Heineken refreshed by ‘craft beer’ ruling
november 2016 by jm
scumbags. Attempting to pass off their pissy beer under alternative names to con consumers into buying it!
'There will be no sanctions against Heineken for passing off non-craft beer as “locally produced”, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has said.
The FSAI and HSE launched a joint investigation last month after it emerged that Heineken Ireland had sold some of its products, including Foster’s lager, under craft-type names such as Blasket Blonde and Beanntrai Bru. Two well-known stouts, Beamish and Murphy’s, were also sold under craft-type names by the international brewing giant. C&C, a Tipperary-based drinks company, was also investigated after it admitted selling its Clonmel 1650 lager under a different name, Pana Cork, in Cork.'
heineken
lager
beer
cons
ireland
consumer
fsai
'There will be no sanctions against Heineken for passing off non-craft beer as “locally produced”, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has said.
The FSAI and HSE launched a joint investigation last month after it emerged that Heineken Ireland had sold some of its products, including Foster’s lager, under craft-type names such as Blasket Blonde and Beanntrai Bru. Two well-known stouts, Beamish and Murphy’s, were also sold under craft-type names by the international brewing giant. C&C, a Tipperary-based drinks company, was also investigated after it admitted selling its Clonmel 1650 lager under a different name, Pana Cork, in Cork.'
november 2016 by jm
The Mattress Industry is One Big Scam
august 2016 by jm
yes, yes it is
mattresses
scams
buying
shopping
consumer
august 2016 by jm
‘I wish to register a complaint’: know your consumer rights before the fight
september 2015 by jm
Conor Pope on the basics of consumer law -- and how to complain -- in Ireland
consumer
ireland
irish-times
articles
law
september 2015 by jm
"Hate-Selling"
august 2015 by jm
coining a term for the awful buyer's experience on sites like car-hire or air-travel websites
hate-selling
conversion
marking
upselling
travel
web
consumer
august 2015 by jm
Why Airlines Want to Make You Suffer
december 2014 by jm
'The fee [airline pricing] model comes with systematic costs that are not immediately obvious. Here’s the thing: in order for fees to work, there needs be something worth paying to avoid. That necessitates, at some level, a strategy that can be described as “calculated misery.” Basic service, without fees, must be sufficiently degraded in order to make people want to pay to escape it. And that’s where the suffering begins.'
travel
airlines
pricing
fees
economy
consumer
jetblue
december 2014 by jm
Some UX Dark Patterns now illegal in the EU
design
europe
law
ecommerce
ux
dark-patterns
scams
ryanair
selling
online
consumer
consumer-rights
bait-and-switch
september 2014 by jm
The EU’s new consumer rights law bans certain dark patterns related to e-commerce across Europe. The “sneak into basket” pattern is now illegal. Full stop, end of story. You cannot create a situation where additional items and services are added by default. [...]
Hidden costs are now illegal, whether that’s an undeclared subscription, extra shipping charges, or extra items. [....]
Forced continuity, when imposed on the user as a form of bait-and-switch, has been banned. Just the other day a web designer mentioned to me that he had only just discovered he had been charged for four years of annual membership dues in a “theme club”, having bought what he thought was a one-off theme. Since he lives in Europe, he may be able to claim all of this money back. All he needs to do is prove that the website did not inform him that the purchase included a membership with recurring payments.
september 2014 by jm
Actually, Mr. Waxman, Consumers Are Sued For Patent Infringement All the Time | Electronic Frontier Foundation
patents
uspto
swpats
eff
consumer
law
legal
patent-infringement
scanners
wifi
printers
may 2014 by jm
Patent trolls have sued or threatened to sue tens of thousands of end-users. For example, Innovatio attacked cafes, bakeries, and even a funeral parlor for using off-the-shelf Wi-Fi routers. And the notorious scanner troll, MPHJ, targeted small businesses and nonprofits around the country for using ordinary office equipment. As a recent paper explained: “Mass suits against technology customers have become too common, involving building block technologies like wi-fi, scanning, email and website technologies.”
