Just days after ACCC wrote to the industry demanding immediate compliance with its new component pricing law, mega-telco Optus has ignored it.
Today’s web carries a flash ad spruiking a ‘new monster value ‘yes’ $59 cap, ‘so good, it’s scary’. So is the fact that it’s an illegal advertisement.
Well, $59 is the monthly base price for the plan, so unless it’s a month-to-month plan (so that $59 would be the total cost as well as the monthly cost), the advert needs to state prominently the total contract cost.
Well, the flash banner doesn’t, and neither does the web page it links to. The web page includes total cost down the bottom and in small print. But ‘prominent’ ? No way. Optus is plainly in breach of section 53C of the Trade Practices Act.
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Peter,
Hopefully my question makes sense here.
On the flash ad, would it be open for Optus to argue that they are not advertising an actual price tag on that ad, but rather they are just advertising their product which just happens to be called the “Optus ‘yes’ $59 Cap”?
The point has been made before, Steve, and it has some appeal. But on balance I can’t buy it.
First, it’s too cute. By ‘coincidence’ the $59 Cap just happens to cost $59 a month, and the $19 Cap costs $19 and the $79 Cap costs $79. It’s just stretching things too far to say that ‘$59 Cap’ doesn’t involve a pricing statement.
Second, the linked landing page breaches section 53C, even if you ignore the flash banner. The landing page clearly states the $59 as a price but buries total cost in a very nin-eye catching place.
Thanks for the response Peter, much appreciated.