Editorial: Blunder another hit to credibility

Aside from those who work for Vodafone, there's unlikely to be many people feeling too aggrieved over the financial thrashing handed out to the telecommunications giant late last week.
Rightly or wrongly, companies like Vodafone and local rival Telecom have long been the subject of consumer ire, normally over the prices charged for cellphone services, particularly in comparison to overseas rates.
Bashing large companies over their prices is the flavour of the month at the moment - just ask adidas. But this time around, Vodafone really doesn't have much to grumble about. The company has apologised to customers charged hundreds of dollars for a mobile internet service they thought was free. Vodafone was fined a whopping $402,375 plus costs for breaching the Fair Trading Act. The fine is hefty - but then, so is Vodafone.
What's more, the pain may not yet be over for Vodafone, which intends to defend other charges alleging misleading broadband or mobile phone promotions.
Comfortably broad generalisations is something most humans specialise in. Just as lawyers, car salesmen and media organisations are often all tarred with the same brush, so too are telecommunications companies.
In New Zealand, it doesn't help that Telecom, Vodafone's main market rival, has had its own recent brushes with bad publicity, mainly through the repeated failings in its much-hyped XT network.
Telecom even reportedly got hit with a stiffer fine than Vodafone several years ago, after pleading guilty to 17 Fair Trading Act breaches over claims made while promoting a broadband plan. Sound familiar?
There's a huge difference between grumbles about cellphone charges, and what's happened in this case. To some degree, the price will never be right - consumers will always want their products cheaper. But in evidence presented as part of the case against Vodafone, the Auckland District Court heard some of the company's customers lost sleep worrying about large phone bills, and how another rang the Vodafone call centre in tears.
Through the order of the courts, Vodafone has been forced to pay for its advertising blunder. But it's not just Vodafone that's been punished. The reputation of the entire telecommunications industry has also taken a hit, and it's likely to be some time before its credibility is restored.
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