General rip off examples

bmc58 · 10-11-2019 5:44pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Thought there might be a general thread for pics of the odd rip-off you see here and there which aren't worthy of a new thread every time..........Couldn't find one, so here we go:

Spar Merrion Row. Who in their right mind is paying this for a standard packet of biscuits?

edit: image was huge, trying to resize it now

Bit too pricey for me for a packet of McVities.

bmc58 · 10-11-2019 5:47pm

silver2020 wrote: »

In fairness, these are €2.59 in tesco, so not a big difference considering the extra costs of a convenience store

All things considered not too bad.

10-11-2019 6:06pm

I am following this thread with interest. You know gouging is going on and we are in boom 2.0. Go to any petrol station and get a coffee and a sandwich. You will now pay over ten to fifteen euro . I just refuse to pay this, for sh1t coffee and a roll made of total crap.

L1011 · 10-11-2019 8:41pm

6541 wrote: »

I am following this thread with interest. You know gouging is going on and we are in boom 2.0. Go to any petrol station and get a coffee and a sandwich. You will now pay over ten to fifteen euro . I just refuse to pay this, for sh1t coffee and a roll made of total crap.

Can you give some examples of outlets charging this much?

colm_mcm · 10-11-2019 8:43pm

6541 wrote: »

I am following this thread with interest. You know gouging is going on and we are in boom 2.0. Go to any petrol station and get a coffee and a sandwich. You will now pay over ten to fifteen euro . I just refuse to pay this, for sh1t coffee and a roll made of total crap.

That’s boll***s.

marvin80 · 10-11-2019 8:52pm

M&S clothes.

Suit - Ireland: €260
UK: £199 or €230

I presume they give the excuse of transportation costs etc.. but it's bullsh*t when you consider say the Newry store in the North and the Drogheda store in the South are 40 minutes apart.

https://www.marksandspencer.com/ie/blue-checked-tailored-fit-suit/p/ds9a9804b9e835a9e27f7063666437cfb5

https://www.marksandspencer.com/blue-checked-tailored-fit-suit/p/ds9a9804b9e835a9e27f7063666437cfb5?prevPage=srp

Dav010 · 10-11-2019 9:03pm

marvin80 wrote: »

M&S clothes.

Suit - Ireland: €260
UK: £199 or €230

I presume they give the excuse of transportation costs etc.. but it's bullsh*t when you consider say the Newry store in the North and the Drogheda store in the South are 40 minutes apart.

https://www.marksandspencer.com/ie/blue-checked-tailored-fit-suit/p/ds9a9804b9e835a9e27f7063666437cfb5

https://www.marksandspencer.com/blue-checked-tailored-fit-suit/p/ds9a9804b9e835a9e27f7063666437cfb5?prevPage=srp

Would goods from abroad not come through customs in Irish Ports/Airports rather then on a lorry from Newry?

You could also look at the differences in trading costs between North and South, plus M&S in the North is considered part of the overall UK market for pricing.

c.p.w.g.w · 10-11-2019 9:07pm

steinbock123 wrote: »

ANY of the garage "shops", loads of examples, but a small bottle of Coke for €1.80/1.90/1.95 is ridiculous when priced against a 2litre bottle in the supermarket.
But I think the biggest rip-off ever invented is the "rounding up" lark, where something is priced at €4.97, you hand in a fiver but get no change. It really boils my piss! :mad: I can honestly say that for every time I've been "rounded down", I've been "rounded up" 15 or 20 times.
But there's probably a separate thread for that one!

4.97 is rounded down if the rounding is done correctly, you can always pay with Card, no rounded for card transactions

wassie · 10-11-2019 9:20pm

Wanderer78 wrote: »

well we could remove all 'restrictions' on addictive substances, and see what happens!

My example was about the price of 'over the counter medicines' which, as as far as I am aware, none are addictive, so Im not sure what your point is.

Deub · 10-11-2019 9:27pm

Some rip offs are sometimes marketing. “Selling” pizzas, chocolate boxes 100% more expensive than competitors for a month and then suddenly they are half price with big signs showing there is a “good” promotion that you cannot miss.

You often see this with easter eggs. They start selling them way before easter and they are on promotion right on time when you want to buy them.

silver2020 · 10-11-2019 11:35pm

marvin80 wrote: »

M&S clothes.

Suit - Ireland: €260
UK: £199 or €230

I presume they give the excuse of transportation costs etc.. but it's bullsh*t when you consider say the Newry store in the North and the Drogheda store in the South are 40 minutes apart.

https://www.marksandspencer.com/ie/blue-checked-tailored-fit-suit/p/ds9a9804b9e835a9e27f7063666437cfb5

https://www.marksandspencer.com/blue-checked-tailored-fit-suit/p/ds9a9804b9e835a9e27f7063666437cfb5?prevPage=srp

That's a surprisingly small difference for M&S, the vast majority of their clothes have an exchange rate of 1.50

Debenhams are worse, they STILL use approx 1.6 on many items.

