{"id":115041,"date":"2017-02-01T11:10:12","date_gmt":"2017-02-01T09:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/?p=115041"},"modified":"2017-02-01T11:11:13","modified_gmt":"2017-02-01T09:11:13","slug":"telkom-freeme-user-fights-for-free-minutes-to-order-pizza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/mobile\/115041-telkom-freeme-user-fights-for-free-minutes-to-order-pizza","title":{"rendered":"Telkom FreeMe user fights for free minutes to order pizza"},"content":{"rendered":"

Telkom has been taken to<\/strong><\/a> the Advertising Standards Authority of SA over its FreeMe bundle advertising.<\/p>\n

A FreeMe user complained that Telkom\u2019s website states the FreeMe Boost 1GB bundle offers \u201c300 free\u00a0Telkom-to-Telkom minutes\u201d, which he said was misleading after he was unable to call a local pizza restaurant using the free minutes.<\/p>\n

The user stated that he contacted Telkom about the issue and was told \u201cbusinesses were excluded from the offer\u201d.<\/p>\n

Telkom responds<\/h3>\n

Telkom initially submitted that the\u00a0terms and conditions of the offer state that the free minutes only apply to Telkom mobile and Telkom fixed-line numbers \u2013\u00a0premium-rated numbers are excluded.<\/p>\n

It said the free minutes apply to \u201cperson-to-person usage\u201d, and examples of Telkom fixed-line numbers \u201cstart with 012, 011, 013, etc\u201d. Premium-rated numbers\u00a0start with 086.<\/p>\n

The pizza shop number\u00a0was presumed to be a premium-rated\u00a0or Neotel number and \u201cthe complainant was advised that the number was excluded from the offer\u201d.<\/p>\n

The FreeMe offer was subsequently amended to state: \u201cFree 300 minutes to Telkom Mobile and Telkom Fixed Lines\u201d.<\/p>\n

The number started with 012<\/h3>\n

The complainant\u00a0submitted that the number he dialled was\u00a0012 940 0756\/7, beginning with the 012 code associated with landlines in the Pretoria region.<\/p>\n

Telkom replied, stating that the number was not on its network and had been ported to another \u201clicence operator\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccordingly, 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,\u201d stated the ASA.<\/p>\n

The ruling<\/h3>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt subsequently noted that the number dialled by the complainant, which starts with 012, is not on the Telkom network.\u201d<\/p>\n

It said\u00a0reasonable consumers would interpret the reference to \u201cTelkom Fixed Lines\u201d to mean a number starting with 012. Therefore, the pizza restaurant should qualify for the free call benefit on the FreeMe package.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem with this is that there is nothing to show\u2026 a reasonable person would have a way of knowing that the 012 number\u2026 was no longer a Telkom number.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ASA ruled that Telkom must withdraw the advertising in question and refrain from \u201cusing the advertising in a manner that creates a misleading impression again in future\u201d.<\/p>\n

The complaint was upheld.<\/p>\n

This article first appeared on MyBroadband<\/strong> <\/a>and is republished with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n

Now read:\u00a0iBurst switching to LTE-Advanced \u2013 The details<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Telkom has been taken to the Advertising Standards Authority of SA over its FreeMe bundle advertising.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":226,"featured_media":88165,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_enabled":true,"_sma_x_custom_text":"","_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2226],"tags":[23935,287],"class_list":["post-115041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mobile","tag-freeme","tag-telkom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/226"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115041"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115043,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115041\/revisions\/115043"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}