Telkom has been taken to the Advertising Standards Authority of SA over its FreeMe bundle advertising.
A FreeMe user complained that Telkom’s website states the FreeMe Boost 1GB bundle offers “300 free Telkom-to-Telkom minutes”, which he said was misleading after he was unable to call a local pizza restaurant using the free minutes.
The user stated that he contacted Telkom about the issue and was told “businesses were excluded from the offer”.
Telkom responds
Telkom initially submitted that the terms and conditions of the offer state that the free minutes only apply to Telkom mobile and Telkom fixed-line numbers – premium-rated numbers are excluded.
It said the free minutes apply to “person-to-person usage”, and examples of Telkom fixed-line numbers “start with 012, 011, 013, etc”. Premium-rated numbers start with 086.
The pizza shop number was presumed to be a premium-rated or Neotel number and “the complainant was advised that the number was excluded from the offer”.
The FreeMe offer was subsequently amended to state: “Free 300 minutes to Telkom Mobile and Telkom Fixed Lines”.
The number started with 012
The complainant submitted that the number he dialled was 012 940 0756/7, beginning with the 012 code associated with landlines in the Pretoria region.
Telkom replied, stating that the number was not on its network and had been ported to another “licence operator”.
“Accordingly, the call made by the complainant did not qualify as a free Telkom-to-Telkom call, as the number had been ported to another network,” stated the ASA.
The ruling
The ASA said the reference to free calls to Telkom fixed lines on the FreeMe package was an issue when Telkom itself said examples of fixed-line numbers start with 012, 011, 013, etc.
“It subsequently noted that the number dialled by the complainant, which starts with 012, is not on the Telkom network.”
It said reasonable consumers would interpret the reference to “Telkom Fixed Lines” to mean a number starting with 012. Therefore, the pizza restaurant should qualify for the free call benefit on the FreeMe package.
“The problem with this is that there is nothing to show… a reasonable person would have a way of knowing that the 012 number… was no longer a Telkom number.”
“In the absence of a convenient and apparent way in which consumers can determine whether or not the number they intend to call still belongs to Telkom, the [free minutes] claim is likely to mislead consumers.”
The ASA ruled that Telkom must withdraw the advertising in question and refrain from “using the advertising in a manner that creates a misleading impression again in future”.
The complaint was upheld.
This article first appeared on MyBroadband and is republished with permission.
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