[LINK] Bigpond ad -- bad maths

[Jan Whitaker]

At 01:13 PM 30/07/2009, Scott Howard wrote:

>So either their fine print is simply wrong, or you're misreading it and it's
>showing the "normal" price which applies after the 12 month mark.

That's all well and good, but like most tv offers, that's not what 
they say. The fine print is unreadable. They also don't provide a 
website, they provide a 1300 number. I didn't try that number, but I 
can imagine that it's a hard sell call centre. I'll keep my eyes open 
for the ad again. It's one of those set-ups with two women oo-ing and 
ah-ing over what a great deal it is and how marvelous it is to be 
able to have everyone in the house doing different things online at 
the same time.

On a different page on that website it says:
Minimum cost on $59.95 BigPond Liberty 12GB plan over 24 months is $2,287.79

that is probably the bottom line in the tv ad. So how is this minimum 
cost $59.95 matching the bit about $29.95?
http://www.bigpond.com/internet/plans/adsl/plans-and-offers/
You have to have a full-service Telstra homeline [so it's a bundled 
offer by default], 12GB of data.
Here's a fine print bit, too, from another webpage:
http://promo.bigpond.com/homenetwork/ [homenetwork is the one on the tv ad]
for the "free" homenetwork gateway [$99 I think it said elsewhere on 
one of the other pages; it's not listed on this page]
# After bill rebate (which will appear by your second bill), when you 
stay connected for 24 months. Offer available until 15th August 2009.

Then there's this:
ADSL 1 port modems and Home Network Gateways which are professionally 
installed or are purchased directly from us (online or over the 
phone), may be configured to work only with a BigPond or Telstra 
Business Broadband service either at the time of purchase or at a later date.

According to this, you're locked to them!

The competition must be getting to them. This ad has 6 caveats on it, 
with 5 and 6 not connected to anything on the page:
5. With the addition of an optional Digital Entertainer device (not included).
6. For ADSL/Cable BigPond members.

Jan


Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com

Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or 
sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

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