Category: Bad Value

  • More overcharging at Tesco

    More shenanigans from Tesco. Our reader Den McCarthy gets in touch to say:  When buying Tesco brown rice in Tralee, I could have bought a 1Kg bag for €1.84… or a 2Kg bag for €4.99 Buying in bulk is usually cheaper, but not in Tesco, where if you don’t watch the price tags, you’ll be charged an extra €1.31…

  • Don’t waste your money on organic fruit and veg

      Overheard middle-class conversation: “I really want to switch to all organic fruit and veg – it’s just so expensive.” “Sometimes I feel really guilty buying non-organic,” said the other woman. “It’s just so bad for the environment.” “Can’t be good for your health either. All those toxins.” They’re both wrong. Organic isn’t better for…

  • Centra’s misleading coffee promotion upsets customers

    Update, Jan 23: 10.40am: A statement from Centra was received last night and is published in the comments below. Customer comments about the promotion can also be found on the Centra Twitter page. It seemed like a great deal and a wonderful treat: coffee or tea for one cent with any purchase in Centra. Radio…

  • Eating out over Christmas

    A nameless friend – we’ll call her Siún A., or S. Aherne – sent this to us via Facebook at the end of August: Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way!! Yes my lovely friends it is that time of year again! Time to organise our Christmas dinner… So a couple of suggestions… Sat…

  • A crisp complaint

    Now, it’s really not like me to have a grievance at all, but… Don’t you hate when the size of the packet stays the same, but the contents shrink dramatically? Before I fled Ireland for the summer, a packet of Tayto’s gourmet treat, Mighty Munch, was the most recent offender. The bag was half full,…

  • Review: Bite, South Frederick St, Dublin

    I’d heard a few rumblings around Facebook and Twitter about a new fish restaurant on South Frederick Street called Bite. New. Fish. Restaurant. All words that make me very happy. Jim offered to treat me to dinner and I jumped at the opportunity to check out Bite. One of the good things I’d heard about…

  • Why is a teabag with hot water so damn expensive?

    Tea is cheap. You’ll buy a box of Robert Robert’s Fairtrade tea (80 bags) for €3.29 in Superquinn. You’ll get the delicious McGrath’s teabags (80 bags) in Aldi for around €1.70. Your standard box of Barry’s tea in Tesco costs around €3.15, or less when it’s on special offer. Okay, it’s cheap. You get it.…

  • Review/ Warning: Buenos Aires Grill

    I’d heard some pretty awful things about Buenos Aires Grill, the Argentinian restaurant off Aungier Street beside the Radisson Hotel. Multiple bad reports, including from people who’d eat pretty much anything and never complain, put me off ever going. When a friend chose it for his birthday dinner, I figured it couldn’t be as bad…

  • Nespresso Machines in Pricewatch

    The ever-deadly Irish Times Value for Money feature by Conor Pope featured Nespresso machines this week.  I recently had the use of one, and think they’re an interesting topic for a discussion on ‘value’, as the whole concept strikes me as one of the most wasteful things I’ve ever seen, ever. The three biggest issues…

  • The case against Tesco

    Tesco has been fined €600 for charging more for goods at the tills than the price displayed at the shelves. But much like you or I would be oblivious to a one cent piece at the back of a drawer of odds and ends, Tesco won’t miss this €600. Ireland’s largest retailer was convicted for breaches…