YOUR CONSUMER QUERIES:LAST WEEK we wrote about Sky Ireland's policy of selling on tiny debts to a collection agency.

This agency then writes to debtors threatening to call around to their homes unless the debt is paid.

We highlighted the case of a pensioner who was pursued by Sky and its debt collectors for the princely sum of €23.

David Fagan says he was “likewise threatened”, this time for €58.

“Sky cut me off when there was a mix-up in payment,” he writes.

“I didn’t want to continue the service as I had been thinking of switching service provider anyway, so I contacted them and agreed to pay up to the point they cut me off.”

This was not good enough for Sky and the company insisted he had to pay up to the expiry of the contract.

“In other words they wanted me to pay for service I didn’t get.”

He refused to pay and a letter arrived from Emerald Isle Collections demanding €58.

He did not pay and continues to ignore Emerald as he is “only willing to pay up to the point they cut me off”.

One call to Dad saves day

A CORK father contacted us full of praise for Aer Lingus. In particular he wanted us to pass on his compliments to the lost-property service at Dublin Airport.

Last week his daughter lost her phone on a flight from London to Cork.

The nice people at Aer Lingus had a look at her contact numbers and rang “Dad”.

“One cheerful and helpful call later, phone and owner were on the way to being reunited. Thanks a million, Aer Lingus!”

Beware of the phishers

A READER received an email purporting to be from the Revenue Commissioners last week offering him an out-of-the-blue tax rebate of €278.

The email is in the right template and the language is suitably sober.

It also carries a link to a website which looks for all the world like the Revenue website.

As with all such emails, it was entirely bogus.

There is a number of phishing scams doing the rounds at present and what is worrying is how sophisticated some of the scams are getting.

The only rule of thumb you need to follow to keep your cash safe is that if you ever get an email from a bank, a Government department, a friend who has been “mugged in Barcelona” or the widow of a recently deposed sub-Saharan dictator offering you money, asking you for money or asking you to send them your bank details, just say no.

Always, always say no.

Awkwardly mobile with apps and 3G

A COUPLE of weeks back we featured two readers’ unhappy experiences with Vodafone. One reader complains that his phone consistently dropped calls or refused to allow him to send text messages, or make or receive calls, or function at all.

He told us he had complained to Vodafone customer care by phone/email/in store countless times.

His phone was sent away and replaced once. He had been told to turn off 3G. He had been told a cell was down.

He had been told his problem had been fixed, but when he asked what the problem was he couldn’t get a straight answer. He said he was “getting nowhere”.

Well, the good news is he is somewhere now.

We passed on his details to Vodafone, which has been good at resolving issues our readers have had over the years.

We were told the issue was related to the use of a 3G phone in an area where there was only 2G available.

“Vodafone recognises that this customer’s experience was not the norm and has apologised for the inconvenience caused. We have replaced the handset and the issue is now resolved to the customer’s satisfaction,” the company said in a statement.

THE SECOND ISSUErelated to apps and the high costs associated with some of them.

A reader got an Android phone with Vodafone and suddenly their bills started climbing significantly. Eventually the reader worked out that apps were constantly updating automatically, incurring a charge each time, usually of 80 cent.

Our reader was adamant they had not been informed specifically that the phone had an automatic app-updating system that would incur extra charges.

In response, Vodafone said customers needed to exercise caution when downloading apps as, while many are free to download, some consume a high amount of data. It also pointed out that some apps continue to use data in the background even when they are not actively in use.

“We communicate advice to customers on the best use of their smartphone through a variety of channels”, including leaflet, follow-up emails to billpay customers, and its website.

The company has also developed a Vodafone Data Monitor app, which is available in the Android Play Store to allow customers to track their data usage and to highlight to customers which apps are using the most data.

The statement said the company had contacted the customer and resolved the issue to their satisfaction.