Saturday, May 09, 2009

Australia: ACCC unable to act on Dodo ISP despite it pattern of abusing consumers

[smh] The consumer watchdog is waiting for new powers to heavily fine telcos who keep ripping off customers, in the wake of complaints about its number one offender, Dodo.

Dodo, a small ISP with just tens of thousands of customers, notched up a staggering 6683 complaints in 2007-08 with the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman.

That compares to 9063 for the far larger Optus and 19,364 for the telco giant Telstra.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission announced last night that Dodo, a frequent target of false advertising complaints, had misled customers who signed up to its "free offer plans" between October last year and March this year.

But ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel said today his efforts to clamp down on rogue telcos were being hampered because he did not have the power to fine them.

ACCC powerless to clip Dodo's wings

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