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At issue was a direct mailing to BT customers and an email which stated:

'It's not just the money, it's the principle
Dear XXX ,
BT know that people are more likely to change their mortgage than their phone provider. That's how they get away with such high call charges. Loyalty to BT could be costing you an extra £84 a year. See how on the back of this letter. So if you resent paying over the odds for your phone calls, change to AOL Talk'.

BT took umbrage to the claims that its customers who were 'paying over the odds for ...phone calls,' could save money if they 'change to AOL Talk'. BT said the claim was misleading, because it implied that all calls would be cheaper with AOL Talk than with BT.

The telco also said that the claim that 'AOL Talk gives you so much more than BT' oversold the benefits of AOL's service.

Although AOL maintained that neither of the ads stated that all calls were cheaper with AOL than with BT, the ASA upheld the BT complaint and instructed AOL to amend its advertising to 'avoid the implication' that all of its calls were cheaper.