Vodafone fined $960000 for misleading advertisement campaign

Wellington, Sept 10 (ANI): Vodafone New Zealand has reportedly been fined 960,000 dollars for a misleading marketing campaign.

The latest conviction takes Vodafone's total bill for using misleading advertising to almost 1.5 million dollars, the highest ever fine for one defendant.

In July the company pleaded guilty in the Auckland District Court to 11 representative charges brought by the Commerce Commission of misleading consumers.

According to Stuff.co.nz, the judge had cut the penalty from a 1.2 million dollars starting point to 960,000 dollars to include a 20 per cent discount for early guilty pleas by Vodafone.

The Commerce Commission's competition manager Stuart Wallace said the decision showed that companies needed to ensure their 'headline message' was not misleading.

"In issuing these penalties the court has recognised that Vodafone's actions caused significant detriment to consumers and competitors," the report quoted Wallace, as saying.

"The commission is hopeful that the outcome of the case will provide a significant deterrent to others," Wallace added.

According to the report, the charges related to a promotion in which Supa Pre Pay customers were offered a 10 dollars credit to their account if the registered their details at a Vodafone website.

However the website was faulty and many customers could not complete the registration process and did not get their 10 dollars credit. (ANI)