Optus subsidiary in trouble for sale of pre-paid phone cards

Prepaid Services and Boost Tel are to face court for allegations in relation to the sale of their pre-paid phone cards.

 

Prepaid Services is a wholly owned subsidiary of Optus Mobile, which is a member of the Optus Group of companies.

 

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) alleges Prepaid Services and Boost represented certain phone cards would provide consumers with a specified amount of call time when that was not the case; that no fees other than timed call charges would apply when in fact other fees were charged, and that a rate per minute for calls would apply regardless of the number and length of calls made when in fact that call rate is highly unlikely to be achieved.

 

The ACCC alleges Prepaid Services and Boost have engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct and made certain false or misleading representations in contravention of the Trade Practices Act 1974.

 

The ACCC also alleges that Prepaid Services has been knowingly concerned in the contraventions of Boost. Boost does not have its own telecommunications services but buys telecommunication services through Prepaid Services.