TechWire

NTL, Digiweb lead official advertisement complaints

UPC (NTL, Chorus) and Digiweb star in the latest round of complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland. Digiweb was rapped twice for its fairly misleading ads claiming phone rental and broadband for €20 per month with "no gimmicks" (the gimmick turned out to be a €90 installation fee, limited availability and a flexible definition of the term "phone line rental").
NTL boasted that its "first three months subscription" were "free". Except not on its Value Broadband range, which the ASAI took exception to. It was also advertising a free three month broadband package in Waterford after the offer had expired.
Other companies listed included Magnet (for the Kathryn Thomas parody in its ads), IFA Telecom (for representing that its service was available in every rural location, which it isn't) and Chorus (for alleging that its competition didn't carry several channels that it did).
Meanwhile, Dell has fallen foul of the British Advertising Standards Authority for not pointing out in its ads that connection cables don't come with its printers. (Picture courtesy of Showbiz Ireland.)

Why it pays to shop around

Case in point: Motorola's KRZR K1. Price on Phonesonline.ie -- €364. Price on Expansys.ie -- €181.

Dabs.ie pulls a fast one on Irish customers

Grrrr. According to a statement issued today by the British Office of Fair Trading, Dabs "has agreed to amend unfair terms and conditions regarding returns and refunds in its consumer contracts".

One "unfair" condition that Dabs has rescinded for its British shoppers was a clause that "limited the company's liability for faulty goods sold, by making the consumer pay cost of carriage to return items".

But guess what? Not its Irish ones. Note the different return conditions for us Irish: "Return carriage costs paid by the customer, however dabs.ie will cover the cost of shipping the repaired unit back to you."

It seems to be a clear case for the Office of Consumer Affairs, but I think that it needs to receive an official complaint first...

Rebelio.ie: good selection, so-so prices

The latest tech webstore to come onto my radar is rebelio.ie. It's pretty good, but not necessarily that cheap. For example, a set of Harmon Kardon Soundstick II MP3 speakers (the best MP3 speakers outside Bose, in my view) costs €213 on rebelio.ie but only €165 on Komplett.ie (both prices include delivery).

New Irish (cheap) online retailer

Through umpteen research articles on tech stuff to buy this Christmas, our attention has been drawn to referabuyer.ie, a new Irish website with some pretty excellent prices on things like high definition TVs. Don't know where they get the stuff from, or where it's warehoused, but it's certainly cheap.

How to save €200 on a Sony Vaio laptop

Looking for an elegant new Sony Vaio laptop? Do NOT buy one until you've checked prices online: the difference is staggering. The current Vaio VGN-N11M/W model retails at €1,090 in Sony Centres, Peats and other Irish shops. On Play.com, however, it costs €900 (including delivery). Unbelievable.

Unlocking mobiles: where to do it and how much you save

Want a cheap phone? You can save a fortune through buying a pre-paid mobile and getting it 'unlocked'. This costs between €10 and €50 in dozens of independent mobile phone shops (ie not owned or controlled by operators).

Pre-paid models          Pre-paid price     Standalone price*
Motorola Razr V3                 €200                        €430
Sony Ericsson K750i           €200                        €430
Nokia 3320                             €90                         €250
Nokia 8800                           €700                      €1,000
VK530 (pink)                          €70                         €200
Nokia 6101                          €150                          €300
*As displayed in Vodafone shops

The operators subsidise pre-paid phones a lot, on the basis that they're locked and won't be used on their rivals' networks. But lots of shops unlock them. For example, in Dublin's Camden Street/Aungier Street area, beside our offices, there are two shops which do this, FM Mobiles (also on George's Street; 01-4791745) and Simi Sim (01-4789087). Is this legal? Yes. Are there drawbacks to it? It's unclear. For example, calling customer care may elicit a piqued helpdesk agent given that you no longer have the handset they thought they'd sold you. Also, one or two operators vaguely threaten that having this done "might" affect your warranty. Lastly, they appeal to punters not to do this as it's an "underworld activity" used by "phone thieves". Thieves. Yes. Hmmm.

Power City's WEEE bit of confusion

Power City is stretching the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive to include non-electrical equipment, earning itself a few extra quid. It is currently exacting a €2 "WEEE recycling charge" on mechanical (but non-electronic) weighing scales. This isn't the first time that Irish shops have struggled to come to grips with WEEE. Applicances covered under the directive can be found here.

UPDATE (9th March, 10.20am): Following calls from this blog, Power City has withdrawn its €2 recycling charge on this item. "It was an incorrect charge," said Pat Finnerty, a director of the company. "The reason it was in there was because the list of items under the directive refers to scales. But we've taken the charge off now."

Fire sale at Asos.com

Clothes shopaholics will be interested in the online half-price sale at giant (British) clothes retailer Asos.com. As the Daily Telegraph today reports, the company was hit badly by the Buncefield oil depot explosion in England a month ago and has only just started trading again this morning. It now has to shift a massive amount of tops, bottoms, shoes, lingerie and accessories – all the undamaged winter stock that needs to make way for Spring and Summer collections. YTS's in-house clothes-shopping consultant, Tina-Marie, confirmed that it's "really good value". The site delivers direct to Ireland.

DVD box set watch: The Simpsons

Gamestop (Henry Street, Liffey Street, Santry) has a couple of (used) box sets of Series 5 of The Simpsons for €25. Episodes include Homer going into space and accidentally knocking over an on-board experimental ant colony. This prompts the watching Springfield TV news anchorman, Kent Brockman, to "hail our new ant masters". There’s a lot of Sideshow Bob (played by Frasier’s Kelsey Grammer), too, including the Cape Fear episode. Classic stuff.