Dell misled customers, says ASA

 

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By Alun Williams

Posted on 6 Dec 2006 at 12:38

The Advertising Standards Authority has taken umbrage with a recent Dell newspaper advertisement, for the Inspiron 1300 laptop (pictured). At issue was both a special offer on RAM availability and also the display of VAT pricing information.

The insert in the national press showed a picture of the Inspiron with the following text underneath: ' ... 512 MB (Was 256 MB) 553MHz DDR2 SDRAM ... AMAZING VALUE! £249 Excl. VAT & Shipping £353 Inc. VAT & Shipping E-VALUE CODE...'. In the top right-hand corner text stated 'SMALL AND MEDIUM BUSINESS SEPTEMBER 2006' and at the bottom of the page, the text stated: 'Desktops from £199 Excl. VAT & Shipping Servers from £339 Excl. VAT & Shipping...'.

Someone complained, however, about the availability of the Inspiron 1300 with 512MB of RAM - when they tried to purchase the machine, they were told that an extra charge applied to receive 512MB.

It turned out that the info about the Inspiron offer was incorrect - it had been carried over into September's ads from August's copy by mistake. Dell held up its hand and apologised.

The ASA noted Dell's apology, but still officially ruled that the ad was misleading and had breached its code (with regards to Substantiation and Truthfulness).

With the advert having been brought to its attention, the ASA also challenged Dell over the prominence of the VAT-exclusive price (available to VAT-registered businesses) compared with the VAT-inclusive price (for general consumers).

Dell justified its ad on the basis that only two products in the ad were displayed without a VAT-inclusive price and one was a server, a business product. It also pointed out that the ad claimed 'desktops from £199' and therefore believed readers would understand that £199 was the lowest price at which a desktop could be purchased.

Again, the ASA found against the computer giant. It noted that VAT-exclusive prices would be suitable for business-oriented servers. But its ruling went on: 'We nevertheless considered that, because the insert targeted both the general public and businesses, the VAT-inclusive prices should have been given at least equal prominence to the VAT-exclusive prices. We also considered that, because the desktops could be of interest to non-business users who would be unable to get a desktop for £199, the approach of using a "from" price excluding VAT was misleading. '

ASA told Dell to take greater care in future. Specifically, it should 'avoid errors that could lead to consumer disappointment'. The organisation also told Dell to ensure that VAT-inclusive and VAT-exclusive prices were quoted with equal prominence in adverts with a general readership.

You can read the full ruling on the ASA website.

Dell found itself in hot water with the ASA previously, back in August. The Authority criticised Dell for a TV ad that quoted a price not available by default online. Significantly, however, the ruling cleared the practice of including, by default, upgraded components in the online spec for machines previously flagged at a lower price (for example, factoring in extended service support). This default upgrading is familiar to Dell customers.

Further back in time, in 2004, it was rapped by the ASA over the promotion of 'online only' offers that could also be had over the telephone.