Consumer watchdog warns against misleading advertising

TPG Telecom (ASX: TPM) has been fined $13,200 for misleading advertising, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

The fine was in relation to advertisements for its ‘500 free VoIP Minutes’ offer, which the ACCC has deemed misleading.

TPG advertised on its website that consumers who subscribed to a broadband bundle plan would receive 500 free minutes of VoIP calls.

But consumers would only receive 500 minutes of ‘free calls’ if every call made had a minimum duration of 10 minutes.

ACCC chairman Rod Sims said the advertising practice of fine-print qualification was one the ACCC was tired of correcting.

“The ACCC will take an increasingly aggressive approach to send the message that this kind of misleading advertising will not be tolerated,” Sims said.

“The ACCC has repeatedly put the telecommunications industry on notice that it will not tolerate misleading advertising, and is concerned that consumers are regularly still not offered transparent and clear information about the price, terms and conditions for their services,” the competition regulator said in the statement.