IT all started with the iPhone 4. At least, most recently it started with the iPhone 4.
I had been awaiting its arrival, tracking its progress, watching the videos, reading the articles. And then, finally, the official announcement came. Oh joy, oh rapture.
I even queued for an hour in the rain to get it. (Yeah yeah, you’re just jealous.) But let me tell you why the moment of victory was tinged with more than a little ire (apart from the fact that all o2’s systems went down as soon as the shop opened and therefore, despite being only seventh in the queue, I had to wait an hour and a half to get my hands on the technological hot cake). You see, I left the store minus one arm and one leg.
Now there are some costs that are too great to measure. There are things like your pride and your principles that, if sacrificed, cannot be repaid in monthly instalments. But my credit card statement will list this as an expense of €369. So where does the ire come into the equation? Well, if I were living in the United Stated, my credit card statement would only list an expense of $199. Even the dearest version is a mere $299, which is still considerably cheaper than what I paid.
It’s true that I could have paid less for it, but the only way to do that was to sign up to an even more expensive contract, thereby cancelling out the saving on the handset.
(I realise that I may now have lost all readers over the age of 30.) So in short, Ireland got gypped. Even our friends across the water (and across the border) could get the handset for a mere £179 with a £15 a month contract.
Meanwhile, the cheapest contract price here is €40. And what will you get for your €40 a month? Well, to take o2 as an example, you’ll get free calls and texts to other o2 numbers, 150 minutes of free calls to other numbers, and 100 free texts to other numbers, plus 2 gigabytes of data (that’s internet usage to you and me).
Doesn’t sound too bad, right? Until you discover that the UK’s £15 contract (again, I’m going with o2) will get you 300 minutes of free calls to all UK numbers, unlimited free texts to all UK numbers, plus 500 megabytes of data. Overall, it’s a much better deal at a much smaller price.
So the blatant rip-off with the phone was the first thing that annoyed me. Then it was the turn of Domino’s pizza. I follow their Facebook page “Domino’s Pizza UK and Ireland”, so was informed of a new deal that they were offering – any pizza, any size for only £9.99. Ooh, I replied, what was the Irish equivalent? There is no Irish equivalent, was, essentially, the response I got. But this was the UK and Ireland page, was it not? It was, but they just weren’t offering the deal to their Irish customers. What they were really saying is that they don’t value their Irish customers as much as their English customers, so the English ones reaped fattening rewards, while the Irish were left to starve.
And these are just a mere fraction of the ways in which our neighbours (and not just the UK) are enjoying better deals and offers, while the Emerald Isle is ignored. What about the fact that the band Arcade Fire are playing a concert here in the not-too-distant future and are charging €55.80 for the privilege of attending? And that’s for the cheap tickets.
Yes, I’ve paid that before (and more besides), but why then did they only charge €35 when playing in Spain, for example? Or £34.50 in the UK. There’s a big difference, my friends.
And just to really drive my point home, a ticket for six days at the Glastonbury festival in the UK last June would have cost you approximately €225. A ticket for three days at Electric Picnic in Stradbally in September will set you back €240. Are you angry yet?
And our Government are bailing Anglo out to the tune of €24 BILLION.
How about now?