How to be a better consumer: 20 commandments

Every couple of years Pricewatch likes to think of ways to be a better consumer and then share the notions with the wider world in the form of commandments to make the page seem infinitely wiser and graver than it actually is. That time has come round again and, with the world engulfed by a health crisis that sometimes seems endless, many of the rules we would have suggested to make us all better consumers in the past have had to be cast aside to be replaced by others, that would have seemed mad just four or five months ago. But then again, some of our consumer commandments of times past are as solid now as they have always been.

1. Cough and splutter on fewer people by wearing a face covering: Okay, so, we know that the advice from international experts and those closer to home did change several times over recent months as the world grappled with an ever-evolving pandemic but the bottom line right now is that unless there is a medical or other serious reason why you can't, you should wear a mask while shopping indoors and while on public transport.

Will wearing a mask keep you 100 per cent safe? No. Will it remove the need to follow all the other guidelines in relation to hand hygiene or cough and sneeze etiquette? Absolutely not. Might it help in slowing the rate of transmission of Covid-19 in a relatively painless fashion? Almost certainly and it is a small price to pay. Oh, and please, don’t just protect your chin, it’s grand, it doesn’t need any protecting, focus on the nose and mouth.

2. Where you can, stay local and shop local: If recent months have taught us nothing else, they have taught us the value of spending our money in our local communities. By shopping in the local butcher, baker or green grocer, you are supporting your neighbours in a tangible way and frequently getting better quality, better service and even, sometimes, better value. And while Amazon or Asos or any number of online retailers might seem cheap, what is the ultimate cost? If we all shop online all the time then local retailers will disappear and we will all be the poorer for that.

‘This is simply disgusting’: Holidaymakers struggle amid mixed messages

---

Twenty ways Covid-19 has changed our daily lives

---

Shopping locally: what difference does it make?

---

3. But don't stop shopping around: We are all creatures of habit and, more often than not, we shop in the same supermarkets and buy clothes in the same places and stick with the same phone, gas, television and broadband providers, no matter what happens. That is why fewer than 30 per cent of people change their health insurance or utility provider regularly despite the savings that can be made. The inertia is understandable – shopping around can be a pain – but it is not clever.

So, as a starting point do your “big shop” in a different supermarket at least once in the month ahead. Just to shake things up. If you have not visited one of the German discounters in a while – and less than 30 per cent of Irish consumers shop in either Aldi or Lidl regularly – then give them a whirl. They have improved immeasurably in recent years. And if you normally shop in Aldi, then try Lidl or vice versa.

Shopping in the discounters will not only save you money, it will also save you time because they are small and have less than 20 per cent of the stock a really big supermarket operated by their rivals has. They also support local producers and unlike their big rivals, they may also sell you a flame thrower or wooden shed to boot. But don’t forget commandment two either.

If you make a call to a provider to query something or complain, then log the date and time of all calls in a single word document you keep for such purposes

4. Don't be a supermarket mug: When it comes to food waste, Irish consumers are rarely found wanting. One of the most shameful stats we frequently come across is the fact that we throw away as much as a third of the food we buy and seem only too happy to bin hundreds, if not thousands, of euro each year. Stop doing that by making sure you only buy what you need. Make lists and stick to them. And pay attention to how supermarkets try and sell you things you don't really want or need. Be wary of two-for-one deals on fresh food and don't buy anything you don't really need just because it is on special. Oh, and never do your grocery shopping while hungry or your online shopping when you are drunk.

5. Keep better records of what happened where and with who: Even in a world without paper – or at least with a lot less paper than it once had – it is important to keep some class of trail of your communication with companies. If you cancel a service or change it, then store the emails confirming the happening. If you make a call to a provider to query something or complain, then log the date and time of all calls in a single word document you keep for such purposes. Far too often we have heard tales of people losing hundreds – and sometimes thousands – of euro because they simply could not prove to a company they had done the thing they said they had done.

No records mean it is always going to be harder to get redress if things go wrong. So if you are interacting with a company and the outcome matters, take a note of the date and time and the people you were speaking to on your phone. If you are making a complaint, write a quick timeline of your grievances and include dates and times of phone calls or other conversations. Write down who you spoke to and what was said.

6. Don't always act on impulse: One of the other things that has changed in our world in recent months has been the allure of spontaneous shopping. The days of wandering around Penneys or BTs or Ikea or wherever it might be are at least temporarily over for many people as the idea of all the queuing and social distancing and the rest has drained much of the joy out of what was once the most popular leisure pursuit in Ireland. Things will get back to normal – whatever that might look like – at some point but that does not mean we have to return to impulse shopping. People who shop without thinking too much about it rarely make the best decisions. So always ask yourself two questions: do you really need this thing? And is this thing really good value for money? And then go away and think about it for a while.

Ireland has a good supply of good-quality drinking water which comes from our taps. So we should drink more of that

7. Beware of the deal: In Pricewatch's experience, if it seems too good to be true, then it is too good to be true Randomly received text messages and Facebook posts promising you free iPads are nonsense. Expensive creams will not gift you eternal youth, that expensive diet or homeopathic treatment aimed at reversing the ageing process will not work. And the sub-Saharan daughter of a dictator with a case full of diamonds is always a sweaty man in a wife-beater and stained tracksuit bottoms who will give you endless heartache while stealing all your money. Oh, and always remember that if you ever get an unsolicited email from your bank, from Revenue or anyone else asking for your bank details – or even just your name and email address – it is a scam, no matter how convincing the mail looks.

