SOUNDING OFF: Ripped off? Stunned by good value? Write, text or blog your experience to us.

Recently Dan Flynn wanted to book three tickets for a production in the Gaiety Theatre, and was dismayed by the additional charges he encountered.

"Online, the cost was €30 per ticket, plus an additional charge of €3.50 for administration for each ticket," he writes. "On the phone the same charge of €30 plus €3.50 per ticket applied, but when I asked [what was the total price] if I went to the box office, was told that there was no administration charge," he says.

He points out that all the options involved paying by credit card. "Why have an administration charge if the process is automated online? Given that it is one transaction, why apply an admin charge for each ticket? Surely the process to book one ticket or 10 tickets using one payment cannot vary significantly," he says.

"Why is there a charge of €10.50 for a telephone booking, but when you present to the very same person in the box office there is none, even though the process is identical?"

He says he is fortunate to be based in the city centre and can get to the theatre without undue difficulty, "but it does mitigate against others". The Gaiety is, of course, not alone in charging an administrative charge for online and phone bookings, and such charges are levied for concerts and sporting events all over the country.

We contacted the Gaiety, and a spokeswoman said the theatre's ticketing facility was provided by our old friends Ticketmaster, a company which has long attracted the ire of our readers, annoyed by its booking practices.

The Gaiety spokeswoman said that Ticketmaster provided all the booking software and all the back-up which was associated with that.

She added that by using the ticket agency, the Gaiety was in a position to offer a 24-hour booking service and reminded readers that they could avoid paying any charges by actually calling to the box office to buy their tickets. For its part, Ticketmaster has always maintained that the provision of a 24-hour telephone service for ticket-buyers is a major cost, as is postage and other administrative fees.

Not too empowered

Declan Sheehey recently had the "misfortune to experience customer service, Irish-style" and it left him pretty unimpressed.

"I purchased a transformer at Power City and when I plugged it in it did not work, so the next day I took it back to get a replacement." He brought his receipt and the item to the desk, along with a replacement, which he had picked up.

"When I got to the checkout I was told I needed to see customer service. No problem there; I asked where it was. The answer, and I quote: 'Look for the man in the navy jumper on the floor'.

"I was stunned, having expected to be directed to a desk, an area at the back of the store - heaven forbid a customer service desk - but alas, no desk, no area."

He went looking for the man, with no joy. "I scoured the entire length and breadth of Power City but did not find the man in the jumper. I went back to the checkout desk. The lady said, 'Maybe he is at lunch'."

Our punter went back into the maze of appliances and found a man in a red striped shirt.

"He also said the man in navy may be at lunch, but he was a kindly fellow and listened to my problem, and we decided that I would hand him the non-working item and he would allow me to leave the store with a working version. It all went OK after that but I am still stunned by the total lack of customer care and the casual, off-hand approach to retaining customers in Ireland."

Magazine prices

Anne Cahill got in touch to say "it really pays to shop around" for magazines. "My own favourite has a cover price of 76 pence sterling - whereas it costs €1.28 at the local Tesco and a massive €1.60 at my local newsagents. Incidentally, what do you think are my chances of buying my magazine with sterling?" Pretty slim, we'd say.