![]() |
Forum Index : Off topic archive. : Pro rata and other tricks of telcos
Author | Message | ||||
domwild Guru ![]() Joined: 16/12/2005 Location: AustraliaPosts: 873 |
Hi, Interesting tricks the telcos play on us unsuspecting consumers, but perfectly legal as the stuff is buried in the fine print BUT is not explained if you sign up via the phone: 1. Assuming a telco offers you $50 worth of free calls per month. Beware! This means $50/30 days worth per day. Users who thought they could use up most of the $50 in a few initial days of frenzied calling have received huge bills afterwards. 2. Assuming free calls per month. Telco will not display the dollar amount in the month (you are in) which you still can use up; they credit the calls only at the end of the billing month, meaning you never exactly know how much credit you still have as they still total up all the "free" calls. Interesting discussion of that on Whirlpool, a coms website. Taxation as a means of achieving prosperity is like a man standing inside a bucket trying to lift himself up. Winston Churchill |
||||
VK4AYQ Guru ![]() Joined: 02/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2539 |
Hi Dom The whole Telco industry is full of tricksters and shysters that prey on the public in many ways, the old saying that if it sounds to good to be true it probably is. Let the Buyer Beware. Bob Foolin Around |
||||
Gizmo![]() Admin Group ![]() Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5116 |
After my recent dealings with Telstra, I totaly agree. Driven by call center employee's under pressure to make sales or loose their jobs, and company directors that see the world as a big $ sign. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
||||
VK4AYQ Guru ![]() Joined: 02/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2539 |
Hi Glenn Not just telstra they all have a go. Singapore owned Optus has been hit with a massive fine of $5.26 million for misleading consumers about the speed of their broadband network. Singapore owned Optus has been hit with a massive fine of $5.26 million for misleading consumers about the speed of their broadband network. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission took Telsta's arch enemy to court when Optus tried to take on Telstra's BigPond network in a broadband speed fight. The ACCC deemed their advertising to be misleading and the Federal Court has agread with them. Formally known as Singtel Optus, The ACCC took action against the Singapore owned Company in the Federal Court over an advertising campaign for broadband internet plans launched on Anzac Day in 2011. Today Justice Nye Perram sitting in the Federal Court ruled that there was an "essential vice" in the advertisements, because they misled people about the download allowance they could get under the plans. "They suggested that a consumer would obtain a broadband usage allowance of 120GB or 150GB [depending on the particular plan] consisting of two usages allowances - one peak, one off-peak," Justice Nye Perram said in his judgment. "In fact, however, this was only true if the consumer was careful to ensure that all of his or her off-peak allowance was exhausted before the peak allowance was fully utilised." Last year Optus was hit with a $180,000 fine by the ACCC for misleading mobile plans in which the so-called maximum was in fact a minimum price. "This decision sends the clear message that misleading consumers is not a legitimate business strategy. Optus is not a small business, but a large company that engaged in misleading and tricky conduct," said ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel. Bob Foolin Around |
||||
RossW Guru ![]() Joined: 25/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 495 |
Don't tar and feather us ALL. Some of us small guys are different. I've been an ISP since early 1995, and still in the game. Thats WAY before either optarse or tel$ux got in on it. |
||||
VK4AYQ Guru ![]() Joined: 02/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2539 |
Hi Ross Sorry for not qualifying the statement, it is the big money hungry corporations that are the worst, as with small business if you do not give a good service you will not be there long at all, it would be far better in my opinion if more little guys got in on the act, but I am sure that Telstra et al would find a way to squeeze small business out legal or not. All the best Bob Foolin Around |
||||
Gizmo![]() Admin Group ![]() Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5116 |
Yeah I'll back a small ISP anyday. I've dealt with the big guys and the service is terrible. The best service I've had was from a small ISP in Mackay, he's got me out of trouble lots of times. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
||||
![]() |
![]() |
The Back Shed's forum code is written, and hosted, in Australia. | © JAQ Software 2025 |