Banks found to be biggest source of consumer rage
The situation was revealed in the State watchdog’s latest annual report, which said solicitors’ fees, doorstep selling, and ‘clocked’ cars whose odometers have been falsified are also unfairly hitting people’s pockets.
According to the report, the agency last year received almost 60,000 calls or emails from members of the public.
Of this figure, 17% related of the issues related to personal finance concerns — the highest out of any category — with banking problems accounting for more than half of this rate.
The group said chief among banking concerns were hidden charges for certain services, lending, mortgage repayment arrears, and credit card difficulties.
The next highest category on the breakdown of calls was vehicle issues (10%), followed by phone services (9%), electronic equipment (8%), and sub-standard clothes products (7%).
The State watchdog also raised a number of significant consumer concerns it said are increasingly causing people problems in recession-era Ireland. These include:
‘Clocked’ cars, which “potentially expose purchasers of these cars, and other road users, to possible road safety issues, as they have significantly greater mileage than indicated, with implications for servicing and maintenance”.
The NCA received 57 complaints about car clocking last year. One offender, Oleksandr Tabachuk, based at Ballybane Industrial Estate, Tuam Rd, Co Galway, was taken to court and forced to pay €4,000 in compensation to a duped customer;
* Doorstep selling, “particularly to vulnerable consumers”.
The NCA was particularly wary of the issue in the lead-up to the digital TV switchover last autumn, as it believed criminals were travelling around the country with useless equipment they were claiming was needed as part of the change.
* Solicitors fees. An NCA investigation last year found a “wide variation” in the cost of the same routine services offered by a large spread of solicitors. The Law Society is working to address the issue.
The problem was exacerbated by the fact that just one out of 65 solicitors interviewed displayed the price of their services, meaning customers risked being ripped off without knowing there was an issue.
The report also noted that, despite the growing popularity of online deal websites, they contain potentially serious consumer pitfalls.
A May 2012 study by the consumer watchdog found that while three out of every five people in Ireland is signed up to the popular sites, a third of customers found their purchases had been hit with problems.
The most common complaint was the poor quality of the product, with 34% of people who said they were dissatisfied raising this as a concern.
Hundreds of daily household items, children’s toys and sports gear were recalled or removed entirely from Irish shelves over serious safety fears last year.
The National Consumer Agency’s annual report for 2012 said carbon monoxide alarms, hurling helmets, high-visibility vests, plugs and kids’ toys all had potentially dangerous hidden problems.
The report said that between January and December last year it received 2,315 Europe-wide warnings over certain products — 1,938 of which were considered to hold a “serious risk”.
The figure included 366 toys, 205 electrical appliances and 668 types of clothes, among others, with almost two-thirds of the faulty products being made in China.
Among the most serious concerns which led to extensive National Consumer Agency investigation was a popular carbon monoxide alarm that failed to detect the lethal gas.
More than 2,000 of the Mister Monitor alarms had been sold in Ireland when the issue was identified in Jan 2012, resulting in a voluntary, nationwide recall. Further checks resulted in the Eclipse E240CARB and Co-alarm products also being taken off Irish shelves.
Popular hurling helmets sold at O’Neill Sports, Smyth’s Toys, Atak Sports and other stores also underwent recalls because their face guards had been altered, resulting in a risk of serious injury.
