Interesting the XML does claim to be UTF-8, here is the first element in the file.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<OFFERS>
<OFFER>
<OUR_ID>2752</OUR_ID>
<FTA>PTHREE81200013</FTA>
<MERCHANTCATEGORY>LG</MERCHANTCATEGORY>
<NAME>LG U8120</NAME>
<BRAND>LG</BRAND>
<MODEL>U8120</MODEL>
<PROMOTIONTEXT>Only 15.00 Per Month!</PROMOTIONTEXT>
<DESCRIPTION>This latest video phone has stylish looks, rotating video
+ camera and photo address book. With a range of revolutionary feature
+s, the LG 8120 is &lt;b&gt; 'the'&lt;/b&gt; video mobile to be seen w
+ith.</DESCRIPTION>
<NETWORK>Three</NETWORK>
<RENTAL>15.00</RENTAL>
<FREE_OFF_PEAK_MINS>0</FREE_OFF_PEAK_MINS>
<FREE_CN_MINS>500</FREE_CN_MINS>
<FREE_ANYTIME_MINS>0</FREE_ANYTIME_MINS>
<FREE_SMS>100</FREE_SMS>
<TAR>Talk &amp; Text 600 Special</TAR>
<ADDINFO> FREE Promo 12 Months Half Price Line Rental, 3 Months FREE i
+nsurance and <b>12 Months Reduced Line Rental - Only GBP15 Per Month<
+/b> </ADDINFO>
<DEEPLINK>http://www3.fonetasticmobile.co.uk/1/showphones.php?item=275
+2</DEEPLINK>
<SMALLIMAGE>http://www3.fonetasticmobile.co.uk/img/phones/bestdeal_u81
+20.jpg</SMALLIMAGE>
<BIGIMAGE>http://www3.fonetasticmobile.co.uk/img/phones/big_u8120.jpg<
+/BIGIMAGE>
<PRICE>0</PRICE>
</OFFER>
</OFFERS>
[download]

I suspect the feed is just not as good as it should be.

I have actually got around the problem by processing the file manually beforing loading it up with XML::Parser, and removing the dodgy characters.

Thanks,
Tom.

I have actually got around the problem by processing the file manually beforing loading it up with XML::Parser, and removing the dodgy characters.

That's one way to do it. You could probably figure out in which encoding they are and replace them by the proper utf-8 character. My guess is that some of the text , like the DESCRIPTION is entered through either a web form or word processor, it shoul be possible to find out what encoding is used.

That character is 0x92, UTF-8 only maps up to 0x7F as a single byte. If the document is representing that character with just one byte then its not UTF-8 and a broken XML instance. That character is represented with 2 bytes in UTF-8.

Whenever I get confused about UTF-8 I use this reference;

http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/unicode.html#utf-8