Kogan Mobile, who had a falling out with Telstra reseller ispONE resulting in over 100,000 Kogan Mobile customers being left without a carrier, has today cut a deal with Vodafone who also has a reputation for deliver poor service, resulting in tens of thousands of consumers quitting the carriers network.
Vodafone’s Michelle Quint the head of consumer PR at the struggling ISP has been selective in who she invited to the Kogan launch, for what appears to be fear of generating negative publicity about the two organisations.
Quint who has a reputation for threating legal action, seems to be on par with Ruslan Kogan who himself has threatened legal action in the past.
Back in 2013 more than 115,000 Kogan mobile customers were left without connectivity, Kogan at the time was accused of engaging in misleading and deceptive conduct by using the term ‘unlimited’ in their marketing.
Kogan launched its mobile phone service in December 2012, offering unlimited calls and texts and 6GB of data for $29 on a prepaid plan.
Today Vodafone has got into bed Kogan who is trying to restore his Companies reputation in the budget end of the mobile market.
Under the Vodafone Kogan deal there are two tier mobile plans, at $29.95 and $36.95 a month. Both include unlimited calls but vary in data allowance – 3GB and 5GB respectively.
There is also an option for a 2GB standalone data pack.
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Back in 2013, Kogan Mobile took legal action against ispONE claiming the Telstra reseller was breaching their contract by suspending Kogan Mobile customers from the network.
ispONE counter-sued Kogan.
According to ITNews at the time Kogan Mobile’s lawyers sought to have communications between Telstra and ispONE related to the flagging and suspension of Kogan Mobile customers presented to the court.
In the email from ispONE operations manager Chris Hooker to Kogan executive director David Shafer, Hooker wrote: “ispONE has received advice from Telstra that 36 mobile services have been detected as being involved in call bypass fraud.”
Justice Judd agreed some elements of Telstra’s role in providing the 3G network offered by Kogan Mobile were relevant to the case.
“One might assume Telstra is placing a great deal of pressure on ispONE to ensure services are maintained within that particular scope,” Judd said.
