Vodafone to refund customers it misled

Vodafone will refund customers slugged for content they had not agreed to buy.

Vodafone has given a court enforceable undertaking to the ACCC. Picture: AFP

Vodafone will refund customers slugged for content they had not agreed to buy, with the telco admitting it misled them about its third-party direct carrier billing (DCB) service.

The telco has given a court enforceable undertaking to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission after the regulator carried out an investigation under a delegation of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s powers.

According to the ACCC, Vodafone charged customers for content through the DCB service, which was automatically enabled on the mobile accounts of its customers.

The service allowed purchases with as little as one or two clicks, with the charges showing up on the subsequent bill.

The content was marketed and provided by third parties who paid Vodafone commissions for sales to its customers.

The telco is the latest to fall foul of the ACCC’s crackdown on DCB services, which has already seen Telstra and Optus make amends to customers.

While the services have now been discontinued by all of the major telcos, ACCC chair Rod Sims said that customers that had been fleeced had to be reimbursed.

“Through this service, thousands of Vodafone customers ended up being charged for content that they did not want or need, and were completely unaware that they had purchased.”

“Other companies should note, money made by misleading consumers will need to be repaid,” Mr Sims said.

Vodafone began phasing out DCB subscriptions in mid-2015, and cancelled its arrangements with certain third party providers of digital content.

However, consumers could still be charged for one-off purchases without any identity verification until March 2018, the ACCC said.