It's the most wonderful time of year, but many Liveline listeners were left fuming after hidden charges on their Christmas deliveries, with host Joe Duffy left laughing in exasperation as some of the situations.
The veteran RTE broadcaster heard a number of cases on his show on Tuesday, starting with a woman who had ordered a gift card from IKEA.
Mary Quinn told Joe: "I ordered a gift card, I made sure it was for the Dublin store because I was aware their head office is out of the country.
"I ordered a €300 card and a €10 fee for a physical card, which I soon learned I shouldn't have done."
"I waited about a week and the card arrived by post, and then I got a text from An Post to come in and pay duty with a reference number. They had all the details correct and they were looking for €75 custom charge.
Joe laughed: "And when do they want this money by? It says to pay by January 4! And it's the State, so you've no real option but to pay it."
A second caller Pat phoned in to explain an issue with a present being delivered.
"I got a lovely gift of a calendar from a friend in the US, which I could see labelled as $10, but the delivery company added a charge of $75 carriage fees. Then they added €8 handling charge to it, so they wanted €29.30 charges when they handed it to me at the door, opened.
"The lad at the door took it back from me because I felt guilty that it could come out of his wages. The company never gave me every breakdown and eventually I gave in and couldn't be bothered."
A third caller then gave an account of the other way, where she was charged $120 to send a skateboard to her family in Ireland, and that the handlers wouldn't release the gift unless the fee was paid. She claims her appeals have fallen on deaf ears.
