Ad description
The website for DFDS Seaways, www.dfds.com, a ferry operator, seen on 18 October 2022, contained a page headed “Duty Free Day Trip – From £39 per car + 4 people”. Other text stated “Book by 31 October 2022. Travel by 15 December 2022”. A link stated “Terms and conditions apply”.
Issue
The complainant, who searched for trips between 26 and 30 October but who found that fares were not available at the £39 price, challenged whether the “from £39” claim was misleading and could be substantiated.
Response
DFDS Seaways Ltd (DFDS) said the £39 fare was available on all sailings on Mondays and Tuesdays between 6 September and 15 December 2022. The price from Wednesday to Sunday was £55. The £39 fare was never available on those days. They said that therefore two out of seven of all sailings during the travel period were at £39. They noted that their usual text “Date availability is subject to availability” had been omitted. They apologised for the omission and undertook to review their procedures to ensure similar omissions did not occur again.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA considered that consumers would understand from the ad that there would be a significant proportion of fares available at £39 between 6 September and 15 December 2022 and that availability would be spread evenly across the travel period. The ad made no reference to the £39 fare being restricted to Mondays and Tuesdays and consumers would therefore have expected the £39 fare to have also been available on other days of the week. We therefore expected that any evidence substantiating the price claim would include all days of the week.
However, we understood that while all sailings on a Monday and Tuesday during the travel period were £39, none were available at £39 on the other days of the week.
We considered that because the £39 fare was only available on Mondays and Tuesdays, and that had not been made clear in the ad, the “from £39” claim was likely to mislead.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 and 3.3 (Misleading advertising), 3.9 (Qualification) and 3.17 and 3.22 (Prices).
Action
The ad must not appear again in the form complained of. We told DFDS Seaways Ltd to make clear in future advertising if “from” prices referred to certain days of the week only.
