Ripped off? Stunned by good value? Write, text or blog your experience to us

On July 1st, Timothy O'Donnell lodged a cheque in a Limerick branch of the Permanent TSB and was told by the teller that it would take five working days before he would be able to access it. "It was July 8th before I could get cash at an ATM," he writes. "In this day and age it seems an awful long time to clear a cheque. Twenty years ago it did not take that long."

He wants to know if the banks are making use of this "free money". We spoke to one bank source who said that banks probably are, as in reality it doesn't take anything close to five days for money to move from one account to another.

We contacted TSB to see if they could explain why money transfers took so long. A spokeswoman told us that all cheques lodged by a customer must go through a clearing cycle, one which is "strictly monitored" by the Irish Payment Services Organisation (IPSO). She went on to explain the cycle in detail.

On day one the cheque is lodged to an account and sent to the Bank's clearing system overnight. The following day the bank's clearing system passes the cheque on to the debiting bank. On day three the debiting bank debits the account on which the cheque is drawn and the bank has two days to decide to return the cheque back. If the cheque is being returned the debiting bank must have the cheque in the post by close of business at the latest. And finally, on day five, the bank which lodged the cheque receives the unpaid cheque back and debits the customer's account.

"The bank can receive a cheque back 'unpaid' at any time up to close of business on day five and this is the reason why the bank puts a hold on the use of the funds until this timeframe elapses," the spokeswoman explained. "If a cheque is not received back on day five, the hold is automatically released at close of business on that day. Even though the funds are not available to withdraw, the customer does receive the benefit for these funds accounted for in credit interest," she said.

Hmmm, we still think they could get it all together just a little faster.

Fizz or swiz?

Michael O'Neill from Dublin regularly buys two-litre bottles of sparkling water from Dunnes Stores and has been less than impressed to note that in recent weeks the price has gone from 37c to 79c. "Now I know it is still cheap but that is one hell of a price increase! The bottles have a snazzy new label. Looks like I'm paying double for the new label. I wonder would Dunnes like to comment on this?" Well, we did ask them for a comment but the store declined.

Hire praise

David Kelly got in touch to say he thought our article on car hiring was "a little unbalanced" as many people "bring the problems they experience on themselves by failing to read things through". He said he had hired cars regularly on holidays in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Australia and the US over the last 20 years and only twice experienced a problem.

"The first, 20 years ago, was of my own making and the second, in Italy three years ago, was similar to the case you quoted when the hirer was a few minutes late returning the car. I was about 30 minutes late (and only then because I had taken the car a half an hour earlier than booked) and was charged an extra day. However, research on the internet threw up the fact that EU regulations require car hire operators to allow one hour tolerance for late return and when this was pointed out, the charge was refunded."

As to the prices that people are being asked to pay, he says he has "nearly always hired using Avis or Hertz and if you book and pay in advance online, very reasonable all-in charges (especially if you refuse the excess waiver offer) can be achieved".

"Last year, for example, I hired a Toyota Prius in late June for 13 days from Hertz in Nice for €293 - €22.54 per day all-in, but declined Collision Damage Waiver (CDW). As it turned out, I did cause some damage, for which Hertz charged a very fair €95 - still a good bit less than it would have cost for the waiver."