The growth in patent suits against customers reveals the importance of the Limelight case. A ruling that made it even easier to sue customers (by allowing suits against someone who performs just some steps of a patent) would encourage patent trolls to launch more abusive litigation campaigns. We hope the Supreme Court will restore the sensible rule that only a single entity (or its agents) can infringe a patent.
may 2014 by jm
Internet Tolls And The Case For Strong Net Neutrality
march 2014 by jm
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings blogs about the need for Net Neutrality:
consumer
net-neutrality
comcast
netflix
protectionism
cartels
isps
us
congestion
capacity
Interestingly, there is one special case where no-fee interconnection is embraced by the big ISPs -- when they are connecting among themselves. They argue this is because roughly the same amount of data comes and goes between their networks. But when we ask them if we too would qualify for no-fee interconnect if we changed our service to upload as much data as we download** -- thus filling their upstream networks and nearly doubling our total traffic -- there is an uncomfortable silence. That's because the ISP argument isn't sensible. Big ISPs aren't paying money to services like online backup that generate more upstream than downstream traffic. Data direction, in other words, has nothing to do with costs. ISPs around the world are investing in high-speed Internet and most already practice strong net neutrality. With strong net neutrality, new services requiring high-speed Internet can emerge and become popular, spurring even more demand for the lucrative high-speed packages ISPs offer. With strong net neutrality, everyone avoids the kind of brinkmanship over blackouts that plague the cable industry and harms consumers. As the Wall Street Journal chart shows, we're already getting to the brownout stage. Consumers deserve better.
march 2014 by jm
Welcome to Algorithmic Prison - Bill Davidow - The Atlantic
february 2014 by jm
"Computer says no", taken to the next level.
privacy
data
big-data
algorithms
machine-learning
equifax
experian
consumer
society
bill-davidow
Even if an algorithmic prisoner knows he is in a prison, he may not know who his jailer is. Is he unable to get a loan because of a corrupted file at Experian or Equifax? Or could it be TransUnion? His bank could even have its own algorithms to determine a consumer’s creditworthiness. Just think of the needle-in-a-haystack effort consumers must undertake if they are forced to investigate dozens of consumer-reporting companies, looking for the one that threw them behind algorithmic bars. Now imagine a future that contains hundreds of such companies. A prisoner might not have any idea as to what type of behavior got him sentenced to a jail term. Is he on an enhanced screening list at an airport because of a trip he made to an unstable country, a post on his Facebook page, or a phone call to a friend who has a suspected terrorist friend?
february 2014 by jm
Smart Metering in the UK is FCUKED
smart-metering
energy
utilities
uk
services
metering
consumer
december 2013 by jm
Most utilities don’t want smart metering. In fact they seem to have used the wrong dictionary. It is difficult to find anything smart about the UK deployment, until you realise that the utilities use smart in the sense of “it hurts”. They consider they have a perfectly adequate business model which has no need for new technology. In many Government meetings, their reluctant support seems to be a veneer for the hope that it will all end in disaster, letting them go back to the world they know, of inflated bills and demands for money with menaces. [...]
Even when smart meters are deployed, there is no evidence that any utility will use the resulting data to transform their business, rather than persecute the consumer. At a recent US conference a senior executive for a US utility which had deployed smart meters, stated that their main benefit was “to give them more evidence to blame the customer”. That’s a good description of the attitude displayed by our utilities.
december 2013 by jm
Hogan describes bin charge increases as ‘opportunistic’ - Environmental News | The Irish Times
august 2013 by jm
LOL Greyhound.
greyhound
ireland
dublin
rubbish
recycling
consumer
ripoffs
tax
Greyhound Recycling last month announced increases of 50 cents a month for customers on a flat monthly charge, 50 cents for each black bin collection for customers who pay by the lift and two cents a kilo for customers who pay by weight only. In a letter to customers, it described the levy as “tax imposed by the Government of Ireland on the people of Ireland”. However, following a complaint to the [National Consumer Agency] that the by-weight increase was 76 per cent more than the [government landfill levy] increase, Greyhound reduced the charge to an additional one cent a kilo.
