The consumer watchdog is suing Optus alleging it engaged in unconscionable conduct when selling phone products to vulnerable customers. Many were First Nations customers from remote and regional areas, as well customers living with disabilities or in disadvantage. The ACCC alleges Optus engaged debt collectors to pursue many of these consumers.
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TVTranscript
00:00Very serious sales conduct is the allegation here.
00:06So the ACCC says that Optus engaged at its stores, particularly in stores in Darwin and
00:13Mount Isa in Queensland, serious sales misconduct, that there was misselling, particularly involving
00:20First Nations customers, that they sold expensive products they couldn't afford, in some cases
00:26didn't need and didn't understand what they were signing up to, and that led to considerable
00:31harm.
00:32Let's hear from the head of the ACCC, Gina Cascott-Leib.
00:38The impacted consumers suffered financial harm of thousands of dollars, but in addition
00:43emotional harm, the fear, shame and distress of the debts and of being pursued by debt
00:50collectors.
00:52We also allege that the conduct continued after management became aware of the failings
00:59in the system being exploited or manipulated by staff in terms of the credit checks, and
01:05also that the commission-based remuneration system incentivised this bad sales behaviour.
01:12This conduct is unacceptable.
01:15So Michael, how were First Nations customers allegedly mistreated?
01:21What is alleged is that hundreds of people across the country were missold to, and that
01:27that included people who had serious cognitive difficulties in some cases, or other disabilities,
01:35and that they didn't fully appreciate what they were signing up to.
01:38In some cases it wasn't explained, or the allegation is that a series of things, including
01:45credit assessments, were manipulated along the way.
01:48And probably one of the most serious allegations is that people were sold products that simply
01:53didn't work in their communities, so there weren't checks done to make sure that the
01:58people who were buying Optus products actually had them functioning once they were back home
02:03in remote communities, and many of them were in regional or remote areas.
02:07So it's very serious conduct, and it goes down to sales culture, but also oversight
02:15inside Optus, and what exactly the management knew and when, and the ACCC alleges that there
02:21was knowledge at senior levels at a point, and not enough was done to stop it and to
02:28fix up what had happened to consumers.
02:31So what's the ACCC seeking?
02:34They won't say exactly what the penalty is that they're seeking, but they say it should
02:38be significant, because this comes after a successful prosecution of Telstra for very
02:44similar conduct, and Telstra was fined $50 million for that, and we know that this is
02:51more than 400 consumers in the Optus case, the allegations involve.
02:56In Telstra's case, it was just over 100, so it was $50 million in the Telstra case.
03:02So we'll wait and see what may happen here.
03:04This has a long way to go.
03:05The allegations have not been tested in court.
03:09But they're also seeking that consumers who were negatively affected by this alleged conduct,
03:16that they get remediated properly, but also that there's a series of actions put in place
03:23by Optus to make sure this sort of thing can't happen again.