Rip-off complaints puts the skids on ice rink experience

THE title sponsors of Dublin’s Christmas Ice Rink spectacle at the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) have expressed concern at the level of customer complaints about the attraction.

A spokesperson for Siemens Mobile, which sponsored ICE@IFSC to the tune of €250,000, said it had been in contact with the organisers of the ice rink, Catalyst Events Ltd, to see how any problems would be dealt with.

About 5,000 people have already taken a turn on the rink over the first three days. The rink will be open to the public until January 15 next and over 50,000 tickets have already been sold.

However, a number of customers contacted the Marian Finucane show yesterday to express frustration at the event saying they felt ripped off by the experience.

“We were very concerned when we heard the Marian Finucane show because Siemens are the title sponsors of the event. We were very concerned to hear that people who had gone to the event had been disappointed.

“We have contacted Catalyst about the issues raised and have asked them to get back to us and let us know how they will deal with these areas,” the spokeswoman said.

Callers to the show said the advertising leaflets for the ice rink were far removed from reality.

“The advertising was very misleading. When we got there it was a big disappointment. It gave the impression of something a lot bigger, a lot grander than it was and I did feel quite ripped off when I went along, to be honest,” said one caller.

Another caller said there had been no laser show as promised and the rink surface looked like kitchen tiles.

“It was just a temporary set up surrounded by a temporary metal fence. There were no themed restaurants or bars. It wasn’t actually a real ice skating rink as such. It looked like kitchen floor tiles,” the caller said.

Marian Finucane also said some of her own colleagues who had gone to the rink had been less than enthused at the experience.

The event’s promoter, Hugh O’Morain who graduated from a Diploma in Entrepreneurial Studies (DES) course at the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business this summer, yesterday defended the ice rink.

“We were inundated with reporters from the press and TV today and they all said they can’t see what the complaints are about,” said Mr O’Morain, adding that two complaints on the radio was a very small level given the 5,000 customers who have already visited the ice rink.

“If that’s the level of complaint then I’m happy with that,” he said.

Mr O’Morain admitted that sign posting for the laser show could perhaps be better but rejected any suggestion that the promotion’s ads had been misleading. “Everything we have admitted to and claimed would be here has been here,” he said.