KEY POINTS:
A disgruntled lonelyheart has complained to the Advertising Standards Authority after his efforts to procure pictures of a saucy housewife advertising in an adult classified section went unanswered.
Complainant R. Walker responded to an ad in the Daily Post newspaper in Rotorua from a "housewife" seeking "discreet fun", who promised to send pictures.
Respondents were told to text Tara, with messages costing $2 each.
In his complaint, Mr Walker said he had sent five texts with no response from an apparently coy Tara.
After calling Vodafone, the administrators of the chat service, he found the messages were actually $4 each.
"It is my belief that this text service had no intention of sending [pictures] and is a scam preying on the lonely."
Vodafone said Mr Walker would have been advised of the charging structure when he first contacted the service.
As the service was person-to-person based, the company could not enforce when materials, such as pictures or mobile phone numbers, were provided.
"We leave these actions up to the users of the system."
However, Vodafone offered Mr Walker some sage advice, saying users tended to be more forthcoming with material once they "feel relaxed and wish to do so".
The authority upheld the complaint on the basis that the total message costs were not explicit in the advertisement, and it was therefore in breach of the code of ethics.
The Daily Post has since pulled Tara's advertisements.
- NZPA
