window used to do the job a few years ago, not now!

I'm good at finding coupons online meant to be used once or exclusive, manage to save a lot of money! A number of bargain alerts over the years too.

Gingy · 18-01-2010 02:56AM

I went to an All-Ireland semi-final a few years ago and they were selling tickets in a booth outside Croke Park, you could get adult tickets for €60 or juvenile ones for €5, which had a stamp saying juvenile on them. On of my mates and I bought 2 juvenile tickets, but yer one forgot to stamp juvenile on them, so we just sold them to people who didn't want to queue for €60. Pulled the same trick again, before going into the game. Nice €110 profit for 2 15 year olds, at the time we were absolutely delighted with ourselves

Thargor · 18-01-2010 03:06AM

Bus Eireann had this competition in the Students Union when I was in college, write your name and number on the back of a used bus ticket and drop it in the box, I passed a 3 hour bus trip down to Galway one day writing my name on the back of god knows how many tickets, the floor of the bus was carpeted in them, shoved them all in the box and got a free iPod a couple of weeks later, did the same thing with a competition for a Guinness fridge in the local off licence, just grabbed the stack of entry forms, spent 2 hours filling them out in lectures, stuck them back in and won the fridge aswell.

daltonr · 18-01-2010 03:07AM

In the early days of the internet I signed up with IOL.IE.

They never charged me.
After a few months, I got worried that they might suddenly hit me with months of bills at once. So I rang them and told them they weren't charging me.

They said they'd sort it out.
They never did.

Every now and again I check and my account is still active.

I think that's 14 or 15 years of free service from an ISP.
Granted, I haven't really used it for a lot of those years, but still, it's there.

-Rd

Ruu_Old · 18-01-2010 03:13AM

daltonr wrote: »

In the early days of the internet I signed up with IOL.IE.

They never charged me.
After a few months, I got worried that they might suddenly hit me with months of bills at once. So I rang them and told them they weren't charging me.

They said they'd sort it out.
They never did.

Every now and again I check and my account is still active.

I think that's 14 or 15 years of free service from an ISP.
Granted, I haven't really used it for a lot of those years, but still, it's there.

-Rd

Surf No Limits customer? Had this as well but they caught on after 2 years or so.

flanum · 18-01-2010 03:28AM

what's best Loophole you have found and exploited to yr own advantage

this is what i read!!

pebbles21 · 18-01-2010 03:29AM

I was at a family function once and was chatting to an uncle of mine who i was showing a dud €50 note that someone had passed on to me,so while we were looking at it and admiring how real it looked my wife comes over and says"are you buying me a drink or what?"

So i says to her "hear you get it"handing her over the dud note,5 mins later she comes down with a round of drinks and gives me my "change"

brendansmith · 18-01-2010 03:45AM

pebbles21 wrote: »

I was at a family function once and was chatting to an uncle of mine who i was showing a dud €50 note that someone had passed on to me,so while we were looking at it and admiring how real it looked my wife comes over and says"are you buying me a drink or what?"

So i says to her "hear you get it"handing her over the dud note,5 mins later she comes down with a round of drinks and gives me my "change"

Thats stealing mate.

Ro: maaan! · 18-01-2010 03:53AM

Rather than paying for Music and Movies, you can just download them for free online.

amacachi · 18-01-2010 03:54AM

Burger King had burgers for like 60cent, so using the create-your-own I added cheese and bacon to them, so I was getting a bacon-cheeseburger for €1.20. ****ers told me after about 3 months they were no longer allowing people to customise burgers that were on offer.

me-skywalker · 18-01-2010 04:06AM

flanum wrote: »

what's best Loophole you have found and exploited to yr own advantage

this is what i read!!

Thats because your from Cavan...

Greatest 'loophole' ever... MP3!!

ascanbe · 18-01-2010 04:23AM

partyatmygaff wrote: »

LOL :D:D:D Hillarious

Oh wait...... No its not.

I'm unsure of the intention behind your response.
If you mean, 'that's hilarious.....oh wait, no it's not', as a conceit; ie, a humourous attempt to bring to life, for the reader, a situation where you laughed heartily at my post and then, on realising the implications, were left contemplative, then, yeah.
If you meant that you saw it as an attempt at humour on my part and that this attempt at humour was a failed attempt at humour, you're mistaken; it wasn't meant to be funny.

seanybiker · 18-01-2010 04:31AM

amacachi wrote: »

Burger King had burgers for like 60cent, so using the create-your-own I added cheese and bacon to them, so I was getting a bacon-cheeseburger for €1.20. ****ers told me after about 3 months they were no longer allowing people to customise burgers that were on offer.

ha ha ha I'd say you where gutted. How much should you have been paying?

scudzilla · 18-01-2010 04:39AM

seanybiker wrote: »

ha ha ha I'd say you where gutted. How much should you have been paying?

1.25 :rolleyes::rolleyes:

What's best loop hole you have found and exploited to your own advantage?

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