Geekzone: technology news, blogs, forums
Guest
Welcome Guest.
You haven't logged in yet. If you don't have an account you can register now.


freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
79250 posts

Uber Geek

Administrator
ID Verified
Trusted
Geekzone
Lifetime subscriber

#112671 17-Dec-2012 11:36
Send private message

Just received:


New guidelines for prepaid phone card industry

The Commerce Commission has issued new guidelines for the prepaid phone card industry following customer complaints that some cards did not deliver the number of calling minutes advertised.
The guidelines are designed to give prepaid phone card companies a better understanding of how the Fair Trading Act applies to advertising their goods. 

Commerce Commission Competition manager Stuart Wallace said the Commission’s greatest concern was unrealistic headline rates on advertising material. 

“Consumers should not have to carry out a mathematical exercise to work out which card offers the best rate,” Mr Wallace said. 

“If companies use fine print to disclose fees and conditions that materially affect the headline rate, they are likely to breach the Fair Trading Act,” he said.

He cited an example where a customer bought a $10 phone card and made one call to the UK, which left a credit balance of $9.38. The following month the customer was unable to make any further calls as there was no credit left on the card. According to the phone card company, the credit balance had reduced due to a daily fee of 20 cents + GST, which applied after making the first call. The customer had not seen this fee on the advertising materials. 

The phone card company was convicted and fined $140,000 for this and similar advertising.

The Commission’s new guidelines cover a range of Fair Trading Act obligations, and include a checklist for advertisements. The guidelines are available from the Commerce Commission’s website, www.comcom.govt.nz/prepaid-phone-card-industry-guidelines, and are being distributed to New Zealand based companies who market phone cards.

Background
Prepaid phone cards allow people to pay in advance for local or international phone calls and are readily available from retail outlets including dairies and supermarkets, as well as online.

The Commerce Commission successfully prosecuted two phone card companies for misleading consumers about the cost of using their prepaid phone card in late 2011.




Please support Geekzone by subscribing, or using one of our referral links: Samsung | AliExpress | Wise | Sharesies | Hatch | GoodSyncBackblaze backup


Create new topic
ubergeeknz
3344 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
Vocus

  #733452 17-Dec-2012 11:39
Send private message

It's about time I must say.  A lot of these calling cards are dodgy in the extreme, don't know how they've got away with it for so long.



johnr
19282 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user


  #733453 17-Dec-2012 11:41
Send private message

Agree about time!

richms
28168 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

  #737879 27-Dec-2012 22:57
Send private message

I suspect the only outcome will be the headline changes to "as low as"




Richard rich.ms

Create new topic





News and reviews »

Air New Zealand Starts AI adoption with OpenAI
Posted 24-Jul-2025 16:00


eero Pro 7 Review
Posted 23-Jul-2025 12:07


BeeStation Plus Review
Posted 21-Jul-2025 14:21


eero Unveils New Wi-Fi 7 Products in New Zealand
Posted 21-Jul-2025 00:01


WiZ Introduces HDMI Sync Box and other Light Devices
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:32


RedShield Enhances DDoS and Bot Attack Protection
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:26


Seagate Ships 30TB Drives
Posted 17-Jul-2025 11:24


Oclean AirPump A10 Water Flosser Review
Posted 13-Jul-2025 11:05


Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7: Raising the Bar for Smartphones
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 Brings New Edge-To-Edge FlexWindow
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Epson Launches New AM-C550Z WorkForce Enterprise printer
Posted 9-Jul-2025 18:22


Samsung Releases Smart Monitor M9
Posted 9-Jul-2025 17:46


Nearly Half of Older Kiwis Still Write their Passwords on Paper
Posted 9-Jul-2025 08:42


D-Link 4G+ Cat6 Wi-Fi 6 DWR-933M Mobile Hotspot Review
Posted 1-Jul-2025 11:34


Oppo A5 Series Launches With New Levels of Durability
Posted 30-Jun-2025 10:15









Geekzone Live »

Try automatic live updates from Geekzone directly in your browser, without refreshing the page, with Geekzone Live now.



Are you subscribed to our RSS feed? You can download the latest headlines and summaries from our stories directly to your computer or smartphone by using a feed reader.