DECISION

Chairman's Ruling

28 January 2009

Complaint 09/023

Complainant: D. Zander
Advertisement: Vodafone New Zealand Ltd


Complaint: The website advertisement commenced with:

"Half price 3G mobile broadband offer. Be online in more places this Christmas. Sign up now and get your first 6 months of 3G mobile broadband for half price, plus a FREE Vodem Stick. ... It's all yours when you sign up to either a Broadband Everyday or Broadband Pro plan on a 24 month term...."


Complainant, D. Zander, said: "I feel that this is completely misleading, the ad clearly says half price, not 1/8^th discount over the term of the contract. Half price would be half the price for the entire term in my view, not for 1/4 of the term...."


The relevant provision was Rule 2 of the Code of Ethics.


The Chairman noted D. Zander's concern about the advertisement. She took into account that the headline said: "Half price 3G mobile broadband offer." and noted that the conditions which applied to that offer were clearly stated below. Accordingly, she said that the facts were available to the consumer and the advertisement did not meet the threshold to be said to be misleading to the consumer. As such there was no apparent breach of Rule 2 of the Code of Ethics.

The Chairman ruled that there were no grounds for the complaint to proceed.


Chairman's Ruling: Complaint No Grounds to Proceed