SOUNDING OFFBrian Price contacted us about the high cost of toothpaste in Ireland. At his dentist's recommendation, he uses Sensodyne Extra Fresh, which, he says, can cost anywhere from €4.99 in Dunnes, to €6.75 in a pharmacy close to where he works. "I had no problem with that until a recent trip to Spain, where exactly the same paste is on sale for €1.99. I was incensed by what I saw as another case of profiteering in Rip-Off Ireland."
He called the manufacturers and "a nice lady" tried to explain to him why it was more expensive in Ireland. He was told there was "multiple, various" reasons why the product costs over 200 per cent less in Spain than his local pharmacy in Dublin. Old favourites including VAT, and other taxes were trotted out to explain the price differential.
"When I tried to get her to specify, she could not," he writes. "I gave her my home address and asked her to think about it, and write to me with an explanation of why it was so expensive here. She suggested the European Consumer Centre may be able to answer my questions, which I found astonishing, as they couldn't possibly know about internal company pricing policy," he says. He suggested that maybe the toothpaste is manufactured in both Ireland and Spain which might explain the substantial difference. "She quite clearly said no, it's not manufactured in Spain. To summarise, a product that is manufactured in Ireland, and exported to Spain, can cost over 200 per cent more in Ireland than Spain. Go figure."
We called the makers to find out more. A spokeswoman for GlaxoSmithKline said that while it had no control over the price its products are sold for in stores because "as a matter of law, retailers must be free to set the prices at which they sell their products to consumers," it was "surprised at the price differences that were highlighted to us which show a much bigger gap than our Recommended Retail Prices (RRP) in Ireland and Spain. This may reflect the type of outlet they were purchased in and indeed the possibility of a promotional price being in place in Spain." She said there was a difference in tax structure, operational costs, distribution, selling and marketing practices in each country and this is reflected in the retail selling prices of products. "GSK works hard to keep its prices competitive and, in fact, the differential between Irish and Spanish prices on Sensodyne [ which is made in England] is far less than on other leading toothpaste brands," she added.
Change exchange
Eamonn Byrne sent us a mail with an interesting question. He wants to know why we are not seeing reduced prices in our shops as a result of the spectacular appreciation of the euro against sterling in recent months. "There is a huge amount of our everyday groceries sourced in the UK. I cannot see any evidence of prices falling in my local Superquinn. I'm sure it's the same in Tesco, Dunnes etc," he writes. "The same is true in British shops such as M&S, Next, Debenhams. At best the exchange rate will be £0.67 to €1 but can be close to £0.50 in places like Claire's Accessories," he says.
"Up until a few months ago the exchange rate was £0.67 to €1. Now it is almost £0.77. This is a difference of around 14 per cent. The euro continues to rise, when is this going to translate into reduced prices?" he asks. "The public need to be made aware that the retailers are not passing on the savings. If the rate was going the other way, we'd get a much faster response."
Rent a rip-off
Karl Cronin happened upon an interesting fact when shopping around for a rental car for his holiday in Sardinia. "While trying to book a car for eight days in April, I accidentally went into the UK Avis site first and was quoted £229 (€305) for a VW Golf or similar. In order to get the euro price I switched to www.avis.ie and was quoted €468, a whopping €163 or 50 per cent more for the same product in the same country on the same terms. How can they possibly justify such a mark-up on the Irish site?"
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