Ad description
The NHS Choices website www.nhs.uk, listed the details of local health services, including contact information for those services.
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the website was misleading because it did not provide any cost information for the 0844 numbers that were featured.
Response
NHS Choices said they were aware of the issue and were actively considering options for achieving a sustainable solution.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA noted that calls to 0844 numbers were charged at a higher rate than standard calls on BT's most popular call plan (BT Unlimited Weekend) and that the exact cost varied depending on the numbers that followed the first four digits. We considered that the costs of calling the 0844 numbers should have been made clear on the website. Because these costs were not clearly stated we concluded that the website was misleading.
The website 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).
Action
The website must be amended. We told NHS Choices to include clear pricing information for the 0844 numbers.
