Fine print of the week: Optus
The large print giveth, the fine print taketh away
Fine print is a company’s way of placing not in front of something. If they didn’t want to hide something from you, they’d just be up front about it. In this weekly segment I’ll highlight a particularly funny, ridiculous or silly piece of fine print. Please send in any you find!
Unlimited˜ phone calls
˜ not unlimited, in fact nothing like unlimited in any sense you’d find in a dictionary, as in lack of limits. No, it’s actually limited in several rather arcane ways.
This first one is an easy target. The “Fusion” plans from Optus combine internet and phone in one package with a reasonable price, like $79. Unfortunately the internet comes with punitive excess charges up to $300 a month, so internally it’s known as the $379 Fusion plan. Anyway, Optus seem so afflicted with the fine print bug that they worked out two different ways of doing it. There’s the traditional fine print at the bottom of the page, as you’ll see in their print and television ads. But no, that wasn’t enough they wanted extra fine print so they’ve got special mouseover areas on the page that show even more fine print. In some cases there’s half a page of fine print hidden in one of these boxes. Insanity!
But wait, there’s more. Hidden underneath “Terms and conditions” is yet more fine print, almost as much content there as the main part of the page.
Fine print on Optus Fusion plan
