Optus Mobile Pty Limited will provide refunds to consumers and publish corrective advertising about the promotion of the Nokia 7250 mobile phone handset following Australian Competition and Consumer Commission action.
In May 2003 Optus Mobile advertised a Nokia 7250 camera phone on a $55 per month plan in a national advertising campaign which included using television, newspapers, in-store promotion, the internet and store brochures. Optus Mobile advertised the offer was available for all of May 2003. The ACCC's investigation showed that Optus Mobile did not have sufficient stock to meet consumer demand for the 7250 handset during the entire promotion.
Optus has given court-enforceable undertakings that it will:
- refund those customers who paid more for the phone in the month after the promotion ended
- re-offer the handset for the same price on a cheaper monthly plan for an additional month
- implement a "raincheck" policy for all post paid Optus Mobile promotions in future
- run a corrective advertising campaign on television, in newspapers, in store and on the Optus website
- refrain from advertising handsets when there are reasonable grounds for believing it will not be able to meet reasonable demand
- create a Handset Supply Panel to review its handset supply processes
- strengthen its Trade Practices Act compliance program.
"Consumers complained to the ACCC that they were unable to buy the handset soon after the promotion began", ACCC Chairman, Mr Graeme Samuel, said today. "While Optus withdrew advertising scheduled for later in the promotion when it realised that stock levels had run out in many stores, it did not act quickly enough.
"After the promotion, consumers were offered the same phone at a much higher up-front cost on the $55 a month plan.
"These undertakings represent a strong commitment from Optus Mobile to ensure that future promotions have sufficient handset stock to meet demand. The ACCC fully welcomes the cooperation of Optus in working with it to resolve its concerns and, most importantly, redress consumers adversely impacted by the conduct.
"It also acts as a reminder to suppliers to ensure that they only advertise products when they have enough stock to meet expected demand, especially for special offers on popular items like mobile phones. The ACCC will pursue businesses running promotions when they are unable to deliver the goods they have offered to consumers at the advertised prices".