Dodo to refund thousands of customers $360,000 over NBN streaming claims

Dodo might offer ‘internet that flies’, but it’s not always fast enough to stream in Ultra HD, according to the consumer watchdog.

The Vocus Group-owned internet service provider will be forced to refund about 16,000 customers a total of $360,000 after allegedly making likely false or misleading claims about their products.

In a court-enforceable deal struck with the ACCC yesterday, Dodo has become just the latest internet service provider to be pulled up by the regulator for its marketing.

From November 2015 to March 2018, Dodo advertised NBN broadband plans with maximum speeds of 12 megabits per second as “perfect for streaming”.

However, the plans, which came with just 10 gigabytes of data in some cases, were unable to stream ultra HD video at all, ACCC chair Rod Sims said.

“We were concerned that Dodo customers on these plans could not reliably stream high-quality video, particularly when others in the household were using the internet at the same time,” Sims said in a statement circulated yesterday.

“According to Netflix, high-definition streaming uses up to 3GB of data per hour. With these plans, a customer would have to pay extra if they streamed just two or three movies.

“We don’t believe NBN plans with just 10GB of included data are ‘perfect for streaming’,” Sims said.

Customers on affected Dodo plans who incurred excess data charges during the more than two-year period will be eligible for the refunds.

The case, just the latest in a string of ACCC action against companies making over-the-top claims about their NBN plans, underlines the importance of responsible marketing practices.

Dodo has until September 7 to notify all 16,000 customers, current and former, which it has been ordered to refund.

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