Harney: High prices are your own fault

ednwireland

actually nib offer free banking if your account is a €1000 in credit isn't it ( i could be wrong)
and this gov. brought in acard tax that you end up paying if you move accounts and equates to about the same as the charges so negating competition, and they've done nothing to force the banks to move your account smoothly to another provider.
the only account i know of is the standard ulster bank account that has no charges if your in credit (not the ufirst account which does have a monthly charge ) i have three ulster bank accounts and pay no charges if the account stays in credit for the quarter

don't start me off on this gov harney personally has done nothing but sit on her fat a**e and take my taxes.
what about insurance reform they've had 6 years for gods sake mary harney should get voted out of her constituencty for those comments. 60 % of inflation due to gov. cost increases !!!!!!!!!

RainyDay

actually nib offer free banking if your account is a €1000 in credit isn't it ( i could be wrong)

Yes ednwireland - You are wrong - From NIB's web-page for their CashMaster account

Are there hidden charges with a CashMaster Account?

There are no transaction charges on a CashMaster account. .

I agree that the stamp duties are un-competitive, particularly the sneaky change to the timing of the credit card stamp duty, which is now due for each card account open at any time during the year, rather than the old rule of each account open on 1st April.

And yes, it would nice if there were smoother procedures to encourage switching accounts. But as long as consumers find excuses not to switch accounts, the banks are still going to charge as much as they possibly can.

ednwireland

sorry can't let this lie if it costs more in gov charges to move my account than i would save in that year moving my account this is gov. anti competitive behaviour. my td tried to get an answer out of mcreevy on this but as usual the answer didn't answer the question and basically said i'm mcreevy and i'll charge for what i want
in fact there was a comment in the sunday tibune on exactly this point in terms of anti competitive behaviour as you actually admit in your post
actually the thing that annoys me is when people tell me to shop around yet they introduce more an more barriers preventing me doing so i think i've said enough at this point

WhiteWashMan

and people wonder why i left the country.....

RainyDay

actually the thing that annoys me is when people tell me to shop around yet they introduce more an more barriers preventing me doing so

Far be it from me to defend our current dismal Govt, but let's keep things in context. They have introduced an anti-competitive stamp duty on just one type of account - credit cards only. You still have many, many opportunities to shop around on current accounts, solicitors, phone companies, internet access, pubs, restaurants etc etc - But most people just don't bother - it's easier just to whine.

aidanfagan

I agree.
I can admittedly, understand peoples frustration, because it seems like shopping around is V. difficult, and it takes A LOT of effort to get a good deal, while in other countries it seems to be easy.
However we are, I think going thru a period of change in Ireland. Business has had us all on the back foot for so long, it takes to change that culture, and for the message to sink in that consumers will walk if they don't get a good price, and good service.
It will eventually get through though............Remember what it was like when Aer Lingus charged IR£ 208 (€265) to fly to London, back in the 80s !!!! What would you say to them now if they wanted that? We have got reasonable prices for flights now, although it will take a good few years of competition before we get good service as well.
It takes time, but it does work

TomF

I recently got my renewal notice from AXA for insuring my '89 Mitsubishi Space Wagon. They upped the price from €493.33 to €571.12. They also told me that I had a 5+ years no claims discount, which amounts to something like €80. (I had always thought the discount amounted to hundreds!)

I was annoyed at the increase, especially with our no-claims record and the with the much-heralded effect of "points" bringng down the cost of motor insurance.

Then I got a letter from Hibernian offering insurance based on our no-claims record. I'd say they are out "cherry-picking". I telephoned them and got a quote for €462.21, including coverage for road assistance which AXA did not have on my policy.

I telephoned AXA again and on the phone the man reduced my premium to the same as Hibernian, although not offering road assistance. I asked AXA to send me their quote. When it arrived, it was for €590! I telephoned again and they said there was some mistake and the lower quote was correct.

I thought about sticking with AXA because they had insured us for several years. Then I thought, wait a minute: if Hibernian hadn't come in as a competitor, AXA would still be charging be top €, so I jumped ship and am happy to have struck a blow for competitiveness in Ireland!

As a sidebar to all this, I telephoned Quinn Direct for what must be the fifth time asking for a quote and they promised to send me an application form, and for the fifth time, there has been no follow-through. When I telephone, the nice girls on the other end of the line always tell me my name is on the computer and they can't understand why I am not getting an application, and yes they will put the application in the post that day.

This reminds me of something my wife once told me. She was working in England and met a young man there who had worked for an health insurance company in Ireland for a time. He was shocked at the ethics of the people in the Irish office. If they had a backlog of claims to process, they would frequently put new claims into the waste basket rather than process them.

ednwireland

its funny cos i couldn't get a cheaper quote, no claims for the last 17 years i'm with hibernian, i tried ringing round and couldn't actually get connected to most companies and the net quotes all seemed vastly more expensive, i've noticed this trend with dell as well (i get quotes for a number of my clients) and you can never get the same deal on the net as you can by ringing them up and spending half an hour on hold, weird eh i won't be using the net no more for quotations.

parsi

I rcently got my renewal from Axa and it worked out a bit more than last year. I also rang around other companies and the lowest was eur20 more and the highest was eur1976 (2.5 times my axa quote). Hibernian (who claim to want to cut the cost) was quite dear.

I rang Axa to see if they could do any better and they knocked off eur60 thus making this years insurance cheaper than last years.

So the moral (definitely with insurance) is to shop around and also see if your provider can "improve" your price with discretionary discounts.

Strangely for home insurance it was way cheaper to stay with my bank..

Victor

Originally posted by ednwireland
i've noticed this trend with dell as well (i get quotes for a number of my clients) and you can never get the same deal on the net as you can by ringing them up and spending half an hour on hold, weird eh i won't be using the net no more for quotations.

Thats because sales agents get commission and soem will forego a little of the commission to get a sale.