The "free" BT broadband that cost £14.60 per month

So, according to BT, you can say "free" when you mean "£14.60 a month", and at the same time complain about "usually" when you mean "normally". Grow up.

By John_Greythorne on 16 Jan 2013

ASA needs to be scrapped

You are fined for speeding parking "incorrectly" and other minor infringements. You are a company and you knowingly mislead and lie and you are told not to do it again. Pathetic. Give them a hefty fine every time they breach rules and regulations. That is the only way to discourage them of doing things they know are wrong.

By fionapro on 16 Jan 2013

Be careful what you wish for

Fines for companies would just be passed on to the customer in higher charges and hidden fees.

By russell_g on 16 Jan 2013

Unsurprising......

At the moment it makes more financial sense for companies to blatantly lie, take the proceeds and then apologise later....
Capitalism doesn't work.

By TigerUnleashed on 16 Jan 2013

Virgin doing it for years

BT is only following in the footsteps of Virgin who have gotten away with it for years. Since they re-branded NTL I've had mail from Virgin every other week claiming low price BB which only mentions the essential line rental requirement hidden amongst other boring looking things at the end, in the smallest print I assume technology will allow. Virgin seem to be taken to the ASA all the time but history always repeats shortly afterwards. Not sure what the point of the ASA is if they can't put an end to this.

By raybarclay on 16 Jan 2013

Be careful what you wish for

Everything the company does gets passed on to the consumer. That's no excuse not to do anything. Its when the shareholders become affected that something will be done. Fine the companies and let them feel an impact. Do nothing and this bad behaviour becomes ingrained.

By fionapro on 16 Jan 2013

Virgin are doing it now

http://store.virginmedia.com/broadband.html

Quote: "Get broadband and phone from free for 6 months + Virgin Phone line (£14.99 a month)"

By halsteadk on 16 Jan 2013

Free Broadband

Nothing unusual here. A lot of adverts hide the line rental bit away in the small print. Anyhow if you have any sense you know that broadband needs a phone line and a phone line involves line rental.

By birdmaniw on 17 Jan 2013

Its Happening Everywhere

I`ve lost count of the number of adverts I`ve noticed that do this, promising free offers or services only to find out later (when you`ve fallen for the hype) that there are usually BIG strings attached. Software Ads seem to be a major culprit.

By Demotricus on 17 Jan 2013

Be careful what you wish for

Fining them every time isn't an issue.

They keep getting fines and push up their price to compensate.

They eventually lose customers to a company with no fines to pay and lower costs.

birdmaniw has a point too. What chance would a person have of complaining that their freeview needed an aerial, TV set and an electricity supply to plug it into?

By synaptic_fire on 17 Jan 2013

Make the fine count

Sky do it as well.
They should have to pay back the fee for the 3-6 months "free" Line Rental to all the customers that fell for it.
Then it would be passed back to the cusotmers in a positive way!

By syephencadams on 18 Jan 2013

Hit them where it hurts

The ASA should fine them with really hefty fines and at the same time ban any price increases for a specific period of time as part of the punishment. Any price increase after that should have to be agreed by the regulator and any customers on a contract at the time of the increase should be allowed to switch to another supplier without penalty.

How about also making the CEO personally liable to hefty fines as well.

By shrek59 on 20 Jan 2013