You spot the prices, we ask the questionsA Dublin-based reader, Gerard Nagle, has contacted PriceWatch to remind readers of the need to shop around to avoid paying over the odds for everyday household items. In early September he bought a 50-litre Brabantia touch bin with a steel finish for €135 from Atlantic Homecare in the Blanchardstown Centre.

Days later, while flicking through the Argos catalogue, he saw exactly the same bin for sale at €98.50. Angered by the scale of the difference, he returned to Atlantic Homecare, where he was immediately refunded the price difference.

"The manager said at the time that he would contact Atlantic Homecare's purchasing department and inform it of the price difference," Nagle says.

However, two weeks later, when he checked the company's website, the bin was still retailing at 135. He says he will never shop in Atlantic Homecare again, "as I have no trust in any of their prices". Atlantic's branch in Blanchardstown confirmed to PriceWatch earlier this week that the bin in question was still selling for 135. Worse was to come: Nagle subsequently discovered the same bin selling for €175 in a shop in his home county of Clare.

Fiona Dunne writes to remind readers to make sure they have their passport or driving licence as well as a passport photo with them when they buy an Irish Rail Weekender fare card, which was highlighted in this column recently.

She also expresses her annoyance at the lack of promotion of the card - which can save commuters significant sums - by Irish Rail. "I have bought countless, expensive return tickets from Dublin to Cork over the years and never once been asked by Irish Rail staff if I wanted to avail of this offer.

"Similarly, I have never, ever seen it advertised. Irish trains are already so ill-equipped to handle their existing volume of traffic that it's hard not to feel this lack of advertising around the Weekender fare card is deliberate," she writes.

What's more...

Make up your own mind Aoife Carr from Dublin got in touch to highlight the substantial price difference between store-branded make-up removal pads in Boots and SuperQuinn.

The latter's Euroshopper pads sell for €0.66 cent for 80 while the former's sell for €2.15 for 100 pads. The two products are "virtually identical," according to Carr.

If you notice a significant price increase or discrepancy, let us know by e-mailing pricewatch@irish-times.ie