The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) continues to bust communications providers whose plans aren’t described clearly. Today it announced a $13,200 fine for TPG over terms associated with its offering of ‘free’ VOIP calls for broadband customers.
Picture by Kate Ter Haar
Here’s where TPG went wrong:
TPG advertised on its website that consumers who subscribed to a broadband bundle plan would receive 500 free minutes of VoIP calls. However, the offer was subject to terms and conditions which meant that a consumer would only receive 500 minutes of free VoIP calls if each and every call made had a minimum duration of 10 minutes. One of the advertisements also did not disclose that the call must terminate in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra or Perth.
“The advertising practice of fine-print qualification is one the ACCC is tired of correcting,” ACCC chairman Rod Sims said. “The ACCC will take an increasingly aggressive approach to send the message that this kind of misleading advertising will not be tolerated.” This year alone, we’ve seen the ACCC fine Foxtel and sue Apple. It also took TPG to court last year over its unlimited broadband plans.
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