ARB: Standard Bank may have ‘conned’ customers with their data plans

We get it, the world of sales means you have to possess a certain way with words. However, Standard Bank took their creative license a step too far with their most recent round of data plans, and they’ve been hit with a reprimand from the Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB):

What’s the issue?

Here are the monthly data plans you can buy through online banking: This page creates the impression that a consumer, choosing the 4th data plan, for example, will come with a credit of R149 that will be consumed in 7-cent increments, resulting in about 2.1GB of data. This, however, is not the case.

It would appear that, what actually occurs, is you are charged R149 for the advantage of thereafter being charged 7-cents-per-minute. The complainant also added that he was charged 7-cents-per-megabyte on top of the original R149 that he was already paying. Paying the fee doesn’t give you the cheaper usage rate.

Standard Bank data plans slammed by ARB

The issue was referred to the ARB by Garron Dace, a Standard Bank customer who noticed something was awry shortly after purchasing the R149 data plan. They deconstructed the offer, and suggested that it failed “to offer any clarity” on the terms and conditions of the deal. The web-page was also nailed for its “ambiguous phrasing”

“The Directorate is of the opinion that the advertisement is, at best, phrased ambiguously as it is not clear enough that the promoted monthly fees do not carry any airtime credit but only gives the subscribers an opportunity to be charged at a lower rate when using data or voice calls, over and above the plan cost.”

“The consumer will believe that there will be airtime of R149 credited to their account which will be depleted at 7c per MB. It is also implied by the introductory idea that you will have a fixed cost. The Directorate also notes that clicking on the option “How it works” on the advertiser’s website does’t offer any clarity regarding the issue at hand.”

ARB statement

What Standard Bank have been told to do

Following their slap on the wrist, rhe advertisement as we knew it is now dead and buried: the ARB have advised Standard Bank to take the following actions.

• Withdraw or amend the advertisement in its current format.
• The process of withdrawing the advertisement in its current format must be actioned with immediate effect.
• The advertisement may not be used again in its current format.