Free phone deal not home free

Mobile phone seller Crazy John’s came the under scrutiny of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) yesterday for misleading advertising. The ACCC began legal proceedings against the retailer for advertisements touting free phones with phone plans when customers had to pay higher rates than on comparable plans without phones.

The ads ran on TV and in newspapers in October last year. Crazy John’s managing director Brendan Fleiter said the allegations related to less than 10 percent of the plans offered at the time.
 
The legal action comes just a month after Telstra was pulled up for advertising that its NextG network was available everywhere in Australia with the line “everywhere you need it”. The ‘misleading and deceptive’ conduct had to be amended with fine print detailing network black spots.