VIDEO – Cafe Prank Shows the Danger of Hidden Broadband ISP Charges

Relish (UK Broadband Ltd.), which operates a superfast 4G based fixed wireless broadband network in Central London, has today attempted to highlight how some ISPs will sneak price hikes into your contract terms and they’ve done it by comically tricking unsuspecting coffee lovers.

Obviously the somewhat self-promotional point of all this is so that Relish can highlight how their own service has “no hidden charges for customers“. However it also offers a useful reminder for consumers, which should encourage everybody to pay a little more attention to the small print.

Bridget Lorimer, Head of Marketing at Relish, said:

“In a world where we all live increasingly fast-paced and busy lifestyles, we can all be guilty of not reading every word of small print in a contract. However – as our video showed – when the terms and conditions are overtly confusing and unclear, people understandably feel frustrated by not knowing the full story of the deal they’ve signed up to. Despite being intentionally light-hearted, we hope our video encourages more consumers to check the terms of a broadband deal, before signing up to it.”

The prank itself involves an actor who poses as a covert barista at a busy London cafe hang out (Soho Grind). Relish’s coffee imposter greets customers by offering them a special promotional price for the coffee they normally order and all the customers needed to do was sign their name on the back of a takeaway coffee cup, but they end up getting a bit more than that.

The Advertising Standards Authority has already announced a new set of guidelines that will encourage ISPs to make their pricing clearer (here), which is due to be implemented on 31st October 2016. Never the less this probably won’t stop all of the abuses and so consumers should always keep an eye out for hidden charges.