Irish tech retailers' overcharging fiasco

In today’s newspaper, I report on electronics shops that are overcharging punters for recycling costs that don’t apply. In a nutshell, a lot of retailers have screwed up on the meaning of recent recycling legislation (the WEEE act) and have been overcharging shoppers on a range of items for up to 8 months.
For anyone who’s interested, below is a fuller list of what I found over a few days’ shop browsing. I also found tons of instances where shops weren't displaying recycling charges on electronics as they should have. This isn't as serious as overcharging, but is still illegal. It also tells punters that they can bring in an older equivalent product for proper environmental recycling. I should say that I visited a very limited number of shops: my guess is that this issue is rife throughout Irish retailers.
In fairness, it should be said that it’s very unlikely any overcharging was done on purpose. What has happened is that several electronics items -- printers, weighing scales and carpet sweepers -- have confused retailers as to their liability or otherwise under recycling law. And many have mistakenly opted to levy a charge. But what is amazing is how none of the relevant authorities -- WEEE Ireland, the WEEE Register and the Environmental Protection Agency -- have noticed any of this going on in all that time. This is especially so for the EPA, which is supposed to enforce the rules and which claims to have “monitors” checking shops for compliance. Just who and where are these monitors? A 20 minute stroll in almost any main commercial street or shopping centre reveals several offenders. So what have these monitors been doing for 8 months? One prosecution has been achieved by the EPA in January, against Boots. But that was for a lesser offence than overcharging. I suspect there should be more of this to come.

Shop: Power City (Blanchardstown and Finglas)
Product(s): Bissel and Leifheit manual carpet sweepers; Hanson mechanical bathroom scales
Issue: OVERCHARGE. A recycling charge of €2 is indicated on each product, though none is applicable to consumer recycling charges.
Date visited: 12/03/06

Shop: Harvey Norman superstore (Airside shopping centre, Swords)
Product(s): Hanson mechanical bathroom scales; Microsoft wireless computer keyboard; HP photosmart photoprinter; HP iPaq
Issue: OVERCHARGE. A recycling charge of €2 is indicated on each product, though none is applicable to consumer recycling charges.
Date visited: 12/03/06

Shop: Pixels (Liffey Street, Dublin 1)
Product(s): Sanyo P1EX photoprinter, Apple iMac computer
Issue: OVERCHARGE. A recycling charge of €2 is indicated on both products, neither of which are applicable to consumer recycling charges.
Date visited: 16/03/06

Shop: Dixons (Liffey Valley shopping centre)
Product(s): HP iPaq handheld computer, Kodak PP300 photoprinter, Epson Picturemate photoprinter
Issue: OVERCHARGE. Price notices indicated a €5 recycling charge for the iPaq and a €2 recycling charge for each of the photoprinters. None apply for consumer recycling charges.
Side-issue: No recycling charge indicated on Xbox or Sony PSP games consoles
Date visited: 17/03/06

Shop: Tesco (Clearwater Centre, Finglas)
Product(s): Salter mechanical bathroom scales
Issue: OVERCHARGE. A notice indicating that a recycling charge has been levied on all the weighing scales. Not applicable for consumer recycling charge.
Side-issue: Bland, unspecific reference to recycling charges at the bottom of a general stall on MP3 players (ie amount not specified)
Date visited: 19/03/06

Shop: Fujifilm centre (Liffey Valley shopping centre)
Product(s): Fuji Finepix digital cameras
Issue: No recycling charges indicated
Date visited: 17/03/06

Shop: 3G stores (Liffey Valley shopping centre)
Product(s): iPods, Creative Zen MP3 players
Issue: No recycling charges indicated
Date visited: 17/03/06

Shop: Game (Liffey Valley shopping centre)
Product(s): Xbox, Playstation 2, Xbox 360, Sony PSP
Issue: No recycling charges indicated
Date visited: 17/03/06

Shop: The Camera Centre (Grafton Street, Dublin 2)
Product(s): Several brands of digital cameras, several MP3 players, portable DVD player
Issue: No recycling charges indicated on anything
Date visited: 16/03/06

Shop: Tower Records (Wicklow Street, Dublin 2)
Product(s): iPod, iRiver, Creative  and Philips MP3 players plus M-Audio electronic amps plus Philips CD players and portable DVD players
Issue: No recycling charges indicated on anything
Date visited: 15/03/06

Shop: HMV (Grafton Street, Dublin 2)
Product(s): iPod, Creative, Philips and Sony MP3 players plus Xbox 360, Playstation 2 and Sony PSP games consoles
Issue: No recycling charges indicated
Date visited: 15/03/06

Shop: Brown Thomas (Grafton Street, Dublin 2)
Product(s): Salter electronic bathroom scales
Issue: No recycling charges indicated
Date visited: 15/03/06

Comments

[Mary Gilmartin]

I think I have noticed this around limerick.
I have been charged this on a new tv.

[Adrian]

Hi Mary,

Yes, that's kosher though. TVs are included under the WEEE legislation. But computers aren't.

[Mary Gilmartin]

Ok. Thank you. Better go read and educate myself.