Spark has been warned by the Commerce Commission for likely breaching the law when it notified customers of a broadband price rise last year. But when Spark notified customers of the price rise on its website and by email, Spark did not explain that if customers did not consent to the price rise they had the right to terminate their contract without penalty, it said. "In the commission's view, customers reading Spark's notification of the price rise would have assumed that Spark had a right to increase price without discussing it with the customer and that the customer had no choice but to accept the price increase," she said. "In fact, customers who did not agree to the price rise could terminate the contract without incurring an early termination fee and could take up a more acceptable offer elsewhere if they wanted to." Spark had responded to the commission's queries by updating information on its website and sending updated information to customers affected by the price rise, the commission said.

Source: Stuff May 22, 2019 22:51 UTC