YOUR CONSUMER QUERIES ANSWERED:We have been getting a lot of complaints about Greyhound waste collection in recent weeks.

Gerry Costigan is one unhappy customer. “It took me 23 minutes to get through to Greyhound on Friday to discuss my account,” he says. When he did get through, he was told the call-centre operative was not in a position to discuss his account, and that he would receive a call back. It never came.

“I called them again on Monday, it took me 32 minutes to get through. Again they at first said could not discuss my account but after many attempts it was obvious they had my information. I gave up in disgust.”

The kernel of his problem is that last year he paid around €300 in charges but only received around €100 worth of bin lifts .

In the absence of any help, he rang City Bins. “I got through at once and the staff were so helpful. It is going to cost €99 euro for a year – a no-brainer. I signed up at once.”

Another reader in Drumcondra is concerned at changes to Greyhound’s recycling collection. Like many in the city, her recycling rubbish has been collected at no cost once it is put in transparent bags from the company. Greyhound is now charging for the bags.

“I received a letter from the company saying the bags would be available in my local Centra but when I went in, the Centra manager said that Greyhound had not delivered the bags yet.

“He told me that they had been trying to get them without success.”

An absence of cover is not the worst thing in the world 

A reader called Michelle contacted us last week with a story that will resonate with many people who are struggling to pay for private health insurance for their families.

“Last November, after a lot of thought, myself and my husband decided that we would have to let private healthcare for our children go,” she writes. “We have four who range in age from 22 down to 13 and because of their ages our premium was going to increase by €1,700 per annum.”

The couple were most reluctant to let the insurance for their children lapse “as they have all been covered by private healthcare since the day they were born. We did continue private healthcare for ourselves.”

Unfortunately, less than three months after they cancelled their children’s policies with Aviva, one of their daughters fell ill. “We brought her to the GP who immediately sent her to the Eye and Ear hospital in Dublin. She was then sent to A&E at St Vincent’s,” Michelle writes.

Because of her symptoms she was admitted immediately. “She was on a ward in just over 24 hours, which is excellent and she has had the most wonderful care there since. While she is a public patient she is sharing a room with 4 other ladies two of whom are in the VHI but cannot get a private room because of pressure on the hospital.”

The purpose of her mail was to let other people know that while she found it quite upsetting that they could no longer afford to keep all their family in private healthcare, she feels that her daughter “has had the best healthcare she could possibly have and private healthcare would have made no difference in this situation. While it has been a very stressful week for us as parents, I now know that it’s not the end of the world that we have had to drop our family’s private healthcare. If there is an emergency the care is there for all of us.”

Another thing Michelle could look at is a cash plan from the Hospital Saturday Fund (UHSF). The not-for-profit organisation has policies starting from €9.50 per month and one policy covers the policyholder, their spouse or partner and children up to the age of 21.

It is not a direct replacement for health insurance but does offer some comfort, with benefits such as money back on GP visits and hospital stays, as well as free access to a 24/7 GP advice line and stress counselling and legal helplines. More details are available from hsf.ie.

Getting fired up over the size of peat briquettes

A reader contacted us last week with an observation that, if true, could inflame many. This reader’s wife recently observed that the standard briquettes she is using this year seem to be much smaller than similar ones she way buying last year.

“As a dutiful husband I obliged her by measuring this year’s briquette versus last year’s. There is half an inch of a difference in width.”

He says 2013’s briquettes are one and a half inches compared with two inches last year. “Can this be true? If this is correct we are getting 25 per cent less turf for our buck, are we not? And if so, are Bord Na Móna required to declare it?”

We got in touch with the company to find out more. A spokesman said he was “happy to confirm that there has been no change to the size or weight of the Bord na Móna bale of peat briquettes” this year.

He said a bale of briquettes is of specific dimensions, (435mm x 185mm x 140mm) and weight (12.5kg.), a standard of quality and design that remains unchanged.

“What I expect your reader is referring to, is the scenario where within a standard bale, individual briquette thickness can sometimes vary. This would explain the differing briquette thickness that he has encountered,” he said.