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

John McGinley from Castleblayney went shopping in Newry at the end of August and found wildly different exchange rates operating in three neighbouring supermarkets. The euro was worth 78p in Sainsburys, 80p in Dunnes but only 75p in Marks Spencer, a "very poor rate", he says.

"Not only that but the rate was nowhere displayed in the MS store. The floor staff could not tell me the rate until my purchase was put through the till. This sounds like sharp practice," he continues. "When I insisted on knowing the rate in advance of purchase the staff had to phone up their office to establish the answer. Needless to say I decided to go to Dunnes. Is this a case of MS trying to make up for their downturn in sales at the expense of the euro shopper?"

Soft soaped

Margaret from Cork recently purchased a twin-pack of Dove Cream Soap in a Dunnes Stores outlet in Ballincollig. She noticed that the price of the two-pack of 100g bars was €1.60 while the four-pack box of 100g bars was priced at €3.95. "Buying the four-pack was 75 cent more expensive then buying two boxes of 2x100g," she writes. "I have noticed the same box of 4x100g Dove Cream Bar in Supervalu priced at €3.95 but with two extra free soap bars, six for the price of four. Buying more or bigger doesn't always mean cheaper; in fact, we are often ripped off by buying the bigger quantity," she reckons.

Roundly condemned

Rachael in Galway recently got an ESB bill and was reminded of "an incredibly annoying, unnecessary, and surely self-serving practice of ESB: charging customers to round up their bills to the nearest euro". This practice "really gets my goat," she fumes. "Why does no other utility or credit card company with which I have dealt while living in both Ireland and the US not do this? There is no need for me to have a bill rounded to the nearest euro. ESB credits the amount rounded the next bill but then always charges me again to round the next bill.

"What is going on here? ESB surely does this so they can take extra cents from me and millions of other customers and earn interest on all these roundings for the two months until the next bill cycle. They should not be allowed to do this to customers no matter what their 'logic' might be."

Don't get in a flap

Last week we gave five stars to the rather excellent Stable Diet flapjacks but expressed mild concern about their availability. Kate Hyland, another big fan, got in touch to allay our fears. "I adore them and wanted to let you know where to get them," she writes. She says the Dunnes Stores outlet on Dublin's Georges St has an "entire stand full of Stable Diet products. They also do an absolutely fab toasted oat cereal with/without dried fruit." She also points us in the direction of West Coast Coffee on South Anne Street, Fallon and Byrne and Donnybrook Fair. So, now we know.

The usual good service

Two readers have written with examples of excellent customer service which Irish businesses might do well to pay attention to. Eoin McGrath was in the Hilton hotel in Frankfurt recently where he stayed a single night. He found it "absolutely first class, no complaints whatsoever". When he was filling out a customer survey the only thing he suggested "was that perhaps there could be a bit more tourist information available at the front desk. Imagine my surprise when I received a prompt e-mail from the manager of the hotel apologising for their lack of information and informing me that they had addressed the situation and they hoped I had not been caused too much inconvenience. It may be normal practice in this hotel, but I found the level of service prior to, during and after my stay there far exceeded any other hotel I have stayed in."

Another reader contacted us with an example of some exemplary customer service he happened upon in Greece recently. "I made a wrong-day booking to travel from Athens to the Greek Islands with Blue Star Ferries online," he writes. His ticket cost €47.50 and when he realised his mistake, he contacted the ferry line only to be told that they could not change the booking. "I was then told that I could cancel and re-book myself. I duly cancelled and two days later the cash was returned to my bank account." Try that with an Irish airline and see how you get on!

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Just to let you know I buy my Aspirin in Cosco, California. A box of 400 81mg Aspirin tablets cost $4.67 plus sales tax of 7 per cent. Barry