SOUNDING OFF: Ripped off? Stunned by good value? Write, text or blog your experience to us.
A reader moved with her family to Ireland from Arizona in December. She writes that the moving company did a poor job at packing and some small pieces of furniture were damaged. The company's insurer asked for a repair estimate so she randomly selected a furniture repair firm from the phone book.
"Perhaps the first clue that something was amiss was that even though the firm advertised 'free estimates', it cost €150 per item evaluated," she says. "The firm explained that although there was a fee it would be deducted from the final repair bill."
They sent someone to look at three pieces of furniture for a total cost of €510 - €150 per piece plus Vat. The couple paid him in cash, as requested. "After a few days of prodding" they got a receipt and then the estimate. "It was so unreasonable, it was clear that he really did not want to work on the furniture," she says. She sent the estimate to the moving company in the US who agreed to pay the face value of the furniture, but only $150 (€96) for the estimate. "They said the estimate fee of €510 was ridiculous and insinuated we had been had. They also said the estimate itself was out of line as it was three to four times more than what the furniture was worth."
She accepts that it is now unlikely that they will recover the money from the moving company, which means they are €415 out of pocket due to "a combination of unprofessional packers, a greedy con-man, our own naivete, and the stubbornness of the moving company's insurance department. My question is, is there a consumer watchdog group in Ireland to whom I could report the furniture-repair firm?"
Well, the first port of call should be the National Consumer Agency, 4 Harcourt Terrace, Dublin 2, Tel: 1890-432432. However, we contacted them in connection with her story and were told that they don't get involved in individual cases. If she does contact them, however, at least her case will be recorded, so if others complain about the company in question, the NCA may take further action.
The other alternative would be the Small Claims Court, www.courts.ie. It is cheap and easy, but she would need to prove to the satisfaction of the presiding judge that the furniture repair company deliberately furnished her with a quote that was far out of line with reality, which might not be so simple.
Costs more, cares less for baggage
Travelling from Venice to Dublin on an Aer Lingus flight at the end of April, Brigid Greene waited over an hour for her luggage. When it finally appeared, the handle had been pulled up and broken off. She went to what is euphemistically called "customer care" and showed the broken suitcase to the officer on duty "who immediately produced a plastic sign to confirm that Aer Lingus no longer took responsibility for damaged luggage". Our reader pointed out that she had paid €10 to have her luggage taken care of. "The reply I got was, 'Sorry, we are just like Ryanair.' And now I understand that the charge for checking luggage has been increased again by Aer Lingus."
Indeed it has. At the beginning of May Aer Lingus increased charges for checking in bags on its short-haul flights by as much as 50 per cent. The airline said that the cost of checking in bags at airports would increase from €12 to €18, while the fee for online baggage check-in would rise to €12 from €9. For that kind of money we would expect the airline to not only take care of our bags but also to take responsibility for them should something go awry.
A spokeswoman for Aer Lingus said that the airline did accept responsibility for checked baggage damaged while in the care of the airline but "minor damage to the exterior of the baggage is not covered". She accepted that "the passenger reported damage to the handle of her bag on arrival at Dublin Airport. The airline accepts full responsibility for the damage incurred. We are currently investigating the matter internally as to why this was not dealt with satisfactorily upon arrival in Dublin Airport." She said that Aer Lingus Customer Relations had been "in contact with the passenger directly to resolve this matter".