They are two stores to be avoided at all costs.

btw, retail operating costs are little different between the two countries these days. Back in the stupid days of the celtic tiger, rents here were stratospheric, but not anymore.

So definitely M&S and Debenhams top the league of general overall ripoff merchants

zeebre12 · 10-11-2019 11:39pm

GAA jerseys..€70 is shocking. What is it only a light piece of material?

Living Off The Splash · 10-11-2019 11:43pm

wassie wrote: »

My example was about the price of 'over the counter medicines' which, as as far as I am aware, none are addictive, so Im not sure what your point is.

Some of the codeine based painkillers can be addictive.

silver2020 · 10-11-2019 11:45pm

zeebre12 wrote: »

GAA jerseys..€70 is shocking. What is it only a light piece of material?

€10 for the jersey, €60 for the club directors expenses

But, yes a substantial amount of cost is in licencing fees. If you're a dub, pennys have a light blue short sleeve t-shirt for €2.50 - considering the dubs are in croke park every August/earl sept, this will be perfect

IrishHomer · 10-11-2019 11:47pm

€9.45 for a Vodka and 7up in the Bridge House Bar in Tullamore Co. Offaly. They won't sell a splash of 7up has to be a bottle.

I just had a 3 day Mediterranean Cruise including all I can eat food and drink and return priority flights all for €299, some rip off country here in Ireland.

L1011 · 11-11-2019 12:00am

A cruise for that price this autumn is an operator desperately trying to fill berths that they had expected Thomas Cook to sell; not someone covering their costs (they absolutely lost money on you). Alcohol provided at sea is duty free also.

However, 9.45 is an obscene price for that in Dublin let alone the Midlands!

odyssey06 · 11-11-2019 9:12am

Living Off The Splash wrote: »

Some of the codeine based painkillers can be addictive.

They were talking about paracetamol though. There's no good reason for the scale of the price diffs and restrictions here for OTC products versus UK except to perpetuate the ripoff and protect the 'jobs for the boys' in the regulatory sector here.

daheff · 11-11-2019 9:15am

WishUWereHere wrote: »

Re the round up, you do know you have a right to demand the EXACT change, ie 4.97, hand over a fiver, if you want it, they MUST give you the 3 cents change.

Heard this on Liveline a while ago.

Nope nope and more nope.

No legal requirement to give ANY change. Shops do because customers arent coming back otherwise

thenightman · 11-11-2019 10:42am

Deleted User wrote: »

Thought there might be a general thread for pics of the odd rip-off you see here and there which aren't worthy of a new thread every time..........Couldn't find one, so here we go:

Spar Merrion Row. Who in their right mind is paying this for a standard packet of biscuits?

edit: image was huge, trying to resize it now

Lots of upmarket offices in the area, someone sent out to buy biscuits for a meeting out of petty cash presumably.

decky1 · 11-11-2019 10:49am

Inheritance tax.

11-11-2019 11:03am

wassie wrote: »

Over the counter medicines a classic example of the restricted competition in this country and the nanny state we are live in. Nothing sh!ts me more than being told 'sorry sir, we cant sell you more because the Govt doesnt trust you'.

Was in Aus a while back, could get a generic box of 100 tablets of paracetamol (500mg) for AUD$2.49.....Thats €1.55 or 1.55c

I'm fine with the restrictions on paracetamol tbh. It saves a lot of lives. And while people generally don't like being told what to do if you regularly need more than 32 paracetamol on-hand you should probably be seeing a doctor and getting a prescription for them.

editorsean · 11-11-2019 11:32am

Almond 1 litre carton - Usually €2.39 for the Alpro brand and €1.69 for store own brand. Occasionally the Alpro brand goes on sale for 2 for €3.50 such as in Supervalu every 2-3 months. The cheapest I've seen it was €1.50 on one of the LIDL Super Weekend Savers several months ago.

In the North, the Alpro brand is generally always on sale for £1 per carton somewhere. When I was in Asda in Strabane last week, it was 90p per carton in Asda. Even when it's not or out of stock, the store own brand is 95p to £1 per carton in most supermarkets.

11-11-2019 11:47am

Cazale wrote: »

It's a 9% Double IPA which is what they cost.

It most certainly is not what they cost. McGargle's do an 8% double IPA that's available for about €3.50. Same with O'Hara's, think theirs is 7.5% though, but still, well under €4.

€6 for a single can is expensive no matter what way you slice it. That underdog place on Dame st is one of the dearest pubs in the city and they do a triple IPA @ 11% on tap for that kinda money.

ncmc · 11-11-2019 2:06pm

Was looking at a kids hat and glove set in Debenhams over the weekend. €25 with 20% 'discount' in the 'sale'. Looked it up on the .co.uk site and its £16 (less than €19) Debenhams seem to price stuff here with the sole purpose of giving a % off in their never ending sale and making you feel like you got a good deal.

