Ad description
The website www.0844team.co.uk, which sold telephone numbers beginning 0844, made various claims about the use of 0844 numbers.
Issue
A complainant challenged whether the claim "How do you provide such a fantastic service for such a low cost? With our technology it simply does not cost that much to set up and handle calls. This combined with low overheads and cost effective advertising enable us to provide premium services at a fantastic price" was misleading and could be substantiated.
Response
0844 Team believed the way in which they presented call charges to 0844 numbers ‒ which they agreed to amend to be in line with CAP advice ‒ was not misleading. They said their business model was not reliant on the revenue obtained by their clients' use of 0844 numbers.
Assessment
Upheld
The complainant had challenged the claim because, in addition to the factors listed, there was also an additional service charge paid by callers to the numbers and that the charge went towards funding the advertiser's service. Because the BT rate for calls to 0844 numbers was likely to be different from (i.e. higher than) the rate for calls to geographic numbers, callers were likely to pay an additional charge to call the numbers, a proportion of which would go to 0844 Team to finance their service. Because of that, we considered it was misleading to potential subscribers to suggest that the cost of 0844 Team's service was met by low overheads and cost effective advertising alone and concluded that the claim had not been substantiated and was misleading.
The claim breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules
3.1
3.1
Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
and
3.3
3.3
Marketing communications must not mislead the consumer by omitting material information. They must not mislead by hiding material information or presenting it in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner.
Material information is information that the consumer needs to make informed decisions in relation to a product. Whether the omission or presentation of material information is likely to mislead the consumer depends on the context, the medium and, if the medium of the marketing communication is constrained by time or space, the measures that the marketer takes to make that information available to the consumer by other means.
(Misleading advertising),
3.7
3.7
Before distributing or submitting a marketing communication for publication, marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that consumers are likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation. The ASA may regard claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation.
(Substantiation) and
3.17
3.17
Price statements must not mislead by omission, undue emphasis or distortion. They must relate to the product featured in the marketing communication.
(Prices).
Action
The claim must not appear again in its current form.
