Neotel recently launched a radio advertising campaign for their NeoGo data card where the voice reads: “You’re at your network provider learning for the first time the difference between ‘in’ and ‘out-of-bundle’ data rates. ‘It would have been nice to know this before you sent a R4000 bill’, you tell the clerk. He laughs, ‘Hello, then it wouldn’t be a hidden cost’, he says.”<\/p>\n
At the end of the commercial another voice-over states, inter alia, “Introducing NeoGo, Neotel’s new data card. Now out-of-bundle data only costs 8 cents per megabyte…”.<\/p>\n
This advertisement did not go down well with Mr Braam Dupper, a NeoConnect Prime subscriber, who lodged a complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (ASA) arguing that “the only way to get your data usage is to call the respondent’s call centre, and the call centre takes days to revert with figures”.<\/p>\n
“Consumers therefore have no way to check data usage on a timely basis, which could lead to over or under usage of your data bundle,” Dupper said. “The advertisement gives users the impression that the Neotel brand does not have any hidden costs in its contracts, and highlight that its competitor does. This is misleading.”<\/p>\n
Neotel responded saying that the advertisement relates specifically to the NeoGo product which, unlike their NeoConnect Prime service, has a data usage tracker. “Given this, NeoGo customers are actually able to track their own data usage and prevent unexpected bills for out-of-bundle usage,” said Neotel.<\/p>\n
Neotel added that the Neotel NeoConnect Prime product offers voice and data transmission, while the NeoGo product only offers data transmission. “Given these differences, the tracking tools used for each are significantly different and cannot be compared in the manner the complainant has done,” said Neotel.<\/p>\n
The ASA found that Dupper incorrectly interpreted the commercial to imply that the whole Neotel brand allows users to track their data usage and thus limit out-of-bundle use to avoid hidden costs or unexpected charges. “The commercial clearly promotes a specific product [Neotel NeoGo],” the ASA said.<\/p>\n
The NeoGo data service allows for data usage tracking, and the ASA subsequently dismissed the complaint.<\/p>\n