Line rental costs must be clear in broadband ads
By Nicole Kobie
Posted on 4 Jul 2012 at 09:47
Virgin Media has been ordered to prominently include line rental costs in its broadband advertisements following yet another complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
The 18 complaints filed with the watchdog centred on a series of ads, including those starring sprinter Usain Bolt, offering broadband for as little as £5 a month.
The advertisements were criticised for not including the cost of a Virgin phone line prominently, despite the charge being compulsory.
In light of the number of complaints about the ads, they accepted that the line rental pricing information should have been presented more prominently in at least some of the ads
Virgin argued that phone line rentals were a "conditional charge" and that customers did not necessarily need to take a Virgin phone line - but if they didn't, the prices for other products might change. Virgin said that was clear from the ads, and also in line with "standard industry practice".
"However, in light of the number of complaints about the ads, it [Virgin] accepted that the line rental pricing information should have been presented more prominently in at least some of the ads," the ASA ruling said.
The ASA told Virgin not to run the ads again, saying that clearly showing line rental charges prominently was "particularly important".
"Mindful of this ruling's impact on the industry, the ASA Chairman, on behalf of the ASA Council, granted a three-month grace period for the sector to bring their marketing communications into line with the requirements of the adjudication," the ASA ruling said. "The period of grace ends at midnight on 4 October 2012."
Virgin was last week reprimanded for misleading statements in other versions of ads starring Usain Bolt, and ordered not to run them again - after saying in its last round of results that the ads had boosted sales.
What?
The ASA are finally taking misleading advertisers to task? Must be a diversionary tactic... What omnishambolic event are the Tories trying to cover up today?
By dubiou on 4 Jul 2012 
It's about time these companies stopped trying to tie crappy phone services to their broadband offerings and allowed people the choice. The prices quoted for broadband in ads should be the total cost.
By ballem on 4 Jul 2012
Good!
.
I hope it will apply to other suppliers as well.
I got a "we want to reward you" missive from BT which promised what at first sight appeared to be a reasonably attractive deal. Then I noticed in the small print that it didn't include basic line rental and would thus be a lot more expensive than my current ISP.
I've had similar from BT and other suppliers in the past.
By qpw3141 on 4 Jul 2012
Who Needs To Hide?
So dubiou perhaps the idea was to help poor Mr Brown, Mr Balls at al who appear to be involved in something affecting the Libor issue.
Or as an alternative, perhaps there is a problem with dishonest adverts that needs to be fixed, take your pick.
By Jonesr18 on 4 Jul 2012
Who Needs To Hide?
So dubiou perhaps the idea was to help poor Mr Brown, Mr Balls at al who appear to be involved in something affecting the Libor issue.
Or as an alternative, perhaps there is a problem with dishonest adverts that needs to be fixed, take your pick.
By Jonesr18 on 4 Jul 2012
About time too
Nothing pees me off more than getting all excited, then discovering that there's a nasty sting in the small-print.
In addition to this annoying manouvre Ofcom \ ASA might like to look at various ISPs (hello O2, PlusNet etc.) who widely advertise services that are available only where there has been LLU.
Where I mainly reside (in the boondies) NO ISPs have located their kit in the local Exchange(s), so they can't offer these servcies as advertised.
They merely resell BT, at higher cost \ lower performance. In my view this is every bit as deceptive as not including the Line rental.
By wittgenfrog on 4 Jul 2012
@Jonesr18
Since you bring up LIBOR, maybe we should start at the beginning; Thatcher.
By dubiou on 7 Jul 2012
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