M2 Telecommunications lashed by ACCC

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has ruled that some M2 Telecommunications customers will be offered replacement mobile phones or refunds.

“The ACCC was concerned consumers may have been misled or deceived about their statutory warranty rights or the performance of their mobile phones by M2 Telecommunications,” ACCC Chairman Graeme Samuel said in a statement.

Between June 2007 and February 2009, M2 said that it was not required to pay refunds and that mobile manufactures were responsible for warranty claims. It also claimed that software on a mobile will not affect a customer’s ability to use the phone.

But the company has since given the ACCC undertakings that it will not make similar representations in the future, that it will publish a corrective notice and offer refunds or replacements to customer’s experiencing difficulties with pre-configured software.

“The ACCC has increasing concerns that many businesses are not aware of their obligations and are quick to equate a consumer’s rights with those provided in express or voluntary warranties offered by manufacturers, rather than the statutory
protections afforded by the act,” Samuel said.

“I have put the telecommunications industry on notice that it must improve its standards. Poor advertising practices and misrepresentations about warranties and refunds are priority concerns for the ACCC.