Tag Archives: rip off

Rant

Shop around & shop online

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Almost precisely a week ago I was tweeting away like a mad thing about how I had rambled into Monsoon on Grafton St to try on a coat I had spotted online on their website.

I went in, tried it on, all good & even better again with a giant €60 off tag hanging off it – epic win thinks Steph. Until she looks at the original pricetag which reads €250. €250?! I must have been looking at a different coat as that’s out of my budget.

To the iPhone (eventually) and to Monsoon.co.uk where I find the exact same coat priced at £120. Now I’m no financial whizz but I worked out that £120 couldn’t be close to €250. The kind Twitter followers who are not on a dodgy EDGE connection tell me that Monsoon do deliver to Ireland for a sum of £7.95.

So I purchase said coat at it’s reduced price, popped home and did my sums and to my surprise and delight I discovered that purchasing the same coat online from the same retailer I could have it delivered for €150. That’s €100 less than the original price tag. So I ordered it and it arrived today – a week later – in perfect nick to my door saving me a nice few quid indeed.

Now I’m not one to normally shop in Monsoon as it’s on the top end of my budget but maybe there’s something there – maybe I just can’t afford their exchange rate, not their garments! Seriously, €100 difference in price? Is this an extreme example of high street retailers taking the mickey?

I’m going to do some more investigating while hitting the shops at the weekend for a few winter bits. I’ve never bought any other clothes online aside from Threadless tees but I think I’ll be a lot more thrifty and inclined to check online from now on.

Web

Sunday Tribune features FG website rip-off

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Story in Sunday Tribune

Story in Sunday Tribune
I was up and out early this morning for the filming of a dance scene for Ireland’s first bollywood movie today (awesome fun, post coming later). Glancing in on Twitter during rehearsals I found out that the posts I had written about the Fine Gael website had made page 2 of the Sunday Tribune.

Fine Gael are still sticking to their guns and now claiming that all sorts of research was done into finding inspiration for their new online face. My favourite quote from the unnamed FG spokesperson:

“What has been asserted is not correct; there are grains of truth in this thing but they would get a life of their own on the internet,” a party spokesman said.”

Their lack of understanding of the issues surrounding the website now outweighs the seriousness of their actions. Their lack of engagement with the online community on top of the poorest of efforts in delivering a suitable, usable and useful website is the basis for a total failure in the management of their identity and image online. As Suzy said earlier: 

“Above all this incident is about the second biggest party in the state and another example of it’s lack of serious commitment to on-line engagement with voters in the country,  a lack of faith in Irish based web developers, and no imagination in the excuse making department either!”

I’m still disappointed and quite annoyed with how the party have handled the incident. FG don’t realise that they’ve missed the boat completely in terms of communication with voters & getting their message out there ahead of the local elections and in time, maybe even a general election before long. Their attitude towards the Internet and the online community (from bloggers to developers) is archaic and worryingly ignorant. I’d normally wish someone luck at this juncture (considering the mountain that they have to climb) but the feeling of disrespect is now a mutual one so they won’t be getting any best wishes (or votes) from this citizen.

Web

Fine Gael website v2.0 up, overnight success???

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So the *ahem* NEW Fine Gael website just launched at www.finegael.org. So what’s changed since yesterday’s short-lived first incarnation? Let’s see.

finegael.org v2.0
finegael.org v2.0
finegael.org v1.0
finegael.org v1.0

Updates to new version:

  1. Colour scheme gone from blue to green (someone checked the FG branding guidelines, well done)
  2. Fonts – we’ve gone from lovely sans-serif to the less lovely serif (at least that was an easy find & replace job)
  3. Class names and IDs of pretty much all elements appear to have been changed in the source HTML & CSS (ouch, someone had a late night)

We’ve also got lots and lots of Paschal Donohoe all over the thing this time around but that’s another story. A decent effort at a coverup of blatant plagiarism but anyone who frequents the BBC website for their news fix would still spot the ‘inspiration’ or at least start rubbing their chin and say ‘it looks familiar but I’m not sure why’.

I will be emailing FG at lunch time. Can’t wait to see if I hear anything back. Guessing we still have no names of whodunnit in terms of overseeing the project/building the site?

Update @2.23pm on 17/01/09: Stu has been doing some more lining up while Vincent Gribbin is still adamement that the site is not a copy.

Update @5.20pm on 17/04/09: Commenter points out that FG have violated the terms of the BBC.co.uk website. Senator Paschal Donohoe replied swiftly to my email to say (paraphrasing) he hasn’t seen any news or heard anything about the site but will look into it when he’s back from his travels.