Christmas come-uppance comes late for Currys

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 1 Apr 2009 at 10:07

Currys has found itself on the wrong end of an Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) adjudication after misleading customers about a Christmas voucher promotion.

The Dixons Group store was offering customers a £10 voucher when they bought a games console, digital camera, iPod, sat nav or camcorder in the run up to Christmas.

The television ad pointed people towards the Currys website, but two customers who bought goods online to take advantage of the offer complained when they weren't issued with the money-off voucher.

Currys protested that the terms and conditions on the website made it plain that the offer didn't apply online. The company "explained that details of the promotion were featured online, because the website was used a great deal by customers who wished to research store purchases."

The ASA nevertheless concluded the advert could mislead, and "should have made clear that online purchases were excluded from the offer, to avoid disappointment to those customers who were drawn to the Curry's website."

The ASA has merely warned Currys not to broadcast the ad again in its current form - although the chances of Currys running a Christmas ad in April are evidently slimmer than the chances of the ASA actually punishing an advertiser for misleading its customers.