Faulty goods, poor online shopping experiences and botched home improvements top the list of issues consumers have contacted the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) about so far this year.
20,526 people contacted the CCPC helpline - mostly by phone, email and webform - from January to June, according to their helpline report that it issued today.
Consumers contacted the helpline about goods and services with a reported total value of €56m.
They reported spending an average of €6,400 on the product or service they had an issue with.
The highest average spend was on vehicles & transport (€18,716) and home building & improvements (€13,443).
"We see consumers just experiencing huge problems when it comes to buying cars, particularly second hand cars, but new ones do also make it in there too," said Director of Communications at the CCPC Gráinne Griffin.
"It's a huge issue because they're so expensive consumers are significantly out of pocket when something goes wrong."
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Ms Griffin said what stands out about the value of these complaints is that people can not use the small claims court route.
"In Ireland the small claims court is capped at only €2,000, we like to see that increased so that more of the consumers who contact us can get the help they need," said Ms Griffin.
A number of familiar names of traders again topped the list for this period.
"Lots of these companies are very big and have lots of customers, therefore they are more likely to appear in the top ten," noted Ms Griffin.
She said that Ryanair, eir, Sky are all companies that have dedicated sectoral regulators and are appearing at the top.
But the likes of Currys and Harvey Normans also appear for issues including faulty goods or terms and conditions and so are very much in the remit of the CCPC," she added.
4,419 consumers contacted the helpline about an online purchase, with 17% of purchases coming from businesses outside of the EU.
If you buy from within the EU you can access the European Small Claims Court, however there is no such international mechanism to get your money back if you buy outside of the EU.
Ms Griffin also highlighted the importance of reporting consumer issues to the CCPC.
"We have a whole team of inspectors and and lawyers who are ready to take action against the kind of companies who repeatedly do consumers wrong and every single call to our helpline raises the red flag and potentially can lead to enforcement action," she stated.
