Optus customers urged to check for messages from company as millions of dollars in refunds are yet to be claimed
- Customers may get an email or text from Optus to let them know about refund
- The refund comes after issues with billing for items such as ring tones
- Optus contacted 390,000 but only 25 per cent have agreed to take refund
Optus users are being urged to check their messages for notification they are entitled to a refund.
Customers may get an email or text message from the company to let them know they can get refunds following Australian Competition and Consumer Commission action about the telecom’s third-party billing service.
People were able to buy things outside designated app stores with one or two clicks and had charges added to their bill immediately.
Customers may get an email or text message from the company to let them know they’re entitled to a refund following Australian Competition and Consumer Commission action about the telecomm’s third-party billing service
A ruling found that the set-up of the Direct Carrier Billing made it easy for people to accidentally purchase items they didn’t want.
In February 2019 Optus was ordered by the Federal Court to pay $10 million in penalties.
This is because of ‘false or misleading representations’ when it came to charges for things such as games and ringtones, which were through Optus’ third-party billing service.
Optus also committed to contacting those who may have been impacted, hadn’t already received a refund and who Optus had identified as being incorrectly charged.
The actions were in addition to the $21 million Optus had already paid 240,000 customers.
Optus has already contacted 390,000 entitled customers since February but only 25 per cent of them have pursued the refunds, totalling $6.7 million.
Optus has already contacted 390,000 customers but only 25 per cent have agreed to take the refunds, totalling $6.7 million
‘Optus committed to providing these refunds, and will continue to contact customers over the coming months,’ ACCC Commissioner Sarah Court said.
‘Many of the affected customers were charged for content that they never wanted and never used, and from which they found difficult to unsubscribe. In some cases children unwittingly incurred charges.’
Optus will also review complaints about its Direct Carrier Billing and dealing with those in ‘good faith’.
The ACCC has urged customers to contact Optus if they have not received a notice but believe they’re entitled to a refund.