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| Irish Psychics Live founder Tom Higgins |
The Irish Independent reports today that the company behind Irish Psychics Live made a staggering 2.6m after tax profit in just one year, on turnover of 5.7m for the financial year to the end of April 2006.
Realm Communications, which also runs other premium phone line services, increased turnover in its latest financial year by 170%.
Businessman Tom Higgins, chief executive and founder of Realm, said between 35,000 and 40,000 people used his service "regularly" last year.
Costing up to 2.90 a minute, many users, he said, ran up psychic bills of 2,500 a year.
In an interview with the newspaper, he credited publicity from RTE broadcaster Pat Kenny, who branded his business "utterly worthless", as contributing to last year's financial success.
"We are not trying to rip people off. If you go into a psychic on Grafton Street, they are going to charge you 30 or 40 for ten or 15 minutes," he added.
"People who are regular users of the service feel that spending 2,500 a year is what they want to do and if they know what they are doing, then who are we to stop them! Sometimes, people think these guys are ripping people off but we are not - we believe in what we do," he said.
"People are not stupid. They ring back because they have got something out of it. If they got something out of it, then isn't it worth having it there?" he asserted.
SAMPLE LETTER
Lost Dog
My boyfriend, has lost his dog. The dog is a cross between a collie and a sheepdog. He is 14 years old and is missing since 17th October. His fur is brown, black and white. He does not have a collar on and he answers to the name of Rocky. Is there anyway you can help me with this as we are very worried?
Cassandras Reply:
I am very sorry to hear about your boyfriend's lost dog. After consulting the tarot it seems that Rocky has strayed about a mile and a half from his original location. To your knowledge he seemed to have left by the front of the house, but I feel he managed to get through a back garden / yard of a neighbouring building. I feel he is safe and seems to have been fed by an older person. To find Rocky will take a lot of time and effort as I feel he is in a housing development most of the time, but strays in and out of it. Is there an area or road called 'Williams' or something like that close by you, as I feel that this may be somewhere near where the dog strayed to.
Best of luck in your search, but please rest assured in the meantime, that Rocky is safe and sound.
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