Buyer Beware! is an Irish

Republic of Ireland

Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

 television consumer affairs series. The show, hosted by Philip Boucher-Hayes

Philip Boucher-Hayes

Philip Boucher-Hayes is head of RTÉ's Radio Investigative Unit. He is a news reporter, radio presenter and occasionally appears on television. As a news reporter, RTÉ has dispatched Boucher-Hayes to a number of remote locations including Kosovo, Israel, Iran, Iraq and New York City...

, is broadcast on Thursdays at 20:30 on RTÉ One

RTÉ One

RTÉ One is the flagship television channel of Raidió Teilifís Éireann , and it is the most popular and most watched television channel in Ireland. It was launched as Telefís Éireann on 31 December 1961, it was renamed RTÉ Television in 1966, and it was renamed as RTÉ One upon the launch of RTÉ...

. It follows a similar format to BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

's Watchdog

Watchdog (TV series)

Watchdog is a BBC television series that investigates viewers' reports of problematic experiences with traders, retailers, and other companies around the UK...

. The first episode aired on 6 November 2008. Enable Ireland responded to the feature in the first episode on bogus plastic bag collectors by issuing a press release.

Episodes

Date	Features	Link
6 November 2008	Charity clothes bags raids, gutter replacement company
13 November 2008	False modelling agency, Euro Business Guide
20 November 2008	Community Concepts, online shopping
27 November 2008	n/a
4 December 2008	The Pure H20 Company (Ireland) Ltd

Missing episodes

The final episode was cited for 11 December 2008 but mysteriously failed to air, being replaced by a repeat episode of Killinaskully

Killinaskully

Killinaskully was an Irish television comedy which details the bizarre goings-on in a fictitious Irish village called Killinaskully located in the hills of Ireland. It was actually filmed on location in the villages of Killoscully and Ballinahinch in County Tipperary, the title being a fusion of...

. All reference to the missing episode (and episode four) have been removed from the show's site.

The text removed originally stated:

We look at one specific very low calorie diet

Very Low Calorie Diet

Very low calorie diet is a diet with very or extremely low daily food energy consumption. It is defined as a diet of per day or less. VLCDs are formulated, nutritionally complete, liquid meals containing 800 kilocalories or less per day. VLCDs also contain the recommended daily requirements for...

 (VLCD) - Lipotrim, available over-the-counter in over 120 Irish pharmacies. We interview several people who have taken it, and ask whether closer medical monitoring of patients and sales regulation of these types of diets is needed.

Reporter Philip Boucher-Hayes looks at water safety and tests lifejackets and other types of personal flotation device

Personal flotation device

A personal flotation device is a device designed to assist a wearer, either conscious or unconscious, to keep afloat.Devices designed and approved by authorities for use by...

s (PFDs), and discovers that a relatively new device, costing only €5-should probably be added to the list of must haves for all of us when we head out onto the water.