AAPT amends 'Smartchat' advertising

Telecommunications carrier AAPT Limited has given the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission an undertaking that all future material promoting its 'Smartchat' $3 deal will tell customers that calls must start after 6 p.m. and finish before midnight or the entire call will be charged at the off-peak rate.

The undertaking follows a recent ACCC investigation sparked by a consumer complaint that AAPT's promotional material failed to disclose a material condition of the $3 deal. 'The promotion said that consumers using AAPT's 'Smartchat' service could call anywhere in Australia between 6 p.m. and midnight any weeknight and the most they would pay would be $3,' ACCC Commissioner, David Lieberman, said today.

'In fact, if a consumer made a call which began between 6 p.m. and midnight, but ended after midnight, the entire call was charged at the higher off-peak rate. 'The ACCC believes AAPT's failure to explain this in its promotional material was misleading. Additionally, as AAPT is the only telecommunications carrier to charge in this way, the ACCC considered that the misleading effect of the alleged conduct was compounded by representations by AAPT staff that AAPT's $3 deal was just like a deal offered by one of its competitors.

'I am pleased that AAPT cooperated fully with the ACCC in this matter once the ACCC's concerns were made known,' Mr Lieberman said. 'Its cooperation meant the ACCC resolved this matter quickly. 'AAPT has now sent out new brochures to all existing AAPT 'Smartchat' customers disclosing full details of the $3 deal. It has also introduced a 'period of grace' for all customers to ensure that customers whose calls start after 6 p.m. but inadvertently finish just after midnight will only be charged $3. 'AAPT has undertaken to write to those customers whose calls started after 6 p.m. but went beyond midnight and who were charged at the higher rate and to credit their accounts.

Those customers will only pay $3 for the portion of the call made between 6 p.m. and midnight. 'Misleading advertising in the telecommunications industry is of particular concern to the ACCC. If competition is to be effective, consumers need to be able to rely on the information provided by companies about their products and services so that they can make an informed choice about which of those products and services they will use.

'The ACCC continues to monitor advertising in the telecommunications industry to ensure that consumers are not misled.'