Slingshot warned over 'omission' in advertising for broadband and power bundle

Thursday, 28 March 2019

The Commerce Commission has regularly sought fines for telcos for more egregious breaches of the Fair Trading Act, but opted to issue Slingshot a warning.

Internet provider Slingshot has received a warning from the Commerce Commission for making what the competition watchdog said were 'misleading claims' about broadband discounts.

The commission said Slingshot, which is a brand owned by the country's third-largest broadband provider, Vocus NZ, had probably breached the Fair Trading Act in its advertising.

Slingshot advertised a 10 per cent discount if customers bought both broadband and electricity from the company.

But the commission said the offer, which ran between July 2017 and May 2018, did not make it clear that customers would only receive the discount if they paid their invoices by the due date.

The commission's competition and consumer manager Antonia Horrocks said Slingshot provided information that disclosed 'the true conditions of the promotion' but only once a consumer had nearly completed an online sign-up process.

'In the commission's view, Slingshot's late disclosure of a key condition did not remedy the initial misleading representation that was made to consumers at large,' she said.