august 2013 by jm
Universal Music Group adding audible "watermarks"
may 2013 by jm
including on paid-for, losslessly-compressed digital audio music files:
lame
audio
drm
media
music
umg
universal
watermarks
noise
consumer
mp3
Why isn't UMG's watermark talked about more? Maybe people think the audio quality problems are due to some kind of lossy compression, as I did, and ignore it completely, or blame the streaming service/distributor. The problem here is that the UMG watermark degrades the audio to about the equivalent of a 96 kbit MP3. My guess is that if consumers were informed about what is going on, they would care. Especially those who pay full retail price for digital downloads advertised as lossless audio.
may 2013 by jm
So now you know who gets some of those excessive Ticketmaster fees….
april 2013 by jm
Interesting evidence; it appears Irish music promoters are getting "rebates" from the massive TicketMaster "booking fee", on each ticket sold. This sounds like a cartel to me, and we need to regulate this. Where is the National Consumer Agency and Competition Authority?
regulation
ireland
cartels
competition
ticketing
tickets
ticketmaster
music
gigs
consumer
The matter is something which should be of concern to every gig-going music fan, regardless of whether they go to Stradbally or not. For years, many have asked about TicketMaster's quasi-monopoly position in the marketplace and why this is so. We’ve always been told that promoters preferred to deal with one company rather than several and that TM’s systems and nationwide reach yadda yadda yadda was the bees’ knees etc. Other companies have tried to compete but no-one has been able to beat TM at this game.
But why would promoters go elsewhere when they’re getting a slice of the TM fees back as rebates? Those past off-the-record attempts by and briefings from promoters blaming TM for those fees can now be seen as hypocritical. They’re sticking with TM because they’re receiving a take of the fees paid by punters who have no other choice in service provider if they want to get their hands on tickets. You wonder what the acts make of this cash-grab – perhaps some whip-smart agent is already making a claim for a percentage of the rebates because there would be no rebates in the first place without the act.
Surely this is an issue for the Competition Authority and National Consumers Association too, given the manner in which the rebates are made and TM’s deals with the promoters? While promoters under TM deals are free to sell a certain proportion of their tickets with another provider, it’s usually only a very small percentage of the total and unlikely to trouble TM’s bottom line. Also, given that the rebates are volume-driven, it’s better for the promoters to keep the largest possible chunk of their business with TM. It seems that we have a new suspect in the blame game about why ticket prices are so high.
april 2013 by jm
Greyhound agrees to change consumer contracts and make refunds - National Consumer Agency
january 2013 by jm
Take note, switchers:
'The National Consumer Agency (NCA) has received a commitment from Greyhound that it will amend certain terms in its standard consumer contract, which the NCA thinks are unfair to consumers. This will be done by January 18 2013.
Among the terms considered unfair by the NCA are that consumers must forfeit their credit balance and pay a €45 administration fee, if they cancel their contract with Greyhound within 12 months. If you were charged money in these circumstances, Greyhound has agreed to refund you.
Greyhound will communicate these changes to all of its consumers by 18 January 2013. If you have any questions about the changes or getting a refund, you should contact Greyhound directly.'
greyhound
consumer
ireland
dublin
rubbish
'The National Consumer Agency (NCA) has received a commitment from Greyhound that it will amend certain terms in its standard consumer contract, which the NCA thinks are unfair to consumers. This will be done by January 18 2013.
Among the terms considered unfair by the NCA are that consumers must forfeit their credit balance and pay a €45 administration fee, if they cancel their contract with Greyhound within 12 months. If you were charged money in these circumstances, Greyhound has agreed to refund you.
Greyhound will communicate these changes to all of its consumers by 18 January 2013. If you have any questions about the changes or getting a refund, you should contact Greyhound directly.'
january 2013 by jm
Don't discount the value of price comparison sites - The Irish Times
april 2012 by jm
Conor Pope recommends home-saver.ie and bonkers.ie for insurance and utilities price comparison. I've used the latter, with great results
price-comparison
ireland
shopping
utilities
competition
phone
irish-times
consumer
april 2012 by jm
Internet access is Britons' top priority
august 2009 by jm
'Britons will choose to cut back on almost anything other than food before economising on electronic communications services. Crucially, we will even cut spending on their mobile phone and TV package before foregoing Internet access'
internet
broadband
uk
ofcom
research
recession
cutbacks
spending
consumer
mobile
tv
linx
august 2009 by jm
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