You spot the prices, we ask the questions

PriceWatch readers recently highlighted the difference between the sterling and euro prices in fashion accessories shop Claire's. Yvonne Kennedy has been in touch about the same matter, although this time in connection with the department store Debenhams. On a recent trip into Debenhams in Dublin she was going to purchase her husband a John Rocha shirt with a price tag of €62.50. "While waiting to pay, I noticed the label underneath - £35 stg, which puzzled me, as £35 stg does not equal €62.50. [Based on this week's figures £35 is closer to €51.] I asked the assistant to explain this and she said it was due to transport costs. I pointed out that surely the transport costs to Northern Ireland would be much the same and I could buy the shirt there for £35."

PriceWatch paid a visit to the store and noticed several more anomalies in the conversion rates. Items priced at €45 for instance had sterling price tags of £25 when this week's conversion rate would suggest that a more accurate price would be €36.69.

When contacted, a spokesman for Debenhams accepted that while the prices did vary between its UK stores and the shop in Dublin's Jervis St Centre, he believed prices in the Republic were "very competitive in the local market".

He offered several reasons to justify higher prices. He said labour costs and property prices were 30 per cent to 50 per cent higher in Dublin than across the UK and pointed out that VAT rate on clothes was 17.5 per cent in the UK and 21.5 per cent in the Republic. "If you sew together higher employee costs, higher VAT, higher property prices and additional logistical costs you are going to end up with a higher price," he said. "It is not a case of Debenhams just ratcheting up the prices because we think the market will bear it."

What's more . . .

Liz Dyer from Drumcondra noticed something odd about the grapefruit in the foodhall in Marks and Spencer on Dublin's Grafton Street. "Normally the individual grapefruits sell in that shop for 70 cent each," she says. "If you buy them in a packet of three you are charged €2.50." The fruit she says, originates in the same country and is identical, which means the shop is charging 40 cent for the net holding the packet together. "Is it not enough that I now have to pay for my rubbish to be disposed of without Marks & Spencer adding to the pile and then charging me for the privilege?" When the odd pricing structure was pointed out to M&S earlier this week, a spokeswoman admitted that the price of €2.50 was an "administrative error" and said that from last Wednesday the price of the three-pack was reduced to €2. The company has also apologised for the error. If you do want to avail of the cheaper threesome, you will have to move fast as M&S also said this product was only available for a trial period and will be discontinued next week.