Being short changed deliberately in pubs

Jane Halligan from Shankill in Dublin writes to echo concerns from other readers in connection with retailers either overcharging or failing to deliver on promotional promises, or occasionally both.

Her son is travelling to Japan this month and she wanted to give him "kitsch Irish souvenirs" - lapel pins, fridge magnets, stickers - to dole out in some of the schools he plans to visit as part of the trip. "I found myself doing something rather unusual for an Irish person and rubbing shoulders with a lot of tourists," she writes.

She was surprised at the high price tags attached to some of the "cheap tat" on offer in shops selling Irish souvenirs but what really sparked her ire was the number of times shops accidentally overcharged her. "I was overcharged for items in three of the four shops," she says. "The only place I was not overcharged was the tourist office in Andrew Street."

In one shop she was charged €8 for three fridge magnets, which had a price tag of €1.99 each or three for €5. In another outlet she was charged €11.90 for two flags which were priced at €4.95 each or two for €8, and in a third shop she was asked for €7 for three lapel pins despite the fact that they had a price of €1.99 each or three for €5.

"In each case, as you can see, what I was being charged isn't even the item price multiplied by the number of items purchased, never mind the special offer! I must also point out that the special offer price was in each and every case up in bold lettering in full view of the cash desk."

She says that when she pointed to the big signs displaying the real prices she received an apology and was charged the correct prices. "My point is that these are tourist shops where the shopper may not speak English at all or not well enough to argue the issue or may not notice the overcharge in the bustle of sorting out strange currency."

She does allow for the possibility that on each occasion the overcharging "was a slip of the finger" but says that as it happened in three out of four shops it left her feeling that "in 'rip-off Ireland' your average tourist is being systematically overcharged. Perhaps our national slogan of 'Céad míle fáilte' should be more accurately 'Caveat emptor'."

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