I’ve been hunting for a new flat for months now — so long, that no-one around the office even pretends to listen to my various estate agent complaints anymore.

As my search invariably focuses on online listings and websites, the one thing that gets my back up more than anything is adverts for flats that don’t exist or have long since been let, or ads that use photos that aren’t remotely accurate (as in, of entirely different, invariably nicer places).

Why advertise places that don’t actually exist? Because then desperate, frustrated people like myself call these scammy estate agents, who try to pitch a not-as-nice, out-of-budget flat instead (that’s usually what happens to me, but more serious money-stealing scams exist too).

For the past month, faced with such soul-destroying lies, I’ve been slamming the phone down, angrily biding my time until 1 March.

You see, in the past, there’s been nothing I could do about these dodgy online ads. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) wouldn’t take complaints about free marketing materials posted on sites such as Gumtree and Facebook, or about claims on a company’s own website; the watchdog only handled paid-for advertising.

From today, however, that’s all changed.

The ASA has now extended its remit to include marketing claims on websites, social networks and listings sites. In other words, as of today, my rage can now be used to fuel official complaints, rather than frustrated tears. After weeks of being screwed around by dodgy ads, I’m bitter and angry and ready for revenge: I now have the watchdog’s handy online form bookmarked and ready to fire.

And yes, the ASA’s punishments are usually a weak slap on the wrist — please take down the offending ad, and we’d really very much appreciate it if you please don’t do it again. That won’t help me find a cheap-but-cheerful place to live, but in the very least I can now waste dodgy estate agents’ time by making them answer to the watchdog, just as they’ve wasted my time trudging out to flats that aren’t as pictured or calling up for details of others that exist only in a parallel universe.

The ASA said it’s hired new staff to deal with the expected increase in workload, and I fully intend to give them plenty to investigate…

Sure, computers are great at automating simple tasks, but they can’t understand that I don’t mind coming back through a different station than I leave from if it’s cheaper, or that I can sneak my bike onto the carriage rather than making a reservation for it, just as long as I’m polite to the conductor.

If the website could listen to my whingeing and had these options then something could perhaps be done, but it needs to be as simple as possible for the vast majority of users who aren’t as troublesome as me, so it doesn’t.

Until computers can handle that sort of reasoning with ease I will always prefer to call an operator than use a website for booking my tickets. Unfortunately, though, it’s far cheaper to run a website than an office full of helpful customer service assistants willing to listen to me barter and convince my way to a £123 saving, so this will get harder and harder from now on.

On the other hand, if you book in advance, the site is a pleasure to use and the tickets are very reasonable, but this is a rare occurrence for me; a computer may have perfect memory and scheduling, but I don’t.

Thanks to i am jae for the image