Rip Off Republic - Episode #2 - review

Legend, I agree with a lot of things you say but I dont think the show is about what people think of Eddie Hobbs ?

Its a 4 part programme which bravely tries to show the Irish people how we are ripped off and some of the causes for the rip-offs.

I think its self-defeating if we spend our time criticising the show's format or 'presenter' or each other instead of exploring ways of tackling the problem.
 
Noor77 said:
Why didn't you turn it off then?

I think we should try and move away from the format and style of the programme (which I am none too enamoured of either, and I was in the audience for one episode) and concentrate on the message it conveys. I think as a nation we are generally quite happy to complain about being ripped off but not very motivated or mobilised when it comes to doing something about this highly problematic area. We need to start boycotting products and services that we feel are ripping us off. I for one would not drink in a pub that was owned by a political representative, nor would I shop in a shop owned by one.
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i did switch it off.....and I wonder to be honest if the viewing numbers will hold up for the 4 programs.
he is not a natural at presenting TV programs.
 
ah yes I forgot airfares.
I remember back in the mid 80's where the most popular way to get to london from Ireland was the slattery's bus treck,bus ferry, bus the whole way down to London from hollyhead. The reason was the fact that the cost of travelling by plane was so high.
Now we read about the popular weekend shopping trip to NEW YORK USA. if you said this would be the case in the 80's u would have been locked up.

I started work in 1986 and was paid the sum of £34.50 per week for a 40 hour week.
There were q's to get work, here in Roscrea there was a waiting list to get a summmer job in the local bacon factory and in reality you needed to be related to someone to get in. For the past 2 years the management had to go to the check rep. to get students for summer work. But sure everything is far worse now.....
Lads its time to bin the rose coloured glases.

We went over to the UK for a holiday a few weeks ago, reading the Liverpool eco 1 story about people being on hospital trolly for 6 weeks, yes 6 weeks.
Another story about GP only ment to have 1200 paitents on his books , he had over 2500 because he had no other choice not enough GP's. In order to get an appointment( yes you cant walk in off the street) you needed to book 5-6 weeks in advance. Iam sorry but I don't know whether or not I will have a dodgy stomack in 6 weeks or not but I had better make an apppointment just in case. There is no way we would put up with that here.
Was talking to a friend of mine recently about an old class mate who now lives in NY. he has a serious operation and when his health insurance ran out before he was better he was kicked out of the hospital anyway, he had to go back to his appartment and have friends come over when they could to keep an eye on him, get him his meals, help him to the shower etc, Would anyone be kicked out of a hospital after a serious operation because their vHI wouldn't cover any more expense. I don't think so.This wasn't a "private Hospital" like here it was a normal hospital like tallagh etc.
But sure every where else is better than here.
 
jem said:
ah yes I forgot airfares.
I remember back in the mid 80's where ...

if you said this would be the case in the 80's ...

I started work in 1986 ...
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Will somebody please get this guy the tardis from Doctor Who so he can GO back to the 1980's. Looking back 20 years ago is hardly the point of the discussion on Rip Off Republic. We are talking about the HERE AND NOW
 
But sure everything is far worse now.....
Lads its time to bin the rose coloured glases.
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I'm still waiting for an answer Jem. Where has ANYONE claimed that Ireland of
the 80's was better?

Bin the FF Green tinted glasses and answer the actual points raised, stop making up arguments about the 80's that you feel you can win. Oldest politicians trick in the book is answering a question you weren't asked. Are you planning a run for office?

-Rd
 
I'd love to see him have the balls to point out that if you want to get RTE from sat. you have to pay nearly 30 euro a month to Sky for the privelge.

With our terrain, loads of people have brutal TV reception and RTE could have fixed this with sat. filling in the gaps. I wouldn't even mind say a surcharge for a special viewing card that you bought along with your TV licence once a year for 20 quid along the lines of freeSat in the UK...but instead because I live in a crap terrestrial reception area i have to pay 360 euro a year to Sky.

So go on Eddie....lets see you take on the hand that feeds if you're that much of a champion...
 
I agree with a lot of DaltonR's comments. Fine to say that prices are transparent, the problem is that market intervention has stopped the free market operating and therefore competition and choosy consumers cannot solve the problem by reducing prices.

Look at the taxi's in Dublin, I often remember walking a couple of miles home because it was quicker than waiting by the Green for a taxi - how ridiculous was that??? Deregulation came and, as far as I can see (having thankfully exited Dublin apart from the odd visit) the problem has been significantly alleviated.

Rip-off isnt just high prices, its poor value. Taxi's used to give a very bad service, once the government loosened the monopoly the problem got sorted. Maybe the same would happen with pubs - stiff competition for customers would surely roll back the prices. I think chains like Witherspoons of the UK should be actively encouraged in to do a Bank of Scotland on it (they do cheap beer).
 
elcato said:
As an aside I have to laugh at people who represent the tourist industry who say the numbers are down this year and still charge way too much for a room. My heart also bleeds for these guys. Maybe the argument should read rip off Irish .......
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Yes indeed. And what is the government and tourist industry's reaction to falling numbers? More advertising, more spin, more PR. If we tell the people enough lies about how Ireland is fantastic value for money as a holiday destination, then eventually they will forget this myth of "Rip off Ireland" that has been conjured up by people like that Eddie Hobbs on RTE.

But all this advertising costs money, how will we pay for it? Well the beauty of that is that consumers in this country have become accustomed to business' raising their prices when their costs increase. Just whine that your margins are only 2%, that it's a miracle you make any money at all, or, that there is no money in this game at all, and your only doing it cos you don't want to see the family business close after 200 years. That will do it. After all, none of the rest of us have to suffer when insurance costs increase, or oil prices or whatever.
 
