Corporate Ethics !

 Telstra, our biggest National Telco is facing a fifty million dollar fine for what the ACCC describes as " totally unacceptable behaviour."   This is only the second time a fine of this magnitude has been imposed in Australia.

This giant corporation admitted that it breached consumer laws at several of its stores in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia.  There stores were at Alice Springs, Casuarina, Palmerston, Arndale and Broome and all had big surrounding Indigenous populations.

This fine follows a year long investigation by the ACCC in which it was disclosed that Telstra took advantage of people with poor English speaking skills, difficulty with reading and in some cases - unemployed.  One hundred and eight such customers were sold mobile phone plans, sometimes with overseas data allowances, that they did not need or want.

The average debt per customer was $7400 and the bill they were charged was $320 per month.  In some cases the customer was listed as " employed " and often it was suggested that the service was " free ".  When these bills went unpaid Telstra simply put collection into the hands of commercial debt collection agencies.

This situation resulted in some Telstra executives missing out on $758,000 of incentives last year and steps were taken to waive these debts because of the poor business practices involved.

Unfortunately, this scam by a highly regarded national identity will reduce commercial confidence at a time criminal intent is  using the logo of banks and government departments to gain entry to information that can lead to identity theft.  Innocent people are finding vast amounts of debt are being booked in their name or their bank accounts are being plundered,.

The rush to achieve sales volumes often imposes stress on sales staff that suggests that their job is insecure if quotas are not met or cash incentives are awarded for sales results and no enquiries are made into the selling methods employed.  Analysis of sales results from stores with an Indigenous hinterland should have alerted an astute management that something unusual was happening.

Once again, it is the Australian public with shares in Telstra who will feel the impact of that fifty million dollar fine.  In many cases, self funded retirees have been forced to deal in the stock market because interest rates are at an all time low and big name national companies are seen as a safe bet for their money.

The intent of the courts and the agencies tasked with the job of overseeing the ethics of commercial enterprise seem intend of processing ever bigger fines for transgressions.  It is rare to see the actual culprits singled out and punished by loss of their jobs, and even rarer to see them experience the inside of a court.

Perhaps we would live in a saner world if personal responsibility was the price individuals had to pay for the breach of consumer laws. We are each responsible for our own actions  !