ACCC takes TPG to court
- 17 December, 2010 12:01
- Comments 5
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has instituted legal proceedings against internet service provider (ISP) TPG for alleged contraventions of the Trade Practices Act.
In the proceeding, to be carried out in the Federal Court, Melbourne, the ACCC will allege that TPG's advertisements for its $29.99 unlimited ADSL2+ broadband plan were false and misleading due to the advertisements representing to consumers that they can buy unlimited ADSL2+ broadband services for $29.99 per month.
The ACCC alleges that these services are only available when purchased together with home phone line rental from TPG at an additional cost of $30 per month, with the result that the minimum monthly charge payable is actually $59.99.
The ACCC further alleges that TPG's advertisements do not adequately disclose a $129.95 broadband setup fee and a $20 home telephone deposit which customers must also pay in order to obtain the unlimited ADSL2+ service.
TPG joins Vodafone and Optus who also recently fronted court to address allegations of misleading customers.
Optus and Vodafone are currently facing off, with the former arguing print and television ads run by Vodafone since mid-November failed to properly notify customers of what was included in the plans.
Optus recently faced the ACCC in court, resulting in the telco being ordered to issue corrective advertising relating to its ‘Think Bigger’ and ‘Supersonic’ plans for hybrid-fibre coaxial (HFC) plans, and pay civil penalties for misleading advertising of the plans.
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Comments
Steve
And only six months after the ads appeared on train station billboards. Good to see such fast action from the ACCC protecting consumer interests. Or was it really Telstra that raised the issue?
Andy
It's not that bad; the website clearly mentions the need to bundle the adsl with line rental - it seems most of us already pay line rental for the sake of getting adsl anyway.
The setup fee is fairly standard, and the $20 deposit is "credit" towards the customers account anyway. If it's anything like their mobile services you get it back when you leave anyway.
The ACCC is far better keeping an eye on the big telcos who blantantly rip of the novice Aussie computer user/family who thinks when the company says, "70% of customers reach 8 Mbps" that they actually get 8 MBps
trudy
this is crap TPG are the only ones who give us a fair rate on ADSL2
shane green
I agree 100% this is crap! Tpg is in my opinion one of the more honest providers. I have used many telco's and what you read in the adds is what you get. Unlike Telstra who I have had manyy issues with!
Joe Stanley
I have been with TPG for many years but now their email is stuffed and unusable.Apparently cannot handle Windows 7 so it is now useless. Can anyone give me a good replacement for TPG
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