8. Eat less processed food and cook your own meals: One of the few good things about the recent unpleasantness has been the move away from rushed eating and the reliance on processed food to keep us going. Stick with it. Cooking is cheaper and better for your physical and mental wellbeing than processed food.

9. Keep telling yourself that fad diets and notions are always stupid: If just one faddy diet actually worked then there would be no need for any others. But there are so many of them, an industry worth billions of euro is built almost entirely on failure. Almost all the diets you might ever consider end up being expensive and worthless – this is particularly true of detox diets which are just nonsense. Don't trust anyone who tries to sell anything that claims to be detoxifying unless it is a human organ. And you're probably better off not trusting someone trying to sell you a liver or a kidney either.

10. Drink more tap water: With a few too many exceptions, Ireland has a good supply of good-quality drinking water which comes from our taps. So we should drink more of that and less of the bottled variety which is incredibly bad for the environment on almost every conceivable level. It takes three litres of regular water to manufacture a single litre of bottled water and the plastic bottle takes at least 500 years to break down.

11. Stay on two wheels or two feet: Another pandemic bonus saw people ditch their cars and walk and cycle more and the authorities have responded by making many urban settings more friendly to both. People who stick with it will be better off as it is a truth almost universally acknowledged that cyclists and walkers are healthier than drivers. A few years back the Lancet published a report which showed cyclists to be slimmer and likely to live longer than their car-driving counterparts.

Looking at biological data from more than 150,000 people and studying the health of half a million others aged between 40 and 69, scientists definitively concluded that getting on your bike was better for you. Another Danish study showed that regular cyclists live for more than five years longer than non-cyclists. And it will also save you thousands of euro in commuting costs while allowing you to feel super-smug.

12. Give your health cover a check-up: Pricewatch never ceases to be amazed at how many people seem willing to waste hundreds – and sometimes thousands – of euro simply by not shopping around for better health insurance. If you happen to be among the 70 per cent of Irish people with private health insurance who have not changed provider for a few years do before your next renewal date and you will save a lot of money without losing any real benefits.

Remember if you switch from a comparable plan with company A to one with company B you don’t lose any cover and don’t have to endure any waiting period. And when switching, providers can’t ask intrusive questions about your health. The only thing they can really ask if if you have health insurance already and, if so, for how long and with which insurer and what level of cover you have.

13. Shock yourself with savings: As with health insurance providers, gas and electricity companies profit from our lethargy and ignorance. By switching from one charging you the standard rate to one offering a discounted rate you could easily save more than €400 over the next 12 months. More than 80 per cent of Irish households are paying a higher tariff for both electricity and gas than they need to and unlike cornflakes or broadband – or even health insurance – there is no difference in the quality of the gas or electricity between the dearest and the cheapest.

If you have a grievance, there is little or no point in shouting at the lowest-paid staff member, the very person who has no power to effect change

14. Pay at least some attention to your bank statements and telephone bills: We all know that big companies profit from our unwillingness to even open – never mind actually read and try to understand – the bills and statements they send us and now that so many of them send them to us virtually, it is easier for them to pull the wool over our eyes. So make a resolution to pay attention to them. You never know when you are being gouged and by whom.

15. Don't give in and don't be a pushover: Far too many companies appear to have a policy of making resolving problems as difficult as possible. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that they do this to encourage difficult customers – and by that we mean anyone looking for help or redress – to go away. If you have a grievance with a company, persist. Don't just give up if it seems like too much hassle. That's just playing into their hands.

16. Know the rights you have and the ones you don't: Don't be the person shouting in a shop because it refuses to sell you the flatscreen telly that was incorrectly priced at one cent. Retailers are not obliged to sell you a product just because it has a particular price tag on it. And you do not have the automatic right to a refund or a replacement if a product turns out to be faulty or flawed in some way. A provider can instead offer to repair it. Oh and if you pay a deposit for something and then change your mind, do not automatically assume a provider will give you your money back. They might. But they might not. It depends on the terms and conditions.

17. Be nice but do complain: Working as a shop assistant or in a call centre can be incredibly difficult and not very well-paid. If you have a grievance, there is little or no point in shouting at the lowest-paid staff member, the very person who has no power to effect change. Always be polite – and always make sure you are addressing your complaints to the right people. If you have a serious problem and you are struggling to get it resolved, is there an ombudsman or regulator who can help you out? There is a Financial Services Ombudsman, a Pensions Ombudsman, the Central Bank, a taxi regulator and ComReg, for starters. But remember they can rarely be your starting point, and you will have to exhaust the complaints procedure for that sector and deal with the company before they will entertain you.

18. Read the terms and conditions, or at least some of them: We know that sometimes they are longer than the Bible so a handy way to scan them is to copy the whole thing into a Word document and use Ctrl-F to look for key words you think might be relevant.

19. Be careful with your phone: While the smart phone has arguably been one of the greatest technological advances of the last 100 years with its ability to put a world of knowledge, entertainment, finance and whatever you're having yourself into your pocket, it is not without its problems. We can easily become slaves to the things, they chain us to our offices while we are off and the relentless nature of the social media storm the devices keep us continuously plugged into can be wearying. So, every now and then take a break from it. It's good for the head.

20. Remember there is always Pricewatch: If you have been let down by a shop or service provider then contact Pricewatch – we might be able to help you out. But please remember we do get a lot of queries and complaints and can't deal with them all but we do our best.