Optus ‘yes’ Timeless plans: timeless after all, ‘Fair Go Policy’ snafu

by Alex Zaharov-Reutt

Friday, 25 July 2008

Page 1 of 3 ! In a previous article I looked at the new Optus ‘yes’ Timeless plans, looked at the then “Optus Mobile Fair Go Policy” and deduced there were timed limits, but Optus has now belatedly updated its Policy and says there are no limits - for consumers. What has an Optus spokesperson specifically told me? In an article printed on the 22nd of July, 2008, entitled “Optus ‘yes’ Timeless plans: they’re timed, have limits and exclusions!”, I relied upon Optus’ own publicly available “Mobile Fair Go Policy”, at its website, to come to the conclusion the timeless plan actually had a time limit. It’s important to note here that the ‘yes’ Timeless plans are, after all, timeless – for consumer use only, with a statement from an Optus spokesperson on the matter on page 2. But before we get there, it’s important for you, the reader, to understand why I wrote what I wrote, and why I am writing this follow up article to set the record straight. My initial, original assumption of the ‘yes’ Timeless plans being timed is an entirely reasonable assumption to make, because the ‘yes’ Timeless plans specifically mention that the plans are subject to the Fair Go Policy. There is a link to ‘View Terms and Conditions’ in small print near the bottom of the site (linked in the previous sentence), and when you click on this link part of the terms and conditions appear, including a direct link, in Word format, to the “Optus Mobile Fair Go Policy” which I had quite rightly relied upon. At least two commenters to my story noted they had spoken to Optus representatives who assured them that the ‘yes’ Timeless plan was indeed timeless, so I decided to contact Optus in person. I did not do so at the time myself because I had written the article after hours, and, once again, relied upon the information that Optus had publicly supplied on its website, in the form of the “Fair Go Policy”. If you can’t rely on Optus’ own “legal” documents to make deductions and decisions, what can you rely on? In addition, no-one from the Optus Corporate Affairs department had been in contact to refute or correct any part of the story. Given the prevalence of sophisticated paid “media monitoring” services which are able to provide companies with copies of both online and offline stories, and the free “Google Alerts” news service, and given the fact iTWire.com is a major technology news website, I would have expected a company of Optus’ size and importance to the Australian economy to have been informed of my story at least within 24 hours of its publication, if not sooner. So, at the urging of two iTWire readers in the comments section who had received different information from Optus, I contacted Optus by email at 3.55pm today (24th of July, 2008) with a series of questions, and at 3.57pm called an Optus Corporate Affairs spokesperson to confirm receipt of said email. I was promised an answer by the morning of the 25th of July, but at 6.34pm had received a phone call, explaining what the situation was, and received a statement by email. So, what did Optus have to say, and what was the “Optus Mobile Fair Go Policy” snafu? Continued on page 2. << First page <   1 2 3 Next page > Last page - Post your comment >>

 

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