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Vitiating Factors: Misleading/Deceptive Conduct Jenny vWay Out Communications Way Out Communications' Pty Ltd, is a telecommunications company which has recently placed an advertisement in the

Vitiating Factors: Misleading/Deceptive Conduct

Jenny vWay Out Communications

Way Out Communications' Pty Ltd, is a telecommunications company which has recently placed an advertisement in the metropolitan newspaper of a number of capital cities in Australia. That advertisement states:

UnlimitedFibre 100mbps/40mbps Access

  • For $99 a month get unlimited fibre access anywhere in Australia.
  • Call 1800 999 999 to take up this deal.
  • Hurry. Limited time only.

The advertisement contained no other information.

Jenny (a heavy internet user who downloadsmusic, streamsNetflix and plays Fortniteregularly) calls the number to enquire whether the download speed will be throttled (slowed down) if she downloads too much data. The customer service representative responds they do not throttle download speeds although they may suspend the account if a customer downloads a large quantityof data. The representative however failed to specify the actual download cap before suspension is 50 GB (gigabyte).

Convinced, Jenny signs a contract with Way Out and immediately has problems. She discovers that when she reaches usage of 50 GB in a month, her access is suspended until the following calendar month. It was later found thataccessto the service Way Out Communications offerisonly available to areas within 100km of a capital city.

Advise Jennywhether she can argue the representations(1.the advertisement,2.thestatement, and 3. the silence)made by Way Out Communications are misleading and deceptive under s 18.

Page Break

Vitiating Factors: Unconscionable Conduct

George v Easy Finance Company

George is 73 and in theearlystages of dementia (a degenerative brain disease).George is also partially blind and is very physically frail.He is completely reliant on his daughter, Lilly, for all his needs.George and Lilly regularly spend time together on weekends at the local market.

In one of their outings, George was sitting alone on a bench while Lilly went to purchase clothes for him. He isapproached by a representative fromEasy Finance Company, who offered George "an exciting investment opportunity of a lifetime", and all George had to do was sign the contract and promise to pay $10,000 to enter the investment!

George looked up at the representative but did not respond. "Fantastic!" exclaimed the representative. "Look, here is the contract but you look like a smart man, so you don't have to read the terms. Don't worry about signing it, just help me fill out some basic details and I will fill out the contract alright?" the representative told George.

George nervously said to the representative "Young man, I'm blind and I have a hard time understanding what you are telling me. Maybe wait for my daughter to come back and you can tell her about what you are selling. I'm so sorry I can't be of any help."

The representative laughed and replied, "Don't worry about it, you'll be rich so you can help your daughter!" The representative suddenly grabbed George's arm firmly and said, "I promise you everything will be fine."

Unable to escape from the representative's firm grasp, George relented and gave him his details without question. After the representative finished writing, he let go of George's arm and told him the bill will be coming in a week. A few minutes later, Lilly came back from her shopping and both went home.

A week later, Lilly was shocked to find a bill for $10,000 from Easy Finance addressed to George. Lilly also discovered that George was receiving threatening calls from debt collectors, claiming that failure to pay the invoice may result in forfeiture of his house!

REQUIRED

Advise Georgeand Lillywhether the contractcan be vitiated because ofunconscionableconductundersection 21(and s22)ofthe ACL.

I need IRAC answers.

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