$10 million in telco refunds up for grabs

In February 2019 the Federal Court ordered Optus to pay penalties of $10 million for making false or misleading representations about charges for digital content, such as games and ringtones, that were incurred to customers through its third-party billing service.

Optus said it would contact potentially impacted customers who complained about the services and who had not already received a refund, as well as those who were incorrectly charged.

This was to be in addition to the $21 million Optus and various third party providers had already repaid to 240,000 customers in the years before the proceedings.

Under the refund program Optus has contacted and offered refunds to over 390,000 customers but so far only around 25 per cent of these have taken up refunds worth $6.7 million according to an update it has provided to the ACCC.

“Optus committed to providing these refunds, and will continue to contact customers over the coming months,” said ACCC Commissioner Sarah Court.

“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.”

The ACCC is urging Optus customers to call Optus on 133 937 if they believe they may be entitled to a refund and have not yet been contacted by Optus.

Read more at ACCC

3 comments

I received nothing. They owe me big time!

I threatened to take Telstra to the Telecommunications Ombudsman before they placed a stop to third party charges on my account and refunded money debited without authorisation.

Had issues with Optus years ago and have refused to deal with them since. Biggest scammers of all time. Prefer dealing with Telstra ANY TIME.

Had many issues with Optus when I first  go the internet switched on Eventually  joined Belong an arm of Telstra .They were goos when  it came to fixing techical issues. Now back with  Telstra. They are a ripp off company.

Had many issues with Optus when I first  go the internet switched on Eventually  joined Belong an arm of Telstra .They were goos when  it came to fixing techical issues. Now back with  Telstra. They are a ripp off company.

3 comments



To make a comment, please register or login

Preview your comment