Why do we not have an active independent consumer body in Ireland?

Brendan Burgess

Brendan Burgess

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The Consumers Association of Ireland appears to be dormant.

It no longer publishes a magazine. Because of that it no longer takes membership fees. The auditors have resigned. I have not seen them represented at any of the civil society meetings hosted by the Central Bank or Department of Finance. I have not seen them quoted in the papers. I get calls from journalists to talk about inflation or some other topic, but I decline as it's not an area I know much about. I refer them to the CAI but they say that they don't return calls.

The government stopped funding them a long time ago, presumably because they were getting very little value for money.
 
But there should be a group, independent of the government, which advocates on behalf of consumers.

It doesn't need to publish a magazine.
It does not need to answer questions from the public about their rights.

But it could represent consumers on topics such as
Financial services - high cost of insurance, mortgage rates, etc
Why we don't have Uber and the like operating fully in Ireland
The difficulty people have in cancelling Virgin Media
Why is everything so much more expensive in Ireland than elsewhere (or appears to be?)
 
Looking back at this forum over the past year, there hasn't been that much to keep a consumer body busy.

The CAI did get involved in stuff which I considered inappropriate e.g. calling for tax cuts. That struck me as something they should be neutral on. It's not The Taxpayer vs. the Government. It would be the Taxpayer vs. other Taxpayers.
 
I googled what are the key issues facing consumers and they appear to be

The Cost of Living
Faulty Goods and services
Used cars
Misleading practices and prices
Getting on the housing ladder
 
If there were an active consumer campaigning body, what campaigns or studies would you prioritise?

To kick it off, here are some of mine:

1) Ban discrimination against existing customers. Allow all existing customers to avail of any deal on offer to new customers
2) Allow Uber etc to operate in Ireland in the same way as they operate elsewhere
3) Study why Ireland seems to be more expensive than most other countries
 
4) Lobby the EU to repeal the €3 plus courier processing fee plus VAT recently added to small item imports. With more planned fees coming!

I'm not sure about Uber. I don't like their business model which is bad for drivers and consumers in the long run.
 
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5) Maybe this is more a MABS thing, but advocate for a ban on credit offers at point of sale, particularly for consumable goods. Car loans are one thing, but Klarna for your takeaway or groceries is madness.
 
MugsGame said:
4) Lobby the EU to repeal the €3 plus courier processing fee plus VAT recently added to imports. With more planned fees coming!

I'm not sure about Uber. I don't like their business model which is bad for drivers and consumers in the long run.
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Some good suggestions there.

And it's one big problem any group would have - some of us want Uber and others think it's not a good idea. So would the CAI take a view on it?
 
Brendan Burgess said:
If there were an active consumer campaigning body, what campaigns or studies would you prioritise?

To kick it off, here are some of mine:

1) Ban discrimination against existing customers. Allow all existing customers to avail of any deal on offer to new customers
2) Allow Uber etc to operate in Ireland in the same way as they operate elsewhere
3) Study why Ireland seems to be more expensive than most other countries
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1) If suppliers didn't offer special deals to new customers people would never shop around. People are already inert as it is. If they have a bad deal many don't bother to switch utility or insurance. So why advocate for them. Those that bother each year to get a good deal on their utility or car insurance gain.
2) no idea about Uber, what difference would it make?
3) It's more expensive as we are a small national, we don't have the financial might of large countries like the UK or Germany. Also we are an island nation.

Consumer champion ideas

- make utilitiy bills easier to understand
- Gas and Electric give the option to poorer people to pay daily or weekly, because they are not able to budget, but they pay at a higher rate per unit, I find that unfair, and they are the type of people need help
- you mentioned used cars, nothing will ever change on that being a chancers nirvana. But what could a consumers champion actually do to change that. And customers do have a choice, buy off a main dealer that gives some kind of guarantee
- increase the limits in the small claims court, and make it really easy
- campaign against the selling of insurance polices when you buy a new fridge
- campaign that a new cooker with a 2 year warranty should be entitled to a full refund or replacement if it breaks down in year 3
 
Maybe review the grocery sector to see if the need to subscribe to loyalty schemes for points/discounts/vouchers in order to get the best prices could be done away with? Aldi might be interested in assisting with this. ;)
 
MugsGame said:
5) Maybe this is more a MABS thing, but advocate for a ban on credit offers at point of sale, particularly for consumable goods. Car loans are one thing, but Klarna for your takeaway or groceries is madness.
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What's Klarna?
 
Bronte said:
1) If suppliers didn't offer special deals to new customers people would never shop around.
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Yes they would. If one supplier cut its prices for new and existing customers, the people who aren't with that supplier would switch to them. That is competition.
 
ClubMan said:
Maybe review the grocery sector to see if the need to subscribe to loyalty schemes for points/discounts/vouchers in order to get the best prices could be done away with?
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I don't have a problem with points/vouchers to get a discount later, but the two-tier pricing model in Tesco/Lidl feels unfair and punishing even if it is functionally the same thing.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
And it's one big problem any group would have - some of us want Uber and others think it's not a good idea. So would the CAI take a view on it?
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Perhaps a body who could distil such consumer issues into an easily understood problem statement along with the short, medium, and long term pros and cons from a consumer perspective would be good? Taking a look at similar concerns in foreign markets and how they might translate in the Irish context, publishing in formats that could inform consumers and government alike.

Taking the Uber example, detailing the regions where their dominance has led to increased consumer costs, or the rise and now dominance of Didi in the ride hailing business in China would make for good material? In these cases consumers now pay higher prices than they did before and competition is effectively stifled. Even Uber pumping billions into the Chinese market failed to make a dent on that monopoly and they ultimately withdrew.
 
ClubMan said:
A BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later) credit service.
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My goodness I thought the poster had ‘credit’ misspelt. And people are using this for their groceries . I had a look at your link to figure it out, it’s a ruse for the stupid to get into debt and for others to manage spending, I think. Are Klarna getting money every time the card/app is used from the retailer? And they get money if you’re late.
 
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