Childcare centre felt 'pressured' by Spark to buy phone system it didn't want or need

Friday, 14 June 2019

Toddlers Turf operations manager Jill Oliver said she came close to spending thousands of dollars on a phone system the childcare centre did not want or need because of wrong information and 'pressure' from a Spark manager.

Spark has admitted wrongly telling an Auckland childcare centre that it needed to ditch its copper phone and broadband service, and says it is contacting all its sales staff across country to ensure the error is not repeated.

Toddlers Turf Childcare Centre in Manukau nearly spent thousands of dollars upgrading its phone and alarm systems as a result of the incorrect information it was given by a Spark business development manager.

Jill Oliver, operations manager at the childcare centre, said she was disgusted with the manager's behaviour.

She 'did not appreciate being pressured into anything much less a phone system which would have diverted money from our children's needs to Spark's bank account', she said.

The incident comes as the Commerce Commission assesses a complaint that Spark may have breached the Fair Trading Act by encouraging copper home phone customers to switch to wireless broadband through a practice known as 'inertia selling' – an allegation that Spark has denied.

Spark managing director Simon Moutter is in the final days of handing over the reins of the company to new chief executive Jolie Hodson.

* Chorus 'deeply uncomfortable' with Spark home-phone sales move**

Oliver was told by the Spark manager that the childcare centre needed to move off the copper phone network because it 'had been on the news' that Chorus would be shutting down copper phone lines by next year.

Oliver said the Spark manager visited the school together with a representative from a business partner. They recommended the centre switch to a fibre-optic connection, but the centre was advised that would require a new phone system for which Oliver was quoted about $2700 plus gst.

Chorus says it won't be turning off its phone lines anywhere for at least several years.

The switch to fibre would have cut the childcare centre's monthly phone and broadband bill by about $73 a month, but as well as investing in a new phone system, would also have required it spend at least hundreds of dollars upgrading its alarm system.

Spark's proposed upgrade was a 'must' to keep the childcare centre future-proof, Oliver was told by the Spark manager, who also told her by email: 'If we don't do anything about it as soon as now, you will end up having no broadband and landline coming by next year'.

Oliver queried whether there wasn't an alternative cloud-based phone system the childcare centre could switch to, after doubts were raised at a parent committee meeting.

Toddlers Turf was then told there was, and presented with a plan that would have meant a combined ongoing monthly bill of $351 a month – almost $70 a month more than its current phone and internet bill.

Oliver said she nearly signed up to the phone system upgrade because she felt pressured by the sales pitch.

'[The manager] told me I had better act fast, as the longer I waited the more it would cost and it would be more difficult because everyone else would be wanting new lines, so I could be without lines for a long time.'

But she had doubts and contacted Chorus which told her it had no current plans to stop operating and maintaining its copper network, and that Chorus had been made aware 'some providers' were sending out information that was 'not correct'.

Chorus spokesman Steve Pettigrew said it no timetable to switch off its copper network and no plans to do so anywhere in the country for at least 'several years'.

Spark spokeswoman Lucy Fullarton said the company had spoken to the Spark manager who was dealing with the childcare centre and understood he was 'confused about the issue'.

The manager had provided information to Toddlers Turf that he 'genuinely thought was correct when giving the customer context around the move to a new fibre plan', she said.

'He now understands he was incorrect and there is no timeframe set around the longevity of the copper network. He will not be communicating this incorrect information to any other customer. We'd like to apologise to this customer for the confusion we have caused,' Fullarton said.

Fullarton said that as a result of the incident Spark would be contacting all of its business and consumer sales staff 'to clarify that there is no timeframe for closing the copper network and to ensure that all of our people are giving accurate and useful information to our customers when recommending new Spark products'.