I wonder how much a pint in the Dail bar costs? Do TD's have to pay for drink there or is another of their perks?
 
Stop being ripped off in pubs by:

Going to them less often; CCOVICH is right - get bottled beer on special offer (typically about euro 1.00 per 33cl bottle) at supermarkets, off-licenses, etc.

Dunnes/Superquinn/Tesco often have 24 Warsteiner, etc. for e24 - execllent stuff!;)

Stop being ripped off in off-licenses by:

Clubbing together and go to France in a van on an Irish Ferries mini-cruise in the off-season and get great wine for 3-4 euro per bottle. Get a year's supply without paying either Excise OR VAT!:D

Enjoy.....
 
CCOVICH said:
So RDJ (and anyone likeminded), if (c) is your solution, fine. We're not talking about feckin' bottles of Kristal here, just a pint. The same crap the pub sells every other day, but today is different. Today pub owner will make more money than any other day in the year (bar New Years' eve maybe), but why should they not strive to make even more? That's the free market I guess, fair enough.
God help this country if we ever go to war. I dread to think how retailers would react to rationing and shortages. (Of course they would raise their prices, but by how much?)
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CCOVICH,
I'm quite happy to pay the extra money on the day when they're charging more for a pint because of a match at Landsdowne. And have happily done so for most of our recent internationals.

The pubs are providing a service, or which I choose to avail, and am willing to pay the price for it.

However, being a discerning consumer, because I know they're profiteering off my custom on international days, I provide them with no business whatsoever on any other days of the year. They don't deserve it.

If I find a pub who doesn't increase their prices, and still provides the service I'm looking for on international days, they're more likely to get my business on any other day.

If such pubs are able to survive on such short-term focused profiteering activities, without any care for their customers, then it's not really my fault that they're continuing in business, it's the people who frequent that place on a daily basis.

It is unfortunate that, I believe, in the the main, Irish businesses only ever consider that they're dealing with a customer on a once-off basis all the time. They don't care about customer loyalty and therefore squeeze each customer as if they'll never be back.

I
 
I'd like to add to daltonr's point about not comparing Ireland of the 00's to Ireland of the 80's but to other countries of the 00's - could we also compare ourselves with the best? Instead of saying Ireland of the 00's is a far better place than Poland of the 00's, could we compare our health system with that of France for example? Or our beer with that of Germany or the Czeck republic? When we run a race we don't say we did better than the last guy. We look at how far we have to push ourselves to come first.
 
I'll agree with DaltonR here as well.

For the money we spend on most things in Ireland, we do not get value, quality and service commensurate with that received in other countries.

Having lived in London, New York, and the Far East, we are not getting enough bang for our euro in this country.

And that is why I believe we are absolutely living in RipOff Ireland.
 
Maybe I'm going a little off the point here but a previous poster made reference to Witherspoons pub chain coming into Ireland...well actually they did look at setting up shop in Dublin a few years ago (2 or 3 years only) but pulled out at the last minute, mysteriously. Probably (purely my own conspiracy theory) because the brewers/ suppliers here wouldn't sell them their products at the reduced prices they'd expect in Britain. I happen to think it was a great shame for the consumer, even if they'd only have Stella, Fosters and Harp on tap!
 
shnaek said:
When we run a race we don't say we did better than the last guy. We look at how far we have to push ourselves to come first.
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I couldn't agree more. But that's the typical Irish mentality I'm afraid.
 
I was advised by mother in law to watch this programme.
In my opinion it should have been children sitting there in the audience and not adults.
He is either a condescending so and so or else a very intelligent person unused to talking to people at large - I think he is the former - needless to say that when I saw him parading around Athy looking for drunks (who all turned out to be women) I switched off. It was embarassing to say the least.


an intelligent person can be proud to be intelligent - a wise person knows how to be humble
 
jasconius said:
I was advised by mother in law to watch this programme.
In my opinion it should have been children sitting there in the audience and not adults.
He is either a condescending so and so or else a very intelligent person unused to talking to people at large - I think he is the former - needless to say that when I saw him parading around Athy looking for drunks (who all turned out to be women) I switched off. It was embarassing to say the least.
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If we have so many intelligent people in this country, as represented by way people feel spoken down to by Eddie, how come we're in the mess we're in???

Why aren't you intelligent people running the country instead of bitching about a tv programme on a bulletin board????
 
jasconius said:
I was advised by mother in law to watch this programme.
In my opinion it should have been children sitting there in the audience and not adults.
He is either a condescending so and so or else a very intelligent person unused to talking to people at large - I think he is the former - needless to say that when I saw him parading around Athy looking for drunks (who all turned out to be women) I switched off. It was embarassing to say the least.
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I'd give this point of view my 100% support.
 
ronan_d_john, the issue of treating customers as one off encounters is really a symptom a another problem. I.e. there is a steady stream of consumers to replace them, or their consumers don't complain and keep comign back.

It's not unique to Ireland of course. I was really struck by this problem in Australia. Had two bad experience in Restaurants, one in a taxi, and one with Brisbane Airport.
In most cases these were touristy type situation where there'd be a steady stream of replacements and I was unlikely to be back anyway.


In Malaysia and Singapore the customer was treated almost like royalty. It was actually a little disconcerting. When a shop assistant in Singapore hands you your change, the don't just hand it to you. They hold it on both hands and almost bow when handing it to you.

I actually think looking at how shop staff deal with customers is an excellent way of figuring out how people in general deal with each other. If your experience of shops is assitants who talk on the mobile and treat customers as irritants then you are probably dealing with a wider problem of manners in society.

-Rd
 
I'm undecided about his presenting style but have to admit that to me it wasn't so much condescending as it was more tongue in cheek! I felt he was presenting in that way to emphasise even more the ridiculousness of some of the issues he was talking about.
 
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