WishUWereHere · 11-11-2019 9:34pm

daheff wrote: »

Nope nope and more nope.

No legal requirement to give ANY change. Shops do because customers arent coming back otherwise

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/money_and_tax/personal_finance/banking/rounding_cash_transactions.html

Introduction
Rounding was rolled out nationwide on Wednesday 28 October 2015. Rounding means that the total amount of a bill will be rounded up or down to the nearest 5 cent. It applies only to cash payments and does not apply to bills paid electronically - by debit card, credit card or by store card.

Rounding aims to reduce the use of 1 and 2 cent coins. These coins are not actively used by consumers and the cost of issuing them is more than the value of the coins. A 1 cent coin costs 1.65c to produce while 2 cent coin costs 1.94c. However 1 and 2 cent coins will continue to be legal tender.

The key features of rounding are:

Rounding is voluntary for retailers and customers
1c and 2c coins remain legal tender
Rounding applies only to cash payments
The total amount of any bill will be rounded down or up to the nearest 5 cent
The retailer can apply rounding automatically without asking the customer – it is up to you to say if you don’t want rounding applied to your bill. However customers must always be given exact change if they request it.

I'm not argueing if its legal or not go give any change. My post was about the rounding up/down, & I stated that the customer has the right to demand their full change.

silver2020 · 11-11-2019 10:56pm

WishUWereHere wrote: »

& I stated that the customer has the right to demand their full change.

You have a right to ask, but your post said they "legally must" which is incorrect.

The problem about using such words is someone will then go into a sho and say the same thing and will look like a fool.

So its best never to say something is legally binding unless you can show what legal text proves such a statement.

Saying as you say in this post that a customer has a right to ask for correct change is more correct. (the store still is not legally obliged to give it, but would lose all their custom fairly quickly if they did not)

beachhead · 12-11-2019 12:23am

Complaints about "rounding" are not rare.Why would the majority of the population here want to go boards to complain.Most have never heard of boards.I use a card when the "rounding" is not in my favour.As said before,for the retailers who use it,it's a form of gouging.My local Aldi has started stocking 1 and 2c coins.So there must a some "rebels" emerging.

daheff · 12-11-2019 9:25am

WishUWereHere wrote: »

I'm not argueing if its legal or not go give any change. My post was about the rounding up/down, & I stated that the customer has the right to demand their full change.

Absolutely agree customer should get full change. Imo rounding is a scam (albeit on a small scale) for retailers to improve margins with pricing strategy.

If they were really so worried about rounding they would just change their prices to the nearest 5c and not have to go through the whole round up/down rigmarole.

But to counter your point, customer always has the right to demand full change, but retailer is not bound by law to give any change.

Dav010 · 12-11-2019 9:43am

daheff wrote: »

Absolutely agree customer should get full change. Imo rounding is a scam (albeit on a small scale) for retailers to improve margins with pricing strategy.

If they were really so worried about rounding they would just change their prices to the nearest 5c and not have to go through the whole round up/down rigmarole.

But to counter your point, customer always has the right to demand full change, but retailer is not bound by law to give any change.

On your last point, how long would a business last in the digital age if they refuse to give change? I suspect a quick post on one of the many social platforms and an email to media outlets would do the trick very quickly. So, though legally you may be correct, in reality you are not.

I really don’t see how retailers can be accused of profiteering for following a Government guideline. The cost of producing 1&2c coins exceeds their monetary value so they are being taken out of circulation.

Rounding up really isn’t going to make a difference to the bottom line, it would take 100 customers to make €1, about 60c after tax, how that could be considered a scam is beyond me. As others have pointed out, rounding up does not apply to electronic purchases, if you don’t want to pay it, tap and go.

daheff · 12-11-2019 3:13pm

Dav010 wrote: »

On your last point, how long would a business last in the digital age if they refuse to give change?

Yep I agree. I made that point earlier.

Also remember these laws predate any kind of social media.

daheff wrote: »

Nope nope and more nope.

No legal requirement to give ANY change. Shops do because customers arent coming back otherwise

Dav010 wrote: »

I really don’t see how retailers can be accused of profiteering for following a Government guideline.

Its a voluntary thing. If it was going to cost shops, you can be sure they wouldn't be doing it. Also remember that the larger multiples have quite sophisticated analytics which can work out how much they would earn extra if XYZ happens.

Dav010 wrote: »

Rounding up really isn’t going to make a difference to the bottom line, it would take 100 customers to make €1, about 60c after tax, how that could be considered a scam is beyond me.

Think of it over millions of transactions that they have annually across their group. 1 million transactions rounded up by 2c saves them 20k. Plus handling fees.

How often do you see transactions rounding down? More often than not (in my experience anyways) its rounded up.

as for the after tax part....shops have no control on tax rates. As such they look at Taxable profit and to maximise this.

General rip off examples

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